CHAMPIONS are made one day at a time with Hallmark ATTITUDES:
When you care enough to give your very best.
by CoachFreeb

The single most important trait we bring to any given situation is our attitude. The self-fulfilling prophecy simply states you will find what you are looking for and become what you expect to become. You can literally program yourself to have a better day. Unfortunately the converse is also true.

There are so many negative inputs from society that we become programed to be negative unless we really work hard to have the right mental attitude. Many have observed that few people will stop on the commute home to view a beautiful sunset, while just about everyone will slow down, stop and gawk at a grisly accident.

The single most important thing to remember is that, “You can do everything wrong and still succeed if you have the right mental attitude, however, you can also do everything right and still not succeed if you have the wrong mental attitude.” The right mental attitude is so very important. Not only for you, but for everyone else around you.

When you are coaching and working with a team that has the right, positive, upbeat, can-do attitude everything flows so much better. Unfortunately in many of our working relationships we have developed a Hill Street Blues (US vs THEM) attitude. The squad meeting at the beginning of the popular police show would end with the instructions, “Let’s go out and do it to them before they can do it to us.”

This attitude exists everywhere in our society. US vs THEM is a confrontational not cooperative situation. There is infinitely a whole lot more that can get done in our society through teamwork and cooperation than confrontation.

The Hill Street Blues mentality certainly does not fit well with the motto, “To Protect and to Serve.” Confrontational attitudes are not conducive to making IT happen (whatever your IT is).

Remember that life is a game of choices. If you are in the pursuit of a worthy ideal that exists for the benefit of others, the pursuit of you own personally selected goals and trying to make your dream come true, why would you ever have a “Bad Attitude?” Why would you ever do anything less than to give your very best?

Paying the Price
by Denis Waitley

I've studied and counseled many world class athletes, but no one has inspired me more in recent years than champion cyclist Lance Armstrong. Watching him overcome setback after setback during his unparalleled conquest of The Tour de France, I have come to view him as the model for commitment and self-d...iscipline as an athlete. As Lance has told us in his own words, "It's not about the bike."

Can you remember when you got your first two-wheeler? It's an experience many people can recall instantly. I'll never forget when I got a bicycle for Christmas. My whole family stood on the lawn watching me try to take my first ride. On that day, I discovered why commitment is definitely like riding a bicycle.

First, you must believe that a machine that can't even stand by itself will transport you safely. Of course, you've seen it work for others, but now you've got to convince yourself that this form of success can actually happen to you.

Second, you must let go of all forms of support and balance yourself with the sheer force of momentum by your own strength.

Third, you have to lean into curves. This becomes easy enough after a while, but at the beginning – just as with snow skiing – the natural tendency is to incline yourself away from what appears to be a potentially dangerous situation. You've got to realize that the best way to avoid falling doesn't involve simply staying as far as possible from the ground.

Fourth, you can coast for a while, but you won't get far if you don't keep pedaling. The lesson there, if you've had the privilege of watching Lance Armstrong in action, is self-evident.

Last, you've got to get up and try again after you've fallen off the bicycle. Kids will fall any number of times, but they'll almost never say, "I quit. I'm not willing to risk falling again. Forget bicycling. I'd rather just walk or take the bus until I can afford a car." Kids rarely attach any significance to even dozens of falls or failures. Again, we have to watch film clips of Lance Armstrong getting up from falls and tragedies time and again to understand that it's just the price kids and champions will gladly pay for that marvelous experience of flying down the road or up a mountain under their own power.

This commitment and discipline to "paying the price" is a key quality in the mind of a champion. You could even say that if success has an entry fee, the cost is total commitment through daily discipline.

No train, no gain! Practice does indeed make for permanent performance.See More

The Value of Being An 11 Team
by CoachFree

John C. Maxwell in his new book, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork,
writes:

As much as any team likes to measure itself by its best people, the truth is that the strength of the team is impacted by its weakest link. No matter how much people try to rationalize it, compensate for it, or hide it, a weak link will eventually come to light That’s the law of the Chain (#5).
Weak team members always take more of the team’s time than strong ones.
One reason is that the more competent people have to give their time to compensate for those who don’t carry their share of the load. The greater difference in competence between the more accomplished performers and the less accomplished ones, the greater the detriment to the team. For example, if you rate people on a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), a 5 among 10s really hurts the team where an 8 among 10s often does not.
Let me show you how this works. When you first put together a group of people, their talents come together in a way that is analogous to addition.
So visually a 5 among 10s looks like this:

10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 45

The difference between this team and great ones with five 10s is like the difference between 50 and 45. That’s a difference of 10 percent. But once a team comes together and starts to develop chemistry, synergy, and momentum, it’s analogous to multiplication. That’s when a weak link really starts to hurt the team. It’s the difference between this:

10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 = 100,000

and this:

10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 5 = 50,000
That’s a difference of 50 percent! The power and momentum of the team may be able to compensate for a weak link for a while, but not forever. A weakling eventually robs the team of momentum – and potential.
Now, what would happen if each of those team members committed to Being An 11? Is that possible? Can ALL team members choose to Be An 11? The answer is, CERTAINLY! Being An 11 is an attitude, an expectation, a commitment.
When all team members develop an 11 approach the effect on the team would look like this:

11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X = 161,051

That’s a difference of more than 61%! The whole IS greater than the sum of its parts. The power and momentum of the team is accelerated beyond what was previously thought to be possible. Members of the team no longer have to compensate, in fact, they feed off each other and their efforts multiply.
The dream, the goal, the vision is achieved in an unbelievably sort period of time. It is the development of this BFS, Be An 11 Attitude that is responsible for those remarkable turnaround seasons that are chronicled in this BFS Journal year after year.
As BFS Clinician Jeff Scuran points out the answers are simple but not necessarily easy, “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” Not everyone is willing to put self aside, to make those sacrifices that are necessary, to adopt that BFS Attitude of:

No matter how long it takes;
No matter how hard it is;
No matter how much it costs;
No matter what I personally have to personally sacrifice; I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve our goals.
It’s going to be because of me.
The Best is yet to be!

When you can get a bunch of people together willing to make that kind of commitment, as a group, then you have the makings of a Championship caliber team.

Goals-Work-No Excuses

No Room for Excuses by Ron White

"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." You have heard it a million times. However, my guess is that you have never heard it from the mouth of the "rich." Instead, this echo has most likely bounced to your ear, with its origins being an excuse. That's right: an excuse. Excuses are what many use to pacify their guilt of not accomplishing what they are capable of.

I am not suggesting that wealth is success. My inference is that success is the progressive realization of predetermined worthwhile goals. It may be something as simple as raising a family.

What do these names have in common?

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter

Ronald Reagan

Bill Clinton

They were all president of the United States, right? They were all the most powerful man in the world at one point. However, I am looking for something else.

Richard Nixon was born in the home his father built. He won an award from Harvard his senior year of high school. However, his family was unable to afford his leaving home for college. He instead attended Whittier College.

Gerald Ford was born as Leslie Lynch King Jr. In 1913, his mother left her abusive husband and took her son to live with her parents. She met Gerald R. Ford, whom she married and gave her child his name, Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. He was the only president to be adopted. Ford worked in his stepfather's paint and varnish store growing up. He coached boxing during college to afford his tuition.

Jimmy Carter was the first member of his family ever to go to college and his father was a peanut farmer.

Ronald Reagan was the son of an alcoholic traveling shoe salesman. He worked his way into show business by broadcasting baseball games. At the age of 40, he was divorced and his career was at a dead end.

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV. His father (a traveling salesmen) died in an automobile accident three months before he was born. His mother married Roger Clinton, and Bill took that name. Clinton grew up in a turbulent family. His stepfather was a gambler and alcoholic who regularly abused his wife and sometimes Clinton's half brother Roger.

None of these men were born into wealth and prosperity, yet they each achieved the rank of the most powerful person in the world by working hard and not making excuses. These five presidents were born into normal families who struggled. Yet, they refused to use that as an excuse.

Life is too short to make excuses. Set your goals and pursue them. If you have been dealt a "worse" hand than another, it may indeed be a gift that teaches you the value of hard work. Your story will be richer and your success sweeter when you achieve your dreams. Maybe, one day, I will cast a vote for you as president of the United States!

Teamwork

In one of the greatest Super Bowl shockers of all time, in 2002, the New England Patriots topped the St. Louis Rams 20-17. As defending champions, the Rams entered the game as the heavy favorite to win. Dubbed "The Greatest Show on Turf," their electrifying offense had been unstoppable in the regular season and throughout the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Patriots had limped into the Super Bowl with two narrow playoff wins. Oddsmakers in Las Vegas listed New England as 14-point underdogs heading into the game. In fact, in the Super Bowl's 41-year history, only two other contests were predicted to be as lopsided as the Rams-Patriots match up.

One memorable moment of the Patriots' upset win occurred before kickoff when the teams took the field. As the pre-game excitement built into a fever pitch, the starters of the St. Louis Rams were introduced individually. One by one the Rams' players strutted onto the field for a moment of personal glory-each player's face prominently displayed on the stadium's jumbo screens. Minutes later, in an unprecedented statement of togetherness, the Patriots broke with years of NFL tradition by choosing to enter the field as a team. The PA announcer simply introduced them as "The New England Patriots," and the entire team, both starters and backups, raced onto the field as one.

As the architect of the Patriots 2002 Super Bowl team, head coach Bill Belichick had ingrained the value of teamwork into his squad. The Patriots may not have had an equal level of talent as the all-star performers on the Rams, but their effectiveness as a team carried them to the title. In a recent column for Inc.com, Chris Musselwhite comments on the qualities of winning teams, each of which was on display in the 2002 New England Patriots.

An effective team understands the big picture.

As Musselwhite writes, "In an effective team, each team member understands the context of the team's work to the greatest degree possible. That includes understanding the relevance of his or her job and how it impacts the effectiveness of others and the overall team effort." As demonstrated by their Super Bowl entrance, the Patriots dignified each player for his contributions to the team's overall performance. Substitutes and role players were equally given credit for the team's victories. The kicker was given just as much respect as the quarterback. Perhaps it's fitting that the kicker (Adam Vinatieri) would make a last second field goal to earn the Patriots their Super Bowl victory over the Rams.

An effective team has common goals.

The Patriots were bonded by a shared pursuit of football's ultimate prize-the Lombardi Trophy, given to the NFL champions. Players did not get caught up trying to accumulate personal statistics or achieve individual honors. They were of one mind in their goal of being the top team in the league.

An effective team works collaboratively, as a unit.

As Musselwhite observes, "In an effective team you'll notice a penchant for collaboration and a keen awareness of interdependency." His words are truly spoken for a football team. For the quarterback to complete a pass, the wide receiver has to run the correct route, and the linemen have to block the defenders. Each play is a microcosm of teamwork, and the Patriots understood the importance of carrying out their assignments in a spirit of unity.

The Carpenter

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer, a building contractor, of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

His employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but it was easy to see that his heart was no longer in his work. He had lost his enthusiasm and had resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and his boss came to inspect the new house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you.”

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.
So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built for ourselves. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

The plaque on the wall says, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result

SEATTLE — In a scene straight out of college, Pete Carroll stood in the middle of a pile on the midfield logo, jumping up and down with his players celebrating in unison.

The labels stuck on the seven-win Seattle Seahawks – jokes, lightweights, laughingstocks – no longer fit Saturday.

That's when Carroll's rowdy crew sent the defending Super Bowl champions packing, pulling one of the most unlikely upsets in playoff history, a 41-36 win over the New Orleans Saints.

Who Dat moving on in the NFC playoffs? It's the Seahawks.

"It didn't matter what I said to them, or what was said outside, and all of the story lines and all that, they just did not buy it," Carroll said. "Where that came from? If I knew that, we'd have something special here. It came out of an attitude and it came out of a faith in one another."

Matt Hasselbeck threw four touchdown passes and Marshawn Lynch scored on an electrifying 67-yard run with 3:22 left to clinch the first playoff victory by a losing team.

The Seahawks (8-9) held a 34-20 early in the fourth quarter before Drew Brees looked ready to lead the Saints (11-6) on one of their patented comebacks. But Lynch broke a half-dozen tackles for his TD and a few anxious minutes later, the party was on at Qwest Field, the NFL's loudest stadium.

Seattle, the first division winner with a losing record, will play next weekend, either at top-seeded Atlanta or No. 2 Chicago.

It's a trip no one outside Seattle's locker room expected to happen.

"I assume people are going to say it was more about what the Saints didn't do and not what we did, or that the Saints lost the game, not us winning it," Seattle wide receiver Mike Williams said. "Whatever is said, it doesn't matter. What matters is the direction our team is in and the focus the guys have in the locker room."

"It wasn't just one thing, it felt like everyone did a little something to help us get the win," Hasselbeck said. "It was just an awesome feeling."

But for all Hasselbeck did, the lasting image of this stunner will be Lynch's run that clinched the victory.

Lynch took a second-down carry with less than four minutes to go and then the highlights began. Eight different Saints' got their hands on Lynch as he shed six tackles. Lynch added a massive stiff arm that sent cornerback Tracy Porter to the turf and dived backward into the end zone on the longest scoring run of his career.

"That was the most unbelievable, unrealistic play I've ever seen in the history of football," Seattle linebacker Aaron Curry said. "It was just unreal. It seems just like a routine football play, then he takes it to another level."

Hasselbeck, Lynch and a strong performance by Seattle's offense extended the Saints franchise misery to 0-4 in road playoff games.

The Saints were considered the second-best team in the conference behind the NFC South-winning Falcons. Even though they lost to Tampa Bay in the season finale a week ago and were without running backs Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory, safety Malcolm Jenkins and linebacker Danny Clark, the Saints were favored by 10 points to advance.

Now they go home.

"The underdog role, I think we cherished it and kind of took it to heart," Seattle's Marcus Trufant said. "Nobody gave us a chance and we just kind of shrugged our shoulder. We knew we were going to come out and play our ball."

by Tim Booth