// archives

The Improvement Factor: How Winners Turn Practice into Success

This tag is associated with 55 posts

Seeing the Impossible

Someone once said, “To do the impossible, you must first see the invisible.” Comedy star Jim Carrey used this idea to reach wealth and fame that seemed impossible for a young man who grew up in poverty. He once wrote himself a check for $10 million, envisioning a day when he would earn that amount […]

How to Do the Impossible

“And the impossible dream comes true!” With those words, broadcaster Al Michaels put an exclamation point on the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s gold medal. Now, 35 winters later, that gold medal reminds everyone that what seems to be impossible can actually happen. For the next 17 days, Dr. Rob Gilbert and I will be offering […]

Answer This Question and the World Is Yours

Why do some people quit while others persevere?

What Would Derek Jeter’s Business Slogan Be?

“With Jeter there are no surprises,” says my friend and co-author Dr. Rob Gilbert, a professor of sport psychology at Montclair State University. “He’s like a restaurant chain. You can go anywhere in the world and get the same thing. He’s never made an error off the field. He’s made some on the field, but never off.”

The Four-Letter Word That Creates Champions

No pain, no gain. You’ve heard it many times. But do you apply it to your own life? Katie Ledecky, 17-year-old swimming champion who looks very much like the next Olympic superstar, does. After smashing her own world record in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle over the weekend, Ledecky referred to what it takes to compete […]

Ballet, NFL Football and You

Do you think superstars are destined to be superstars? Or do you think they themselves decided to be? Destined . . . Determined . . . . Devoted Misty Copeland and Michael Strahan were determined and that made all the difference in the world. That’s why they’ve been in the news recently. Copeland, rejected at […]

What Baseball’s Trade Deadline Means to You

Frank Lane, a long-ago baseball exec who loved to make trades, is said to have even swapped a player for a box of cigars. “But,” Lane was careful to point out, “They were very good cigars.” Lane comes to mind because the end of July marks baseball’s annual trading deadline. Teams make last-minute deals to […]

Joe Torre’s Formula for Success

Joe Torre reached the Hall of Fame in his field the same way you can get to the top in yours. He did it by knowing the biggest problem he had to solve. In Torre’s case it was George Steinbrenner, who hired him to manage the New York Yankees but who had a habit of […]

Stop Excuses and Start Success

If you compete, at the end of the day you will have one of two things: results or reasons. You will either have produced something, or you will have an excuse as to why not. Furthermore, at the end of the day you will be known by one of those two things: results or reasons. […]

Hire People Who Are Smarter Than You

Pat Summitt tells the story of a job interview that changed the course of her program. Summitt, coaching legend at the University of Tennessee, was in the market for a recruiter. “If I hire you,” Summitt asked the applicant, “can you get me the player I want?” “Oh, I can get you the player,” came […]