If you’re trying to improve at something, remember these words: It doesn’t matter if you’re doing things right if you’re not doing the right things. It reminds me of the best parking job I ever did. Late for practice, I gained a few precious seconds by slipping gracefully into the parking space and racing into […]
I’m back blogging after a grueling few days of putting the finishing touches on my book, “The Improvement Factor: How Winners Turn Practice into Success.” The book finally got done because I’ve learned the same lesson that I preach in my Winner’s Workshops. You can’t try to do several projects at once. If you do, […]
No matter who you pick in the upcoming NCAA tournaments, you can be sure of one thing: The winner will have to overcome adversity. Injuries, bad calls and momentum swings will test the will of all teams, and the one that responds best will win. It will take mental toughness to survive, which raises a […]
Lately I’ve been hearing voices. No, not those kinds of voices (though you can never rule anything out). Instead, these voices are calling me to become a better coach, by truly serving those whom I lead and by approaching my work with the proper consciousness. The voices began calling last October, when I read an […]
Martina Navratilova, perhaps the best female tennis player who ever lived, once said, “I just try to concentrate on concentrating.” Her phrase comes to mind as I digest a recent post on Larry O’Connor’s blog, Run4yr life. Larry is a marathoner preparing for Boston in April. From the sound of this post, he has reached […]
Steve Jobs famously wore the same outfit every day because he didn’t want to devote any brain power to the choice of clothing. His reason was simple. Thinking about clothes was simply not important to him. In no way was it a priority. No matter what your wardrobe looks like, you can use Jobs’ example […]
At first glance, you might not see much connection between school homework and gaining skill at a sport. But there’s one common theme: improvement. Coaches and teachers alike should constantly be searching for ways to help their student-athletes get better at what they do. In this article from the New York Times, the author argues […]
Whether you’re a coach, a teacher, a boss or a parent, you’re in the business of molding the future. How do you help people improve? How do you help others become all they can be? There’s great advice in this article. It’s the Management Tip of the Day from the Harvard Business Review. “Research shows […]
An article in eMarketer says that worldwide ad spending has reached $500 billion per year. That’s Billion with a “B!” And the figure could hit $600 billion within five years. Why do advertisers spend so much money? Why, for instance, does Coca-Cola keep its message out there? After all, doesn’t everybody already know about Coca-Cola? […]
Well, it’s headed for 100 degrees here in New Jersey, USA. The heat wave led one radio announcer to say, “It was a rough winter and a very wet spring. No reason to think the summer won’t be extreme, too.” One of my favorite quotes came from the world-class instruction at the Gold Medal Squared […]