16 Characteristics for Success

ALWAYS Compete!

Do EVERYTHING to the best of YOUR ability!

Practice is EVERYTHING — How we practice defines who we are.

Always protect the TEAM

No Whining, No Complaining, No Excuses!

If you’re 5 minutes early, YOU’RE LATE!

16 CHARACTERISTICS FOR SUCCESS:

1. Make a commitment
2. Be unselfish
3. Create unity — come together as never before
4. Improve every day as a player, person, and student
5. Be tough
6. Be self-disciplined — do it right, don’t accept less
7. Give your best effort in everything you do
8. Be enthusiastic
9. Eliminate mistakes — don’t beat yourself
10. Never give up
11. Don’t accept losing
12. Permit no self-limitations — expect more of yourself
13. Expect to win
14. Be consistent
15. Develop leadership
16. Be responsible

Your thoughts?

WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

It’s Consistent Effort That Counts

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” – Unknown

Effort is important.  If you want to improve your performance, in any area of your life, you’ve got to work at it.  Whether your goal is to be a better basketball player or math student, practice is an integral part of the process.

But effort alone is not enough, especially if the effort is only occasional (anyone can do that).  Practicing once or twice, or once in a while, won’t get you very far.  Skill-building and mastery require consistency and quality of effort.

Additionally, you can’t count on team practices or math class to be enough to make you better.  Individual work, outside of and in addition to those areas, will make a big difference in your performance.

Top performers know that success requires daily (or, almost daily) practice, including the following components:

• Attention to detail — technical correctness; diligence for each step of the process.
• Purposeful repetition — don’t just go though the motions; follow your plan.
• Goal-oriented — your practice should reflect your desired result.
• Quality — give your best effort — aim for excellence — each and every time you practice.
• Learn — watch and listen to others with experience and expertise.

When it comes to practice, you can’t wail until you have time… it’s up to you to make time.  Don’t forego practice just because you can’t dedicate a large chunk of time, on any given day.  Some practice — as long as it’s high-quality and purposeful — is better than none at all, even if only for 5-10 minutes.  The cumulative benefit of even small “doses” of practice will be significant, over time.

Your thoughts?

WE WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER ATHLETE!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

The Most Important Game Is Your Next Game

How did you play in your last game?  Did you play as well as you wanted?  Did you play as well as you expected?  Did you play as well as you are capable?

Maybe you played with aggressiveness, or maybe you weren’t aggressive enough.

Maybe you played with confidence, or maybe it was lacking.

Maybe you brought energy, or maybe it just wasn’t there.

Well, here’s the deal:  There’s nothing you can do to change your effort or your performance now.  The game is over.

The key is to analyze and understand your performance — what happened and why it happened — and use that analysis and understanding to gain a competitive advantage… to improve upon your last game.

If you played a great game, work on further improving and reinforcing the things you did well.

If you played a not-so-great game, don’t dwell on it — it’s over.  But make sure you learn from it, and do your best to apply what you learned to your next game.

Because now the only game that matters is your next game.  It’s the most important one, because it’s the next game you can impact.  You can’t play any of the games after the next game until you play the next one.  Do your best to make it what you want it to be.  Make it happen.

Your thoughts?

WE WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER ATHLETE!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

There Are No Secrets to Success

“Don’t look for secrets when studying the best. Look at the basics. Look at what they do every day. Success often lies there.” – Buzz Williams

What we often see, when observing excellence in athletic performance (or any other endeavor), is just the result — the “tip of the iceberg.”  What we don’t see are the days, months, and years of hard work, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice that contributed to the success.

Success is the result of consistency.  It lies in the mundane, not the magical.

Success requires getting the basics right.  It’s foundation is sound and solid.

Success is built on not only action, but attitude.  It is fed by passion, enthusiasm, and desire.

The path to success is not devoid of obstacles; but the realization that each setback is a learning opportunity that brings us one step closer to success.

Success is planning your work, and working your plan, every day.

There are no secrets.  Be your best, do your best, give your best, and strive to improve you, TODAY.  Then do it again tomorrow.

Your thoughts?

WE WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER ATHLETE!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

Don’t Let Perfect Get in the Way of Progress

Don’t worry about being perfect today.  Instead, focus on being better than yesterday — strive to be your best, in terms of attitude and effort.

Don’t compare yourself with others, don’t aspire to be better than anyone else, and don’t stress over challenges, mistakes, and setbacks.

Learn from mistakes, be persistent, and simply do what you can do to make today better than yesterday.

While it’s admirable to aim for perfection, you’ve got to be realistic and reasonable.

As Vince Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

Strive for perfection, settle for excellence, and — above all — keep moving forward and getting better.

BE YOUR BEST

DO YOUR BEST

GIVE YOUR BEST

Your thoughts?

WE WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER ATHLETE!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

16 Characteristics for Success

Once again, this is borrowed from a poster I found hanging on the wall of a high school weight room where I work with an area swimming and diving team.  Another gem.

ALWAYS Compete!

Do EVERYTHING to the best of YOUR ability!

Practice is EVERYTHING — How we practice defines who we are.

Always protect the TEAM

No Whining, No Complaining, No Excuses!

If you’re 5 minutes early, YOU’RE LATE!

16 CHARACTERISTICS FOR SUCCESS:

1. Make a commitment
2. Be unselfish
3. Create unity — come together as never before
4. Improve every day as a player, person, and student
5. Be tough
6. Be self-disciplined — do it right, don’t accept less
7. Give your best effort in everything you do
8. Be enthusiastic
9. Eliminate mistakes — don’t beat yourself
10. Never give up
11. Don’t accept losing
12. Permit no self-limitations — expect more of yourself
13. Expect to win
14. Be consistent
15. Develop leadership
16. Be responsible

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

It’s Consistent Effort That Counts

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” – Unknown

Effort is important.  If you want to improve your performance, in any area of your life, you’ve got to work at it.  Whether your goal is to be a better basketball player or math student, practice is an integral part of the process.

But effort alone is not enough, especially if the effort is only occasional (anyone can do that).  Practicing once or twice, or once in a while, won’t get you very far.  Skill-building and mastery require consistency and quality of effort.

Additionally, you can’t count on team practices or math class to be enough to make you better.  Individual work, outside of and in addition to those areas, will make a big difference in your performance.

Top performers know that success requires daily (or, almost daily) practice, including the following components:

• Attention to detail — technical correctness; diligence for each step of the process.
• Purposeful repetition — don’t just go though the motions; follow your plan.
• Goal-oriented — your practice should reflect your desired result.
• Quality — give your best effort — aim for excellence — each and every time you practice.
• Learn — watch and listen to others with experience and expertise.

When it comes to practice, you can’t wail until you have time… it’s up to you to make time.  Don’t forego practice just because you can’t dedicate a large chunk of time, on any given day.  Some practice — as long as it’s high-quality and purposeful — is better than none at all, even if only for 5-10 minutes.  The cumulative benefit of even small “doses” of practice will be significant, over time.

Get STRONGER, Get STRONGER!

Your thoughts?

The Most Important Game Is Your Next Game

How did you play in your last game?  Did you play as well as you wanted?  Did you play as well as you expected?  Did you play as well as you are capable?

Maybe you played with aggressiveness, or maybe you weren’t aggressive enough.

Maybe you played with confidence, or maybe it was lacking.

Maybe you brought energy, or maybe it just wasn’t there.

Well, here’s the deal:  There’s nothing you can do to change your effort or your performance now.  The game is over.

The key is to analyze and understand your performance — what happened and why it happened — and use that analysis and understanding to gain a competitive advantage… to improve upon your last game.

If you played a great game, work on further improving and reinforcing the things you did well.

If you played a not-so-great game, don’t dwell on it — it’s over.  But make sure you learn from it, and do your best to apply what you learned to your next game.

Because now the only game that matters is your next game.  It’s the most important one, because it’s the next game you can impact.  You can’t play any of the games after the next game until you play the next one.  Do your best to make it what you want it to be.  Make it happen.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Book Recommendation: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

If you have not yet heard of – or read – the book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth, I highly recommend it.

Grit is a must-read book for anyone striving to succeed – parents, students, educators, athletes, and businesspeople.  Ms. Duckworth shows readers that the “secret” to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.”

In the first part of the book (the first five chapters), Ms. Duckworth discusses what grit is and why it matters.

The second part of the book (chapters six through nine) reveals how to grow grit from the inside out – how we can develop grit.

The third, and final, part of the book (the last four chapters) focuses on how to grow grit from the outside in – how we can help (parent, coach, and teach) others to develop grit.

My favorite part of the book (and it’s all terrific) is chapter 3, which is titled, “Effort Counts Twice.”  In this chapter, the author discusses the relationship between talent and achievement, and why any effort we make ultimately counts twice toward our goal.

talent x effort = skill

skill x effort = achievement

It’s unlikely that talent, alone, can help people achieve success.  However, when we apply effort to talent, it can become skill.  Likewise, when effort is applied to skill, it can result in achievement – success.  I love this!

Also among Grit‘s valuable insights are:

• How grit can be learned, regardless of IQ or circumstances
• How lifelong interest is triggered
• How much of optimal practice is suffering and how much is ecstasy
• Which is better for our children – a warm embrace or high standards
• The magic of the Hard Thing Rule

Grit is a book about what goes through our heads when we fall down, and how that – not talent or luck – makes all the difference.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

You Can Do Better

“If you think you can do better, then do better. Don’t compete with anyone; just yourself.” – Bob Fosse

You can do better.  You can, I can, we all can.

I’m reminded of this every day, at my Strength & Conditioning facility, working with athletes and active individuals.

But it’s not limited to Strength training.  As a matter of fact, it’s WAY BIGGER than Strength & Conditioning.

Personally, professionally, athletically… you can do better.  But first you have to be honest with yourself – is this the best you can do?

Then you have to want to do better.  Even if it’s just one small change… one small improvement.

You can do better in your daily interaction with family and friends.

You can do better in your daily correspondence with colleagues and coworkers.

You can do better in your daily collaboration with teammates and coaches.

You can do better in the weight room, at the gym, on the field, or wherever you prepare or practice.

You can improve your attitude and level of effort, every day.

You can be more patient, more tolerant, and less judgmental.

You can extend more kindness and hospitality – and express more gratitude – to everyone around you.

You can be a better example, and a better role model, to others.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?