Christopher D. Connors's Blog, page 55

1 Hour per Day Doing this Mental Exercise Will Exponentially Increase Your Success

“Remember, dreams without goals are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment. Have dreams, but have goals, life goals, yearly goals, monthly goals, daily goals.” — Denzel Washington

There’s a very big difference between wanting something in a virtuous way, and pining for something that you’re not committed to achieving. The winning way of getting what you want is to practice visualizing your goal and walking through this step-by-step. Everything great begins with your imagination, which I encourage you to stretch and use as creatively as you can to think of exactly what your biggest dreams look like in practice.

Visualization is integral to starting the mental building process of putting ourselves in the position we desire to be — to live. You may say that you want to be a bestselling author, start your own marketing business or even learn how to play guitar. That’s great. I believe you should absolutely speak those things over your life. But what are you actually doing about in the meantime?

For most people, the next step is simply to take action. Fine. Seems like a good idea, right? The action most people miss out on — the necessary predecessor — is imagination and visualization. Set the bar high. Imagine yourself playing the guitar, mastering the basic chords and then performing at local clubs. Imagine yourself performing at Madison Square Garden.

If you’re trying to start your own business, not only do you need a plan, you need a clear vision as to what each step in the process looks like. Know this — nothing will ever go exactly according to plan, but your odds of reaching your goals and success dramatically improve once you put something to plan. The “planning” phase is not just the verbal and written accord. It’s the visualization, the mental walk-through of what you truly want.

Building Your Vision

Take this from Brian Scudamore who detailed his experience for Inc.com of how he built a $100 Million multinational company:

“People typically think about goal setting in one of two ways:

1. Fantasize about the future irrespective of their present reality.

2. Think about their current situation and project forward while giving consideration to their present limitations.

According to more than 200 scientific studies on visualization, the best way to achieve real results is to utilize both types of visualization. This tactic is known as mental contrasting. By following up your pie-in-the-sky Painted Picture with nuts-and-bolts strategic planning, you’ll have both the inspiration and the gameplan necessary to reach your desired destination.

As you use mental contrasting, it’s critical to do the visualization and strategic planning in different places as these two processes require completely different mindsets.”

Visualization feeds goal planning, which leads to action and a higher-level of commitment toward achieving your goals and dreams. Brian Scudamore was able to blend a dream — what seemed like a total pipe dream, might I add! — with clear vision that he articulated to his employees. He then crafted a game plan grounded in truths, business strategy and metrics. He found himself a winner.

We’ve seen an example from business — it’s even easier to see how powerful this is with sports. Athletes are infinitely more successful when they visualize themselves pouring in the game-winning bucket, scoring the goal — mentally envisioning the angles and speed — or how to properly execute a figure-skating jump.

As Christopher Bergland explains, visualization is critical for athletes in reducing the time for mastery of a highly complex skill. Seeing and visualizing BEFORE doing literally shaves off minutes, hours and months of time to help athletes compete at the level they desire. The great athletes, as a result, practice visualization because it helps them to be more efficient in every way.

“Now, researchers from the UK have identified that optimizing someone’s gaze is key to fine-tuning the mastery of complex motor skills during observation. Scientists at Brunel University London created a novel technique to identify how watching a video, which highlights crucial details of a golf swing — such as how golfers line up the ball, position their feet, and twist their hips — significantly reduces the time it takes to master this complex motor skill.” Source

Whether it’s sport, art, mastering business skills or parenting skills, observing others and visualizing ourselves doing it is a skill to master. We’re all crunched by a variety of factors — namely time and money. In the digital age in which we live, video, e-books and a plethora of resources are at our disposal to help us get to where we want to be faster and more effectively.

Speed is not the only name of the game. Proficiency is faster developed when we visualize what it is that we want. Take this into your professional approach with your job and all of your entrepreneurial pursuits. Nurture this thought in how you love and care for your family. Visualization — creative imagination — is the launching pad for living the life you desire. It starts with a dream.

Visualize What You Truly Want and GO GET IT.

I’m helping thousands of people each day build their life on values and put together their personal game plan. Join me! Check out The Value of You, my Amazon bestseller. The e-book is available for a limited time for just $2.99! Order the e-book HERE!

Join my newsletter if you’d like, Follow my Facebook Page and join me on your journey. Let’s GO!

Additional Writing

The Best Advice You’ll Ever Receive on Personal Growth

The Formula that Leads to Wild Success — Steve Jobs

1 Hour per Day Doing this Mental Exercise Will Exponentially Increase Your Success was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

7 Powerful Lessons from a Classic Movie Scene on How to Live Like a Champion

Sports are not just for pleasure. When we watch with a discerning eye, sports willingly give us the tools and assets we need to build our lives to win at whatever we pursue. I look at our core values structures. In basketball, we need to look no further than LeBron James to see a fierce competitor who always gives his best. These Winter Olympics, we’ve seen grit and perseverance personified by athletes like Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu and skiier Marit Bjoergen of Norway.

Each day we’re immersed in situations that provide definition and clarity to our lives — enabling us to see parts that we can add to make our own, becoming the sum of who we truly want to be. It’s the kindness that we show to a stranger, allowing them on the subway first. It’s gratitude shown to a daycare worker who puts the needs of your child before their own.

We see love and commitment in the world around us. Our prism to see this is amplified in magnitude when viewed through the paradigm of sports. I’ve coached basketball for six years, and it’s been among the most rewarding experiences of my life. I’ve learned about positive attitude, hard work and discipline, all values that appear in my book, The Value of You.

These values and lessons are not just fundamentals for living a successful and happy life, they will transform your way of thinking and lead you to magnificent opportunities and relationships.

Few movies have had as profound an impact on me as the classic, Hoosiers. It came out when I was just a kid, though as I began to play the game of basketball, I saw its wisdom in how I created my makeup and approach to the game. I realized that even in sports, it’s so much more about the mental, emotional — and even spiritual — makeup we have.

As I got older and became a business coach, sports coach and professional, I understood why so many of the lessons from this movie resonate with millions today. I’ve listed out seven parts of Gene Hackman’s legendary locker room speech to his team prior to the state semifinal game. I’ve broken each part down by the true message he aims to convey.

https://medium.com/media/6022bbcd95cdcdce869024f10bb6bdac/href

Its wisdom and lessons are practical for all of us. They’re filled with great guidance you can deploy in your life — no matter your profession or where you find yourself trying to go. I hope you find this rewarding on your journey!

1. “There’s a tradition in tournament play to not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you.”

Focus on the task at hand. Immerse yourself with maximum effort and a positive attitude in that one moment. I encourage you to make goals, dream big and focus on the task at hand. Don’t concern yourself with all the next steps when you’re there in the trenches working on the task at hand.

2. “I’m sure going to the State finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep it right there.”

We all dream, imagine and realize that the moment of standing in the winner’s circle will be exhilarating and triumphant. This is what we work for. And yet, if we concern ourselves with this too much while we’re in the moment — on our journey — we fail. We get nervous. The best way to keep your nerves in check — and succeed — is to focus on the process.

3. “Forget about the crowds, the size of the school, their fancy uniforms, and remember what got you here.”

Forget about all the glittery things — frankly the things that don’t really matter. Especially when you’re competing for something, focus on doing the job to the best of your ability. The more you progress in life, the more important it is to keep moving forward. Yet, it’s just as important to remember all the great things you’ve done to lead you to where you are today — standing as a proud man or woman of accomplishment. Closer to your dream.

4. “Focus on the fundamentals that we’ve gone over time and time again.”

Plain and simple — focus on your values. Focus on the fundamentals that serve as the foundation for you to live the life you want — on your terms.

5. “And most important, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game.“

Don’t worry too much about the result. Rely on all of the preparation, values, planning and being yourself to do your best. I’ve read how college basketball coaching great, Jay Wright doesn’t even talk much about winning and losing. On your journey, focus on building yourself up to who you truly desire to be. The dreams and visions implanted in your heart and mind will suffice and permit you to move forward at the pace you desire.

6. “If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, (and) 7. I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we’re gonna be winners!”

Hard Work. Focus. Competitive Greatness. Dedication. Devotion. Maximizing your potential.

And again, if you focus on the task at hand, do your absolute best without worry, you’re going to always end up a winner. Regardless of whoever is keeping the official score. You will always win when you define success, create goals and then work for them with a values-based, winner’s mindset. Focus on the moment. That moment is really all that matters.

Build Your Game Plan to Win

I’m helping thousands of people each day build their life on values and put together their personal game plan. Join me! Check out The Value of You, my Amazon bestseller. The e-book is available for a limited time for just $2.99! Order the e-book HERE!

Join my newsletter if you’d like, Follow my Facebook Page and join me on your journey. Let’s GO!

Additional Writing

The Best Advice You’ll Ever Receive on Personal Growth

The Formula that Leads to Wild Success — Steve Jobs

7 Powerful Lessons from a Classic Movie Scene on How to Live Like a Champion was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Stop Doing it Their Way — Do It Your Way

They’ll tell you you’re too young.

They’ll tell you you’re too old.

They’ll tell you it’s not your time. “You’re not ready yet.”

They’ll tell you that you don’t have the money. When you have it, they’ll tell you that money doesn’t matter.

They’ll tell you that “content is king.” Then they’ll tell you that the way you market is really all that matters.

They’ll tell you that you lack the education. Then they’ll tell you that your Master’s degree doesn’t mean $hit.

They’ll tell you that you don’t have the “connections.” It’s not what you know, but who you know. But when who you know doesn’t know what you want, it’s hard for you to advance.

They’ll tell you why you can’t do it.

They’ll tell you how you can’t do it.

They won’t offer help. Only criticism.

They won’t listen to you, only to their own inner voice of doubt.

They won’t open your mind, they’ll try closing it. They’ll pass their own misgivings and transgressions onto you like a cloak of negativity.

They won’t offer ideas, only excuses.

They won’t offer suggestions, only their own insecurities.

They won’t offer hope, because they deal in fear.

They won’t greet you with love, for there is no embrace in negativity. There is rejection and coolness.

And “You can’t.”

And “You’ll never…”

You’ll hear every reason, every qualification and justification in the book and it will all amount to “It can’t be done.”

Because they’re unwilling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. They’re unwilling to have the foresight and belief that you can do what you truly want in this world.

They’ll continue to dissuade you, discourage you, doubt you and question your motives.

But they will never succeed in holding you back.

They’ll try to dampen your convictions.

They’ll eclipse your sunlight and darken your hopes and dreams. They’ll hit you with restrictions.

Though if you’re strong, bold and daring none of it will matter.

They’re just someone else’s bluster — foolish chatter.

See the latter is a waste of time and never meant to flatter,

You need confidence and self-belief to mix into your batter.

You will answer the call to rise. You’ll look with clear eyes.

You were never meant to compromise or be cut down to size.

You’re meant for bigger, bolder things. Stay focused on the prize.

You have a vision, so make your decision, to focus on your purpose

You’ll wonder if you can do it, at times you might be nervous.

But all the doubt and worry will get you nowhere fast,

Use your courage and your faith to help you move right past,

All the doubters and haters who told you how and why it couldn’t be done.

Make the bet on yourself, you’re the only one,

who knows what’s in your heart and what you can truly do,

Decide what is and isn’t uniquely right just for you.

Tune out all the other garbage, give yourself a break,

Believe me when I tell you, that decision may be the best you ever make.

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s words are my hope for you and for me: “Everything is unprecedented until it happens for the first time.”

Do it your way and tune out all the angry, jealous, negative voices. Don’t ever give in to what they say. You have a gift that no one will ever be able to take away: Hope.

Listen to your voice. It’s the one that matters.

Get Where You Truly Want to Be

I’m helping thousands of people each day build their life on values and put together their personal game plan. Join me! Check out The Value of You, my Amazon bestseller. The e-book is available for a limited time for just $2.99! Order the e-book HERE!

Join my newsletter if you’d like, Follow my Facebook Page and join me on your journey. Let’s GO!

Additional Writing

The Best Advice You’ll Ever Receive on Personal Growth

The Formula that Leads to Wild Success — Steve Jobs

Stop Doing it Their Way — Do It Your Way was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Do You Want?

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” — Confucius

The first question you need to ask yourself when searching for a job, determining your career path or trying to realize your passion should be, “What do I want?” Every plan and every action that you take should begin from that very simple question.

What you want should come from your desire, passion, skills, natural talents and intuitive reasoning to want to arrive at the place that speaks to who you are and where you see yourself going. When you get to that essence of living and being, the picture will become much clearer. You can then put together a plan based on your desire and the strategy that accompanies it.

Depending on where you are in your life, experience will dictate your options, to some degree. It’s not easy for the 20-year veteran of consumer banking to seamlessly switch to a career in print journalism. But experience should never limit or dictate your personal choice of what you want for your life. In this digital age, we can always reinvent ourselves and learn something new.

This is a critical distinction to point out. What you really want may not be a job or career that can happen overnight. But it’s worth working toward for a future day. This way, you ensure that you are taking steps to live the life that is really yours, as opposed to trying to live someone else’s.

Finding What You Want

You need to find experience doing things that you want to do, even if it means beginning at the entry level. The Self-Determination Theory, developed by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan states that three specific psychological needs must be met:

“Conditions supporting the individual’s experience of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are argued to foster the most volitional and high quality forms of motivation and engagement for activities, including enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity.”

Enhanced performance and creativity are qualities that we could all agree make us better and happier. We reach these levels when we’re motivated by doing work that aligns with who we are; work that kindles the fire inside of us.

21st Century life, at least for many of us blessed enough to live in peace and safety, is not about everyday survival. All of us, across different financial strata, have needs that must be met, and surely many of us come from varying educational backgrounds that provide us different opportunities.

Despite that which holds us back — and opportunities which reveal themselves in their own, unique ways — we have a real shot in this world to live the life that we want. Maybe not all the time. But we have a shot.

Building Toward Your Future

“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” — Melody Beattie

Each day is a building block toward living life more and more on our terms. For a precious few, these moments will come seemingly overnight. But for most of us, this is a gradual process. If we’re willing to endure temporary defeat, adversity and the battle against time, we will come out on the other end in triumph and personal empowerment.

Life gets tangled and crazy, sometimes by our own doing, and often in the way we respond to the stimuli we encounter. I’ve seen friends and colleagues choose directions based on a lack of thinking things through. Heck, I’ve done the same thing in my life. Maybe you have too.

Lack of planning and preparation positions us in the direction of paths which often lead us to question ourselves. As we go down these roads, there will be moments of anger, frustration, soul-searching. Highs and lows that aren’t easy to make sense of at the time.

When we don’t know what we want, or never honestly ask ourselves this question with intent to change and grow, we lose time. Depending on the people around us and the variety of motivating factors in our lives, we may end up moving forward but perhaps not in the right direction.

When it comes to our careers, we can follow the wisdom of the great Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin: “There are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” Just know, as you progress forward in your career, it gets tougher to turnaround; which is never to suggest that you cannot change course.

Rather, this is to inspire you to take action sooner in the direction that most aligns with your inner-sense of worth, desire and being.

The Cost to You

What is the cost to you to live a life that makes you unhappy- that feels unfulfilling because you aren’t doing what you love? Life is going to keep challenging us and it’s undeniable that obligations of all sorts will come and go. Depending on the urgency of these obligations, they will take up our time and take away time from what we love to do most. This is where planning and careful thought come into the equation.

“ Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” — President Dwight D. Eisenhower

You must first plan to set yourself up for success. As plans change, continuous improvement- or kaizen- will be essential to your success. Root yourself in core values and principles that you are unwilling to compromise. These will be your guiding force, as the zephyrs and winds of change influence your emotions and thoughts.

When you have rock-solid values, firm principles and time-tested morals and ethics, you have a compass that will always guide you in the direction you want to go. From there, it’s a matter of tactical details — how you get there and how soon. Persistence and perseverance will lift you as you peel back the fear and ask yourself the different questions. But it all begins with finding the answer to what you truly want.

Get Where You Truly Want to Be

I’m helping thousands of people each day build their life on values and put together their personal game plan. Join me! Check out The Value of You, my Amazon bestseller. The e-book is available for a limited time for just $2.99! Order the e-book HERE!

Join my newsletter if you’d like, Follow my Facebook Page and join me on your journey. Let’s GO!

Additional Writing

The Best Advice You’ll Ever Receive on Personal Growth

The Formula that Leads to Wild Success — Steve Jobs

What Do You Want? was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Best Advice You’ll Ever Hear on Personal Growth from a True Champion

Sunday night, hundreds of millions of people watched an underdog seize center stage and deliver a Super Bowl championship to a long-deprived fan base. The game on the field was scintillating and one of the best Super Bowls of all time. The words spoken off the field by the Super Bowl MVP are what will resonate forever with those of us who look to grow and rebound from failure.

I’ve learned through playing college sports, coaching high school sports and competing each day in the corporate world that “losing” gets a truly bad rap. While none of us try to lose, we all end up losing at some point. In our jobs, relationships and personal ventures we all experience failure. It’s unavoidable. Yet look all around you — who ever salutes a loser?

Of course, it’s a winner’s world and the winners are lauded, celebrated and honored for all time. Winning is the name of the game and it should be our broad end-goal whether we’re an entrepreneur, football player or aspiring executive. What most people are afraid to share or unwilling to divulge is that the way to become a winner is first to lose. To fail. To make mistakes.

But always— to KEEP GOING.

Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles understands this better than anyone.

You see, Nick Foles was traded less than three years ago by the franchise that just won its first Super Bowl, thanks to his greatness. He landed in St. Louis where had had a relatively mediocre season, then ultimately asked to be released. After a brief stop in Kansas City for one season, Foles returned to Philadelphia to be a backup quarterback.

For most of this season, Foles served as the back-up to one of the league’s bright young stars — Carson Wentz. It wasn’t until Wentz went down with a terrible knee injury that Foles got his chance again. He certainly made the most of it. Now, on top of the world, Foles chose to reflect upon his path to stardom over the past several years.

He realized that no one takes the easy path to success. We all lose before we win. Learning from failures is what winning is all about. There’s no easy route to becoming a bestselling author. There’s no high-speed elevator straight to the CEO’s chair. And no one is going to hand you millions of dollars of “seed money” unless you have a bulletproof business plan that will help benefit you and your investors.

Learn from Nick Foles. Failing is

“I think the big thing is don’t be afraid to fail,” Foles said. “I think in our society today, Instagram, Twitter, it’s a highlight reel. It’s all the good things. And then when you look at it, when you think like, wow, when you have a rough day, ‘My life’s not as good as that,’ (you think) you’re failing.

“Failure is a part of life. It’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times. Made mistakes.

“We all are human, we all have weaknesses, and I think throughout this, (it’s been important) to be able to share that and be transparent. I know when I listen to people speak and they share their weaknesses, I’m listening. Because (it) resonates.

“So I’m not perfect. I’m not Superman. I might be in the NFL, I might have just won a Super Bowl, but, hey, we still have daily struggles, I still have daily struggles. And that’s where my faith comes in, that’s where my family comes in.

“I think when you look at a struggle in your life, just know that’s just an opportunity for your character to grow. And that’s just been the message. Simple. If something’s going on in your life and you’re struggling? Embrace it. Because you’re growing.” Source: NBC Sports

You are a Winner. Keep Going.

The Value of You e-book is available for a limited time for just $2.99! Order the e-book HERE!

Join my newsletter if you’d like, Follow my Facebook Page and join me on your journey. Let’s GO!

The Best Advice You’ll Ever Hear on Personal Growth from a True Champion was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

3 Incredible Lessons of Success and Failure from Super Bowl Coach Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick, the man now synonymous with winning as much as any coach in American sports history, wasn’t always such a winner. He wasn’t handed a head coaching job overnight. It took him nearly to the age of 40 before someone entrusted a pro football team to his leadership. Then? He eventually was fired several years later. But that’s surely not how we know him today.

Rather, we know Bill Belichick as one of the greatest coaches in the history of professional sports. The ultimate team sports coach who gets every ounce out of his players, leading them to victory after victory, getting them to believe in the process and to work together. Bill Belichick’s story is most compelling for the reason that we should never let one failure, especially in our first “dream job”, ever define us. Because there’s a lot more of the story to be written.

But I’ve come to realize in learning more about the man that there are so many awesome lessons about his winning, losing and modifications to his approach that have kept him on top for so long. In David Halberstam’s brilliant book, The Education of a Coach, we gain keen insight into Belichick’s thoughts, experiences and approach that have made him a winner.

“He understood that the key to success, the secret to it, was the mastery of the grunt work, all the little details… the little things were not little things, because it was the accumulation of little things that made big things happen.” — David Halberstam, The Education of a Coach

Bill Belichick is a football coaching genius. It’s debatable whether he was born with this gift or not. What’s inarguable is his desire, work ethic, attitude and commitment to excellence. He figured out from his lessons as an assistant coach what it took to take players to fit a system that worked out to the ultimate advantage of his team. The name of the game is winning and Belichick is obsessed with winning.

I’ve put together four inspiring lessons from the man that we can all take and incorporate into our lives. Enjoy the Super Bowl, enjoy your grind for becoming who you want to be, and learn that winning is born from hard work, perseverance and yes — losing.

1. Winning is a culture, a system and a process that must always be refined and evaluated

Early on in his career, Belichick put together a plan on how to scout players, evaluate them and determine whether they would fit well within his system. He mastered this, passing down the wisdom to every part of his organization. Everything is done in the name of winning, which is all any great competitor should ever aim to do.

“His philosophy from the beginning was ‘No stone left unturned’ and ‘No envelope unpushed in order to win.’ And the result of that was you worked to exhaustion. But he never asked you to do anything he wasn’t doing.” — Rick Venturi

He obsessed over all the small details, and looked at his head coaching job from a 360° view. It wasn’t just about the preparation for games and practices. It was about all the preparation ALL YEAR LONG in drafting players, evaluating players, motivating them, getting them to play in his system and building a culture of winning where from the top-down to the bottom-up, winning was an obsession.

If you’re aiming to start your own business, build your writing career or pick up that side hobby that will lead to your personal freedom, know that your game plan for winning should focus on an all-encompassing view. There are so many things that involve “winning” and being successful. It’s not just the “doing”, it’s the things like relationship-building, marketing, advertising and continuous learning and improving that make you a winner.

2. Losing is your best friend

The best part about Belichick as a winner is that he learned from losing what wouldn’t work, and he improved mentally as a coach to understand how to be better next time. His evolution as a coach came from the losses, the bumps he took in Cleveland as a first-time head coach. They’ve also come from his big losses in New England, which have been few and far between.

Losing will humble anyone, even the greatest winners of all time. What defines winners are the lessons they learn from losing. It’s said that after losing to the Giants and in Super Bowl XLII, Belichick apologized to his team for a lack of preparation and for being unable to finish off an undefeated season. The loss motivated him to come back and win again.

Some people go their whole lives thinking that losing is like a curse — that we should always avoid it at all costs and treat it like the plague when it happens. But the greatest winners know that losing is what propels, inspires and leads us to keep going and to win the next time. If your’e willing to put in the time after losses, failures, adversity and mistakes, you’ll learn one of life’s greatest nuggets of wisdom: Adversity and losing is your best friend.

Think of some of your greatest triumphs and low points. What did those losses or mistakes teach you? You probably hated them at the time, but if you were willing to put in the focus to learn how to improve, didn’t they lead to bold, powerful growth moments? If they haven’t already, I promise you they will.

3. Become obsessed with your passion and fuse it with your natural talents. Then, become the best you can be

Bill Belichick is where he is today because he is absolutely infatuated, obsessed and enthralled with the game of football. Football is his life. Within football, he satisfied his competitive desire to win, motivate, inspire and get people to work together for a common goal: winning. Everything ties back to his competitive greatness, obsession with his passion and his desire to solve problems and develop schemes that will lead to victory.

The man is a master tactician. In order to become an expert or master of what you do, you need to make a considerable investment of time and effort. You learn from experience, surely, but you also learn tremendously during the “down time” of when you’re not actively competing for what it is that you do.

Think about what it is that you love to do. When you’re able to build the time into your schedule, become obsessed with your passion. I highly recommend that it’s a passion that melds naturally with your talents. Go “All In.” Watch what happens.

You are a Winner. Keep Going.

The Value of You e-book is available for a limited time for just $2.99! Order the e-book HERE!

Join my newsletter if you’d like, Follow my Facebook Page and join me on your journey. Let’s GO!

3 Incredible Lessons of Success and Failure from Super Bowl Coach Bill Belichick was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A Little Story on the Remarkable Power of the Human Spirit

The most beautiful thing in this world is the loving power of the human spirit. When you witness it, it’s unmistakable and it inspires and brings love and joy to your life like nothing else. What’s amazing in life is that we most often see this during moments of adversity, tragedy and difficulty. It turns life’s most daunting challenges into its most amazing revelations of character, love and hope.

I just found out a few days ago that one of my close, lifelong friend’s son has neuroblastoma- a form of cancer that affects young children. He’s not even two-years old. I could feel my heart break and the emotions overcome me. How is this possible? When I first saw the news I felt like time froze.

I thought of my family — my 3-year old son, my newborn who just recently entered the world, and I thought of how powerless we can all feel at moments of challenging news and difficult times. I thought of how innocent children are, and that they’re biggest concern is usually watching their favorite Disney show or playing with a doll or toy truck.

During times like this, while cliché, it’s worthwhile to think of how much we love the people in our lives and to give them a hug and kiss and tell them. It made me feel compelled to tell that to others and never waste an opportunity. Tough times can bring out the greatest of love, hope, friendship and compassion toward our fellow woman and man.

Generosity and Kindness

I was absolutely blown away by the generosity and outpouring of love that came recently from strangers, friends and people far and wide. You never really know how people will respond at times of difficulty. I’ve seen some remarkably generous monetary gifts, prayer, thought and comfort over social media and by phone.

A close friend of mine who I grew up with, you may know her as the comedienne Amy Schumer, generously donated $10,000 to support the family. I don’t think Amy has maintained contact with the family since high school, and yet she rose to the occasion to demonstrate the amazingly compassionate generosity that I personally know her for.

The truth is — tough times always define us in life. We can be proactive, yet it’s how we react to change and adversity that make us into the men and women we are. I’ve seen throughout my life that when terror struck the Twin Towers on 9/11, people from my hometown evolved from policeman, firefighter or stock broker to hero that saved lives and put others before themselves.

Everyday citizens like Welles Crowther lost his life and saved hundreds of lives during a moment of unimaginable horror on that fateful morning.

When I was a young boy, I fell into a lake and my oldest brother jumped in and saved my life. That’s stuck with me forever. It doesn’t always have to be physical. When I think of the four composite attributes of the human being — physical, emotional, spiritual and mental — I think of how it should be our goal everyday to nurture these parts of what makes us who we are. That we should always strive to grow and learn, build on mistakes and keep going.

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What Really Matters

I think of how we can hope and keep very strong faith for those we love and care about. How we can stay positive, strengthening our mental faculties, to withstand any negativity and inclination to think about failure or worst-case scenarios. I think of our ability to harness our emotional intelligence — to accept circumstances as they come, but also to energize ourselves with emotive, passion-filled thoughts.

To persevere and help others persevere through the biggest fights of our lives. We’re so much stronger than we give ourselves credit for. The power of the human spirit is alive and well. Hope, faith, positive attitude and determination are forces that cannot be denied in this world. I’ve seen them on display in the past week as one of my close friend’s watches his son fight for his life.

It’s beautiful to see how altruistic and compassionate people are during times of great danger and adversity. It’s these values that truly define us. They make us what we are. They give hope to all of us to look at what really matters in life, and to love with all our hearts.

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A Little Story on the Remarkable Power of the Human Spirit was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sudesh Dwivedi Thank you, Sudesh!

Sudesh Dwivedi Thank you, Sudesh!

StefanWassink You’re 100% right.

StefanWassink You’re 100% right. Even before your comment, I recognized that is something that I would add to this article. No question. I think about this a lot in the context of my day. I usually have at least one hour in the evening where I need to recharge, decompress and just kind of “waste time” after my son goes to bed. Then, it’s back to getting that second-wind and focusing on what I can do to get better. I appreciate you pointing this out! Thanks for taking the time to read!

DeeAnna Root Thank you SO much!

DeeAnna Root Thank you SO much! I really appreciate you taking the time to write here and comment. And thanks so much for getting the book — I truly hope you enjoy it and get a lot of value out of it. Always great to hear from kind people who care! Have an awesome week!