Kindle Notes & Highlights
The best way to stop worrying is to learn to trust your own instincts.
Playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, “Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.
Push-Up Principle When people are running scared, they make more mistakes than ever.
One thing that I learned as a coach is that the more a player is worried about making mistakes, the more mistakes he makes.
But you know what happened in reality? Most plays gained a yard or two or lost a yard or two, or we missed a block, or dropped a pass or fumbled the ball. Ninety-five percent of the time the plays didn’t turn out like they were supposed to. That’s the way it turns out with the plays you call as a business leader, too.
But the teams that win are the teams that believe those plays are the best plays.
That’s the way it works in business, too! When you know you’re doing what’s right, just keep on trying, keep on practicing, and all of a sudden it will work.
Push-Up Principle Eliminate the four basic “failure fears” from your business life.
four basic fears: 1) fear of competition, 2) fear of controversy, 3) fear of what other people say, and 4) fear of things you can’t control.
You beat them by concentrating on your own business, not worrying about theirs.
If you can’t take the controversy and criticism, you can always go back to being average and ordinary.
There was just one problem. I didn’t want to be an insurance salesman.
how mixed up you can get when you put your opinion of your worth in the hands of other people.
It’s what you think about what you do that’s important.
Push -Up Principle You can’t hold anything back if you want to win.
the fear of giving it everything you’ve got.
it was one of my biggest problems.
I failed the “mirror test.”
The strangest thing happened when I made that decision. For the first time, everything fell into place.
Push-Up Principle All you can do is all you con do.
When you’ve done all you can with a situation, you’ve followed every avenue you know to resolving it, there’s only one thing left to do. You need to accept the situation, accept the fact that you’ve taken a wrong turn or come face-to-face with a situation that you can’t control. And then, you’ve got to start moving forward again. It may mean changing directions or working toward your goals from another angle. But what you can’t do is worry yourself crazy about it, or let it defeat you and destroy your commitment to succeed.
“All you can do is all you can do — but all you can do is enough.”
Just try to keep in mind another of my favorite sayings, “Success is never certain, and failure is never final.”
Work every day on eliminating fear from your life, and helping your people do the same. You’ll know when you’ve succeeded at eliminating fear, because you’ll be miles out in front of everyone else, and your people will be right there with you.
Management Mistake Many people want a fast, easy road to riches and success. Leadership Solution Every big achievement has a big price.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard some business person say, “It’s not how hard you work, but how smart you work, that makes the difference.” I don’t believe that for a minute.
Thomas Edison, our nation’s most famous inventor, said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident. They came by hard work.”
Push-Up Principle The harder you work, the luckier you get.
There’s just no substitute for hard work. If there is a “secret” to success, this is probably it. The person who works the longest and the hardest, and with the most intensity, is the person who’s going the farthest.
Vince Lombard!, one of the most famous football coaches of all time, said, “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish almost anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”
Those folks in the wrong-colored jerseys aren’t going to roll over and play dead.
Life gives them just what they are willing to fight for and compete for.
Push-Up Principle Sacrifice is a part of paying the price.
If your goal is financial independence, live below your means until you reach your goal. Don’t start spending money until you’ve achieved your dream. Then you’ll be ready to enjoy all the good things.
Sacrifice also means that you don’t stop paying the price when things go bad.
things are never as good or as bad as they seem.
The hardest thing in the world is to keep on paying the price and keep dreaming when things are going bad, but it’s the only way if you’re going to win.
The sacrifices you make now will seem so small when you’ve made it that you’ll wonder why you were ever tempted.
Push-Up Principle The greater the rewards — the greater the price.
Everybody has to pay a price of one kind or another.
But I think that those people do pay a price by not competing, not sacrificing, and not trying to become the best person they can become.
The saddest kind of life, and the biggest kind of price, in my opinion, goes to these people.
Push-Up Principle Winning is better than you ever imagined.
If I’d known how wonderful it is to win, I’d have paid 100 times the price,”
Push-Up Principle Paying a price builds confidence and staying power.
Vince Lombardi once said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all,”
His theory was that you went out and got really tired — and then you began to practice. He believed that if you could do things right when you were tired, then you could win football games.
Champions are the hardest losers, because they sacrifice the most.
Management Mistake Some managers see themselves as delegators instead of “do-ers.” Leadership Solution
Leaders never ask anything of their people that they wouldn’t do themselves.
