Legacy

by James Kerr

‘Practise with intensity to develop the mindset to win,’

No matter what you do in life, it’s either reps or mileage.’

Better to lose a few men in training, Suvorov believed, than lose a battle.

‘allowing yourself to win by following the process rather than being caught up in outcomes’.

‘Most people have the will to win,’ says basketball coach Bobby Knight, ‘few have the will to prepare to win.’

So, we focus on the technique, increase the intensity, and then add pressure. Before we finish, we reduce the intensity and focus once again on the technique, as if we’re cooling down at the gym. Repeat. And keep repeating until it’s automatic.

‘It’s about striking the balance between being lucid but being motivated,’ says Andrew Mehrtens. ‘There comes a point where you can become too hyped up and you lose your lucidity and ability to read a situation and make a good decision.’

We can stay in the moment. We can lead with clarity.

The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening.

‘One minute decides the outcome of a battle,’ Suvorov wrote, ‘one hour the outcome of a campaign, one day the fate of empires.’

Bad decisions are not made through a lack of skill or innate judgement: they are made because of an inability to handle pressure at the pivotal moment.

‘State changing,’ says Wayne Smith, ‘is really critical.’

‘The brain essentially has three parts – instinct, thinking and emotion,’

Mantras are the way in which we can tell our story to ourselves; they are tools for effective thinking, a mental roadmap in times of pressure.

assess the situation; adjust your approach to suit the situation; act accordingly.

The thing many mantras share is the Rule of Three; that is, they are three words or phrases that work together in a stepwise process to bring about change.

The Rule of Three is the way humans tell stories; with a beginning, a middle and an end.

Being able to say to another guy and just being matter of fact without it being a personal judgement, “You need to be doing this to help me out with my job.” Or, equally, “What can I do that helps you do your job?”’

High-performing teams promote a culture of honesty, authenticity and safe conflict.

when we say something will happen, it actually does happen.

— To the degree that integrity is diminished, the opportunity for performance is diminished.

The advice? 1. Every morning write a list of the things that need to be done that day. 2. Do them. Honesty = Integrity = Authenticity = Resilience = Performance

CHAMPIONS DO EXTRA Find something you would die for and give your life to it

Initiation ceremonies ‘ease the transition from one state into another,’ writes Joseph Campbell in Myths to Live By.

Champions do extra.’ First to arrive at the gym, and the last to leave, Thorn’s motto means he always adds something extra to the end of every routine – an extra rep, an extra ten minutes, an extra set, an extra circuit.

‘There are no crowds lining the extra mile.’

‘He wanted to know what it felt like to write a masterpiece.’

A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it.’

if you want to be the best in the world, you’ve got to put that at number one . . . you’ve got to make huge sacrifices.’

Italian proverb says, ‘At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box’.

Every day we go to work, every meeting that bores us, everything we do just for money or out of obligation, all the time we kill, we are giving our life for it. So it better be worthwhile.

Steven Pinker wrote, ‘Wisdom consists of appreciating the preciousness and finiteness of our own existence, and therefore not squandering it.’

° No one is bigger than the team. ° Leave the jersey in a better place. ° Live for the jersey. Die for the jersey. ° It’s not enough to be a good. It’s about being great. ° Leave it all out on the field. ° It’s not the jersey. It’s the man in the jersey. ° Once an All Black, always an All Black. ° Work harder than an ex-All Black. ° In the belly – not the back. ° It’s an honor, not a job. ° Bleed for the jersey. ° Front up – or fuck off.

stories don’t need to be true to be real.

Leaders are storytellers. All great organizations are born from a compelling story. This central organizing thought helps people understand what they stand for and why.

° Humility ° Excellence ° Respect

Inspiring leaders establish rituals to connect their team to its core narrative, using them to reflect, remind, reinforce and reignite their collective identity and purpose.

You are but a speck in the moment of time situated between two eternities, the past and the future.

True leaders are stewards of the future. They take responsibility for adding to the legacy.

John Wooden said, ‘Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.’

The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading. In order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.