Inspirational Quotes
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you
that will be really happy are those who have sought and found out how to serve"
Albert Schweitzer
If someone offers you a gift, and you decline to accept it, the other person still owns that
gift. The same is true of insults and verbal attacks.
Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what
you don't have, you will never, ever have enough. Oprah Winfrey
I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over
fear. Oprah Winfrey
Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon
discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.
Oprah Winfrey
Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you. Aldous Huxley
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. John F. Kennedy
If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own
judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now. Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus
Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. Og
Mandino
Ambition and anger will disappear when you stop concerning yourself with the fruit of
your actions. – Buddha
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear,
an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn
a life around.”
Unknown
“The easiest thing in the world is to be you. The most difficult thing to be is what other
people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.”
Unknown
The one thing I know for sure is that I don’t know everything. — Socrates
“Whoso would ever be a man, must be a noncomformist.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“...courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite
of despair.” Rollo May 20th Century Existential Psychologist
“A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 'Yes' merely uttered
to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.” Mahatma Gandhi
“A bit of advice given to a young Native American at the time of his initiation: "As you
go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It’s not as wide as you think.”
Joseph Campbell 20th Century Philosopher & Mythology Expert
“A fall from the third floor hurts as much as a fall from the hundredth. If I have to fall,
may it be from a high place.” Paulo Coelho 21st century Brazilian writer
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” Martin
Luther King, Jr.
“A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A total immersion in life offers the best classroom for learning to love.” Leo Buscaglia
20th century Dr. of Love
“An Italian poet said, "We live in a flash of light; evening comes and it is night forever."
It’s only a flash and we waste it. We waste it with our anxiety, our worries, our concerns,
our burdens.” Anthony de Mello 20th century Jesuit priest
“Any coward can sit at home and criticize a pilot for flying into a mountain in a fog. But I
would rather by far die on a mountainside than in bed.” Charles Lindbergh
“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” Benjamin Franklin
“Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90-percent chance or a 50-percent
chance or a 1-percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight.” Lance
Armstrong
“Are you paralyzed with fear? That's a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an
indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: The more
scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”
Steven Pressfield 21st century writer
“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” James Bryant
Conant
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.” Mark Twain 19th
century US author and humorist
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which
guarantees all others.” Winston Churchill
“Dance like no one is watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like no one is
listening, Live like it's heaven on earth.” William Purkey
“Show me someone who has never made a mistake and I will show you someone who
has never achieved much.” Joan Collins
“Be bold. If you are going to make an error, make a doozy.” Billy Jean King
“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though you may fail
immediately, you had better aim at something high.” Henry David Thoreau
“Do not desire to fit in. Desire to lead.” Mary Kay Ash
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a
trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” Bruce Lee
“Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better
than yourself.” William Faulkner
“Don’t pay any attention to the critics. Don’t even ignore them.” Samuel Goldwyn
“Every life form seems to strive to its maximum except human beings. How tall will a
tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. Human beings, on the other hand, have been given
the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. Why not
stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what all you can do?” Jim Rohn
“Envy is ignorance. Imitation is suicide.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.” Zig
Ziglar
“Everything passes, everything.” Anthony de Mello
“Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of oneself.” Charles Chaplin
“Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution
we can make to our fellow men.” Rollo May
“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter
cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices
but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” Albert Einstein
“He who has never failed somewhere, the man can never be great.” Herman Melville
“I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear;
knowing what must be done does away with fear.” Rosa Parks
“If a man does not keep pace with his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a
different drummer.” Henry David Thoreau
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Albert Einstein
“If you take risks, you may fail. But if you don’t take risks, you will surely fail. The
greatest risk of all is to do nothing.” Robert Goizueta
“Indecision is often worse than wrong action.” Henry Ford
“It is heartening to realize that although we may crave comfort and routine, we nourish
the soul’s growth primarily through what is hard. As Darwin saw it, it’s not the strongest
of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but those who are most responsive to
change.” Robert Cooper
On thinkarete.com I have been through Courage quotes 1-100
“Promote yourself, but do not demote another.” Israel Salanter
“If you have too many rules for success…you will always be miserable…Design your
life where it is easy to feel good…and difficult to feel bad.” George W. Cummings, Sr.
“It is much easier in life to happily achieve than it is for you to achieve so you can be
happy.” George W. Cummings, Sr.
“You will only treat others as kindly as you treat yourself.” Paul D. Cummings
“You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and
therefore tired doing nothing. You don’t have to be tired. Get interested in something.”
Norman Vincent Peale
“In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail
immediately, they had better aim at something high.” Henry David Thoreau
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with
satisfaction.” George Horace Lorimer
“Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” George Patton
“Losers make excuses, winners make it happen.” Bubba Sparxxx (George Patton?)
“There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and
I demand that my players do.” Vince Lombardi
“If you can’t…you must.” Paul D. Cummings
“I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to
get out there and go for it. I don’t believe you can achieve anything by being passive.”
Michael Jordan
“I approached practices the same way I approached games. You can’t turn it on and off
like a faucet.” Michael Jordan
“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you somebody who has
never achieved much.” Joan Collins
“Attitudes are more important than facts.” Karl Menninger
“Leadership is being aware of what is happening around you and choosing
positive behaviors that benefit your community.” Anonymous
“Be bold. If you are going to make an error, make a doozy, and don’t be afraid to hit the
ball.” Billy Jean King
“You are one step away in belief from everything you want in life.” George W.
Cummings, Sr.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actively in the arena; whose face is marred by the
dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and
again…who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at
the worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly.” Teddy Roosevelt
“Some people run a race to see who is the fastest. I run a race to see who has the most
guts.” Steve Prefontaine
“You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the
way you planned and you’re down to your reflexes—which means your training. That is
where the roadwork shows. If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, well,
you’re going to get found out now under the bright lights.” Joe Frazier
“Leadership is being aware of what is happening around you and choosing
positive behaviors that benefit your community.”
From Beyond Basketball: Coach K’s Keywords for Success by Mike Krzyzewski:
“With great players, it pays to be flexible. There isn’t just one way to do things.” (103)
“In all of my twenty-six seasons at Duke, we have never once utilized our full allotment
of scholarships. Sometimes by adding more in terms of quantity, you actually get less in
terms of team cohesiveness and the ability to form relationships.” (109)
On the “Next Play” philosophy: “Whatever you have just done is not nearly as important
as what you are doing right now…to waste time lamenting a mistake or celebrating a
success is distracting and can leave you and your team unprepared for what you are about
to face. It robs you of the ability to do your best at that moment and to give your full
concentration.” (112)
On “Ownership:” “When our players, managers, and staff feel ownership they feel
empowered and proud…Instead of having all relationships run directly to me, I have
placed an emphasis on forming bonds among all members of the team…We all do a
better job of taking care of what’s ours when we feel as if the ownership is distributed
equally.” (118-119)
On “Poise:” “I tell my players that you never want to show your opponent a weakness
through your words, facial expressions, or body language. No matter what they are
saying to you, no matter what the crowd is chanting, if you can show poise, you
demonstrate to your opponent that they cannot rattle you.” (126)
“When you are able to show poise as an individual, you set an example for others of how
to handle a tough situation. This is why, even in stressful game situations, I try to never
let my team see fear or defeat on my face…Poise is not about winning and losing—you
can show poise and still lose a game. However, you will have a much better chance of
winning if you learn how to keep your composure in spite of the circumstances.” (128129)
On “Pressure:” “If you are never put in pressure situations, you are not testing your
limits and you will never see how far you can go. You are just playing it safe. And
remember, for those times you do not succeed under the pressure, if you do not hit that
last second shot, you should never consider yourself a failure. You should feel proud that
you have done your very best in a tough situation.” (132)
“I asked Christian Laettner how he was able to handle pressure so well, he said to me,
‘because I had a responsibility to the people around me to do my best. I always knew
that the only people I had to answer to were the people in the locker room. That was my
responsibility and that is why I wanted to succeed.” (133)
On “Pride:” “Pride can be defined as self-respect and a feeling of satisfaction over an
accomplishment…Pride means having an understanding that you put your signature on
everything that you do and ensuring then that what you do is done in the best manner
possible.” (135)
“Pride comes not in the recognition you receive for something, but merely in doing that
thing to the best of your ability…you should take deliberate pride in it because it is a
reflection of you.” (136)
“The greatest pride of all comes from being a part of something that you could never do
alone—being a part of a team.” (136-137)
“So for my team, anything that Duke does should be done to the highest
level…Remember, the effort that you use to do this is rewarded tenfold by the feeling
you get from your actions.” (139)
Jean Giraudoux: “Only the mediocre are always at their best.” (151)
On “Trust:” “Trust is developed through open and honest communication and, once
established, creates a shared vision for a common goal. Established trust among a group
of individuals bolsters a feeling of confidence that only comes in knowing that you are
not alone.” (157)
“Part of building trusting relationships is confrontation. I do not define confrontation as
something negative; it simply means meeting the truth, head-on. In my relationships, I
want you to believe me when I tell you that you are great and I want you to believe me
when I tell you that you are not working hard enough.” (158)
On “Will:” “Will begins with a foundation of character, values, and standards. As a
leader or parent, you cannot merely look at a kid and order him or her to have willpower.
You have to begin by establishing a core set of values that will make up his or her
character. The definition of will, then, is a refusal to give up those values. Will can only
be displayed when it is tested by challenging circumstances.” (164)
On “Work:” From John Wooden: “Nothing will work unless you do.” (166)
“You can have the best plans, the most perfect offensive and defensive schemes, and
even a great amount of talent. But if you and your team are not willing to put in the hard
work, your plans will never be realized.” (166)
From Jerry West: “You don’t get much done if you only work on the days that you feel
good.” (167)
From Roger Staubach: “Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular
preparation.” (167)
From Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be
until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am
what I ought to be.” (7)
“When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am
speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying
principle of life.” (9)
“The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the
oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or
indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the
existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense
enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by
projecting the ethos of love to the center or our lives.” (9)
“Love, truth, and the courage to do what is right should be our own guideposts on this
lifelong journey.” (9-10)
“There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing
pains some people more than having to think.” (14)
“Few people have the toughness of mind to judge critically and to discern the true from
the false, the fact from the fiction.” (14)
“The softminded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has
an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new
idea…the softminded person always wants to freeze the moment and hold life in the
gripping yoke of sameness.” (15)
“The hardhearted person never truly loves. He engages in a crass utilitarianism which
values other people mainly according to their usefulness to him.” (17)
“Life for him was a mirror in which he saw only himself, and not a window through
which he saw other selves.” (18)
“We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system,
and thereby to become a participant in its evil.” (18)
“Many voices and forces urge us to choose the path of least resistance, and bid us never
to fight for an unpopular cause and never to be found in a pathetic minority of two or
three…success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where
everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.”
(21)
“A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.” (from the
Bible—22)
“The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include
everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Along with this has grown an
inordinate worship of bigness…Not a few men, who cherish lofty and noble ideals, hide
them under a bushel for fear of being called different.” (23)
“Blind conformity makes us so suspicious of an individual who insists on saying what he
really believes that we recklessly threaten his civil liberties…If Americans permit
thought-control, business-control, and freedom-control to continue, we shall surely move
within the shadows of facism.” (24)
On the early Christians: “Willingly they sacrificed fame, fortune, and life itself in behalf
of a cause they knew to be right. Quantitatively small, they were qualitatively giants.”
(25)
From Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” (26)
“Our planet teeters on the brink of atomic annihilation; dangerous passions of pride,
hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; truth lies prostrate on the rugged hills
of nameless calvaries; and men to reverence before false gods of nationalism and
materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the
complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative
maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” (27)
“Our unswerving devotion to monopolistic capitalism makes us more concerned about
the economic security of the captains of industry than for the laboring men whose sweat
and skills keep industry functioning.” (32)
“True altruism is more than the capacity to pity; it is the capacity to sympathize.” (35)
On enforceable vs. unenforceable obligations: “The former are regulated by the codes of
society and the vigorous implementation of law-enforcement agencies. Breaking these
obligations, spelled out on thousands of pages in law books, has filled numerous prisons.
But unenforceable obligations are beyond the reach of the laws of society. They concern
inner attitudes, genuine person-to-person relations, and expressions of compassion which
law books cannot regulate and jails cannot rectify. Such obligations are met by one’s
commitment to an inner law, written on the heart.” (36-37).
“Desegregation will break down the legal barriers and bring men together physically, but
something must touch the hearts and souls of men so that they will come together
spiritually because it is natural and right.” (37-38)
“One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice
and profession, between doing and saying.” (40)
“In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, men continue to
follow its disastrous leading. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and
individuals that pursued this self-defeating path…Jesus eloquently affirmed from the
cross a higher law. He knew that the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy would leave
everyone blind. He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with
good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love…What a
magnificent lesson! Generations will rise and fall; men will continue to worship the god
of revenge and bow before the altar of retaliation; but ever and again this noble lesson of
Calvary will be a nagging reminder that only goodness can drive out evil and only love
can conquer hate.” (42)
“There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the
spread and growth of an evil force, but the destructive power of modern weapons
eliminates even the possibility that war may serve as a negative good.” (44)
“Unlike physical blindness…intellectual and moral blindness is a dilemma which man
inflicts upon himself by his tragic misuse of freedom and his failure to use his mind to its
fullest capacity. One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head
is totally wrong. Only through the bringing together of the head and heart—intelligence
and goodness—shall man rise to a fulfillment of his true nature...the call for intelligence
is a call for opnemindedness, sound judgment, and love for truth.” (47)
**Not from MKL, but from the Dalai Lama and The Art of Happiness (it goes along
with MLK’s previous quote):
“Even though our society does not emphasize this, the most important use of
knowledge and education is to help us understand the importance of engaging in
more wholesome actions and bringing about discipline within our minds. The
proper utilization of our intelligence and knowledge is to effect changes from within
to develop a good heart.” (51)
Back to MLK:
From Matthew 5:43-45: “You have heard that it has been said, you should love your
neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you.” (49)
…and again, later, in the same chapter, a quote from Abraham Lincoln, when asked how
he could say positive things about the South after the Civil War: “Do I not destroy my
enemies when I make them my friends?” (55)
“When we look beneath the surface, beneath the impulsive evil deed, we see within our
enemy-neighbor a measure of goodness and know that the viciousness and evilness of his
acts are not quite representative of all that he is…We recognize that his hate grows out of
fear, pride, ignorance, prejudice, and misunderstanding…” (51)
“Agape [is] understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. An
overflowing love which seeks nothing in return, agape is the love of God operating in the
human heart.” (52)
“Hate is just as injurious to the person who hates. Like an unchecked cancer, hate
corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of
values and his objectivity.” (53)
“Love or perish.” (54)
“Napoleon Bonaparte…is reported to have said, ‘Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I
have built great empires. But upon what did they depend? They depended on force. But
centuries ago Jesus started an empire that was built on love, and even to this day millions
will die for him.’” (56-57)
“Midnight is the hour when men desperately seek to obey the eleventh commandment,
‘Thou shalt not get caught.’ According to the ethic of midnight, the cardinal sin is to be
caught and the cardinal virtue is to get by. It is all right to lie, but one must lie with real
finesse. It is all right to steal, if one is so dignified that, if caught, the charge becomes
embezzlement, not robbery. It is permissible even to hate, if one so dresses his hating in
the garments of love that hating appears to be loving. The Darwinian concept of the
survival of the fittest has been substituted by a philosophy of the survival of the slickest.
This mentality has brought a tragic breakdown of the moral standards, and the midnight
of moral degeneration deepens.” (60)
From Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (61)
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask
ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are
you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the
glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let
our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As
we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Nelson
Mandela
"I came away from the game with a lot of questions, which is what you do in the scouting
process--instead of making a final evaluation you come away with questions--and that's
how you evaluate him in workouts, and those questions were answered." Milwaukee
Bucks scout, Billy McKinney
“Great people have a vision of their lives that they practice emulating each and every day.
They go to work ON their lives, not just IN their lives.
Their lives are spent living out the vision they have of their future, in the present. They
compare what they've done with what they intended to do. And where there's a disparity
between the two, they don't wait very long to make up the difference.
I believe it's true that the difference between great people and everyone else is that great
people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively
waiting to see where life takes them next.
The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing.
The difference between the two is living intentionally and living by accident.
Let me repeat once more that great quote by Don Juan in Carlos Castañeda's 'A Separate
Peace': ‘The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees
everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a
curse.’” excerpted from The E Myth Revisited, Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work
and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber, p. 139
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or
it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster
than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a
gazelle--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." Roger Bannister
"If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail," he says, laughing. "You know
what I mean? Fuck it." Kobe Bryant
Coach Long's Favorite Quotes
10. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, becuase your character
is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. - John
Wooden
9. I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard if incurring the ridicule of others, rather
than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. - Frederick Douglass
8. I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. - John
Locke
7. The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence,
regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. - Vince Lombardi
6. We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. - Winston
Churchill
5. People talk about discipline, but to me, there's discipline and there's self-discipline.
Discipline is listening to people tell you what to do, where to be, and how to do
something. Self-discipline is knowing that you are responsible for everything that
happens in your life; you are the only one who can take yourself to the desired heights. Mike Shanahan, Denver Broncos
4. I have one life and one chance to make it count for something...I'm free to choose
what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes
beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith
demands - this is not optional - my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I
am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try and make a
difference.
- Jimmy Carter
3. What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule may serve
for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you
will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It
is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our
own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with the perfect
sweetness the independence of solitude.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies. Hope sees
the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible. Hope is the waking mans
dream.
1. "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man
stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the
man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, the
man who strives valiantly. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious
triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits
who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight
that knows not victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President
More cool quotes
Champions do not become champions when they win an event, but in the hours, weeks,
and months, and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is
merely a demonstration of their championship character. - Michael Jordan
In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until
we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. - Eleanor Roosevelt
Great players and great teams want to be driven. They want to be pushed to the edge.
They don't want to be cheated. Ordinary players and average teams want it to be easy. Pat Riley
There is no limit to what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit. John Wooden
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle
The man who goes the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The
sure-thing boat never gets far from the shore. - Dale Carnegie
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - it is won behind the lines, in the gym,
and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. - Muhammad Ali
When one door closes, anther opens. But we often look so regretfully upon the closed
door that we don't see the one that has opened for us." - Alexander Graham Bell
Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while,
you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is
habit. - Vince Lombardi
Success is a peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did
your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. - John Wooden
On the contrast between talent and hard work as to which is the more important element
of success, there's no comparison. A mediocre talent with lots of hard work will go much
farther than a stellar talent who just coasts. - Dave Joyner
If you can't do great things, so small things in a great way. Don't wait for great
opportunities. Sieze common, everyday ones and make them great.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Nothing negative will ever come from being positive and nothing positive ever comes
from being negative.
Doing just enough to get by is not enough to get ahead.
If you decide to be a champion and commit yourself to it .... then the work is not a
problem.
The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.
A winner is someone who sets his goals, commits himself to those goals, and then
pursues his goals with all the ability given him.
If you are honest with yourself and can look into a mirror and believe that you have given
100%, you should feel proud. If you cannot, then there is work to be done. - John
Havlicek (Boston Celtics)
The greatest discovery of the human mind is that a person can alter his altitude by
altering his attitude.
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing
on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. - Thomas Jefferson
People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone
could ever hope to bring about. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
The man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say that you cannot do.
Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses
or avoids.- Aristotle
Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you
did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. - John Wooden
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear; not absence of fear. - Mark Twain
The possibility that we may fail in the struggle should not deter us from supporting a
cause we believe to be just. - Abraham Lincoln
I am only one; still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will
not refuse to do the something I can do. - Helen Keller
You are what you think. None can escape the fact that we become, to a large degree,
what we think. Think little, believe little, and the results will be little. Think big, believe
big, act big, and the results will be big.
Faith is believing what we do not see. The reward of this faith is to see what we believe.
- St. Augustine
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson
Happiness exists when things we believe in are consistent with the things we do.
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack
of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.
To get the true measure of a man, note how much more he does than is required of him.
If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride and never quit, you will be a
winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards. - Paul 'Bear' Bryant
If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should
sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, "Here lived
a great streetsweeper who did his job well. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Every action we take, everything we do, is either a victory or defeat in the struggle to
become what we want to be. - Anne Byrhhe
A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 'Yes' merely uttered to
please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble. - Mahatma Gandhi
I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or
his fellow human beings. - Margaret Mead
You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things - to compete. You can be just
an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals. - Sir Edmund Hillary
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. - John F. Kennedy
I studied the lives of great men and famous women; and I found that the men and women
who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they
had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work. - Harry S. Truman
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple
tree. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. - Nelson Mandela
Without a struggle, there can be no progress. - Frederick Douglass
Nothing in this world is impossible to a willing heart. - Abraham Lincoln
We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot
of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. - Jesse Owens
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep
inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But
the will must be stronger than the skill. - Muhammad Ali
The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or
woman is able to do that counts. - Booker T. Washington
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never
grow.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." -
Henry David Thoreau
"To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work is as
impossible as it is to live without being born." - Harry Truman
"To see what is right and not do it is lack of courage." - Confucius
"There is no substitute for hard work. There will be disappointments, but 'the harder you
work, the luckier you will get.' Never be satisfied with less than your very best effort. If
you strive for the top and miss, you'll still 'beat the pack'. - Gerald Ford
"Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn to do things the right
way." - Benjamin Franklin
"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no
matter how impressive their other talents." - Andrew Carnegie
"Being courageous requires no exceptional qualifications, no magic formula, no special
combination of time, place and circumstance. It is an opportunity that sooner or later is
presented to us all." - John F. Kennedy
35th President
"A good coach will make his players see what they can become rather than what they
are." - Ara Parseghian
"A star can win any game; a team can win every game." - Jack Ramsay
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those
who look on and do nothing. - Albert Einstein
Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts,
temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. - Aristotle
I am only one,
But I still am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
- Edward Everett Hale
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always
someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt
you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an
end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it
takes brave men and women to win them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the
closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. - Hellen Keller
By the choices and acts of our lives, we create the person that we are and the faces that
we wear. By the choices and acts of our own lives we give to the world wherein our lives
are lived, hoping that our neighbors will find our contributions to be of worth, and hoping
that the world will be a little more gracious for our time in it. - Kenneth Patton
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther
King, Jr.
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that
courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have
a dream. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have
kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. - Dale Carnegie
Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look
up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow them. - Louisa May Alcott
You can't get much done in life if you work only on the days when you feel good. - Jerry
West
There is no thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue. There is no joy in
merely doing things anyone can do. But there is some satisfaction that is mighty sweet to
take. When you reach a destination that you thought you couldn't make.
Happiness exists when things we believe in are consistent with the things we do.
The possibility that we may fail in the struggle should not deter us from supporting a
cause we believe to be just. - Abraham Lincoln
The team player knows that it doesn't matter who gets the credit as long as the job gets
done. If the job gets done, the credit will come.
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no
matter how impressive their talents. - Andrew Carnegie
The speed of the pack is determined by the rate of the leader.
Don't be content with being average because average is as close to the bottom as it is to
the top.
DON'T QUIT
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit -Rest is you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a person turns about
When they might have won had they stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -You may succeed with another blow.
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out -So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit, -It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I
can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."
WHAT IS CLASS?
Class never runs scared. It is sure footed and confident in the knowledge that you can
meet life head-on and handle whatever comes along.
Class never makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.
Class is considerate of others. It knows that good manners are nothing more than a series
of petty sacrifices.
Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down.
Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.
Class can "walk with the kings of virtue, and talk with the crowds and keep the common
touch." Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class - because he is
comfortable with himself.
If you have class, you don't need much of anything else. If you don't have it, no matter
what else you have - it doesn't make much difference.
The Power of Attitude
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens;
not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes
a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst...a spark that
creates extraordinary results.
The Essence of Initiative
The future doesn't just happen, it is created...Our destiny is not in the stars, but in
ourselves. We may need to follow in the wake of those who have gone before, but what
we do and where we go is ultimately up to us. The attitude of initiative is an on-going
state of exploration that is never finished...a journey that never ends.
The Essence of Character
Your true character is revealed by the clarity of your convictions, the choices you make,
and the promises you keep. Hold strongly to your principles and refuse to follow the
currents of convenience. What you say and do defines who you are, and who you
are...you are forever.
The Essence of Leadership
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and
the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but
becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. In the end,
leaders are much like eagles...they don't flock, you find them one at a time.
The Essence of Achievement
"The credit belongs to those people who are actually in the arena...who know the great
enthusiasms, the great devotions to a worthy cause; who at best, know the triumph of
high achievement; and who, at worst, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall
never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
The Courage of Integrity
The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over
wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity...these are the choices that
measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a
wrong time to do the right thing.
A true story on Integrity
As a high school coach, I did all I could to help my boys win their games. I rooted as
hard for victory as they did.
A dramatic incident, however, following a game in which I officiated as a referee,
changed my perspective on victories and defeats. I was refereeing a league championship
basketball game in New Rochelle, New York, between New Rochelle and Yonkers High.
New Rochelle was coached by Dan O'Brien, Yonkers by Les Beck. The gym was
crowded to capacity, and the volume of noise made it impossible to hear. The game was
well played and closely contested. Yonkers was leading by one point as I glanced at the
clock and discovered there was but 30 seconds left to play.
Yonkers, in possession of the ball, passed off-shot-missed. New Rochelle recovered pushed the ball up the court and shot. The ball rolled tantalizingly around the rim and
off. The fans shrieked. New Rochelle, the home team, recovered the ball and tapped it in
for what looked like a victory. The tumult was deafening. I glanced at the clock and saw
that the game was over. I checked with the other official, but he could not help me.
Still seeking help in this bedlam, I approached the timekeeper, a young man of 17 or so.
He said, "Mr. Corvino, the buzzer went off as the ball rolled off the rim, before the final
tap in was made."
I was in the unbelievable position of having to tell Coach O'Brien the sad news. "Dan," I
said, "time ran out before the final basket was tapped in. Yonkers won the game."
His face clouded over. The young timekeeper came up. He said, "I'm sorry, DAD. The
time ran out before the final basket."
Suddenly, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, Coach O'Brien's face lit up. He
said, "That's okay, Joe. You did what you had to do. I'm proud of you."
Turning to me, he said, "Al, I want you to meet my son, Joe."
The two of them walked off the court together, the coach's arm around the son's
shoulder.
The Sky's the Limit
Everyone has potential...It is an infinite resource that cannot be exhausted, but can be lost
in the clouds of fear and complacency. It may take courage to embrace the possibilities
of your own potential, but once you've flown past the summit of your fears, nothing will
seem impossible.
The Foundation of Excellence
Our achievements are shaped by the terrain of our lives and the strength of the
foundations we set. In building the life we've imagined, we must be true to our beliefs,
dare to be ethical, and strive to be honorable. For integrity is the highest ground to which
we can aspire.
The Power of Belief
"Believe in yourself. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in
which you stop to look fear in the face...You must do that which you think you cannot
do." - Eleanor Roosevelt
Commitment
The desire to succeed, the determination to reach your goals, and the discipline to
perform even when you don't feel like performing, is the essence of commitment. The
ability to perform the most meaningless task "well", to pay close attention to every little
detail, and to do it honestly and with integrity is the sign of commitment. To make
whatever sacrafices necessary to attain your goals. To commit yourself totally without
reservation. Only when you make that "commitment" can you truly be successful.
Class
You must be proud of who you are. Pride in oneself is developed through the consistent
effort of doing things first class. Class is who you are, the way you project yourself.
Class can not be bought or sold. It is the way you act, the way you dress, the way you
speak, the way you live. Class is doing things correctly. Class is that attitude and
commitment to being the best that you can be in thought, word, and deed.
The Desiderata
Max Ehrmann
Copyright 1927
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nuture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Top 10 Signs Your Basketball Team is Not Going to Win a Championship
(Taken from "The Late Show's 'Top 10' List")
10. Power forward was featured on Ricki Lake's "Too Fat to Love?" episode.
9. Whenever someone does a lay-up, he burns his arm on his cigarette.
8. Players always show up at away games exhausted from all the hitchhiking.
7. The Las Vegas odds against your team involve the sign for infinity.
6. Your center won't stand during the national anthem because he's too drunk.
5. The only thing Dick Vitale can say about them is, "These guys got a good grade point
average, baby!"
4. Players refuse to guard other team because they're all "sticky" and "sweaty".
3. Jesse Jackson is protesting against the team for being "too white".
2. They pointedly inform interviewers that the correct term is "little people", not
"midgets".
1. Starting Center: "Mini Me" from Austin Powers.
Top 10 Ways to Make Basketball More Exciting
(Taken from "The Late Show's 'Top 10' List")
10. Technical foul equals loss of possession and pants.
9. Ball dangerously overinflated with hydrogen.
8. If a fan throws something from the stands and it goes in the basket, it counts for his
team.
7. Players ride around the court on angry llamas.
6. Three words: Giant fylin' rats
5. Shot worth 10 points if you bounce it off an opponent's head.
4. Players must constantly shout name of shoe company they have an endorsement deal
with.
3. Michael Jordan still gets to use a baseball bat.
2. Make a foul shot and kiss a cheerleader; miss a foul shot and kiss chearleader's dad
1. Make a three point shot, win a car.
One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team."
-- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
"When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct.
My dream was to become a pro."
-- Larry Bird
"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in determination"
-- Tommy Lasorda
"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best."
-- Tim Duncan
"A winner is somebody who goes out there every day and exhausts himself trying to get
something accomplished."
Joe Torre - New York Yankees manager, former Major League Baseball player, father of
one
"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up."
--Vince Lombardi
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no
good."
--Ann Landers
"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so
regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
--Alexander Graham Bell
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford
"History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered
heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to
become discouraged by their defeats."
--Bertie C. Forbes
"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight--it's the size of the fight in
the dog."
--Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
--William A. Ward
Mental Toughness
Nobody ever said it would be easy, so don’t expect it to be. No one is immune from
everyday problems.
Sometimes you have to perform at your best when you are feeling your worst. Block the
hurt, the pain, the sickness out of your head for the short time you must perform. Shape
up, get it together because EXCUSES DO NOT COUNT! Nobody cares if you are hurt or
sick; you either do the job or you don’t – you win or you lose.
There are times when you might rather be elsewhere, but face up to the challenge at hand.
No matter what has happened, you must win the mental battle. You must force yourself
to remain confident, enthusiastic and positive. You must force yourself to work harder
even when you are sick, hurt, sad, or troubled.
THAT IS MENTAL TOUGHNESS!
MENTAL TOUGHNESS comes to play when the going gets bad. Never let your
opponent know your weakness, because the he can take advantage of it. The fighter
automatically goes for the cut eye, the bloody nose. MENTAL TOUGHNESS is also the
ability to keep a goal to look a year or two ahead and keep going full throttle after that
goal, even in the face of adversity.
One of the oldest and most common locker room signs is this, “When the going gets
tough, the tough get going.”
BELIEVE IT.
Slippery Rock Basketball
LESSONS FROM GEESE
FACT: As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the birds that follow. By
flying in a V formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird
flew alone or in its own direction.
Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where
they are going quicker and easier because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.
FACT: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of
flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power
of the bird in front of it.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose we'll stay in formation with those headed
where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.
FACT: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose
flies to the point position.
Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks, helping one another and sharing
leadership.=2 0As with geese, people are interdependent on each others' skills,
capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.
FACT: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their
speed.
Lesson: We need to make sure our "honking" is encouraging. In groups where there is
encouragement, the production is much greater. The power of encouragement is the
quality of honking we seek.
FACT: When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation
and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly
again. Then they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times
as well as when we are strong.
WHAT DO CHAMPIONSHIP PRACTICES LOOK LIKE, SOUND LIKE, FEEL
LIKE?
Sounds NOISY: Encouragement, information, communication…beginning to end
See INTENSITY: No one walks; every drill is done with precision, hustle, effort
When someone takes a charge or dives on the floor or makes a great play, it’s like a
race to see who can get to them the fastest and pick him up or congratulate him in
some way.
They feel energized, intense, competitive, and enthusiastic!
Make it a goal to say 2 positive things per minute! 2 hour practice = 240 positive things.
Spirit is a requirement if you want to win championships.
COMMUNICATION:
Communication is a skill!
3 reasons players don’t talk: Too into themselves
Fatigue (have to learn to play and talk thru fatigue)
Don’t know what to say.
Instead of “BALL BALL BALL”…how about…”T take ball, I’ve got 10…Shala she is a
shooter…stay on her…Maggie I’ve got your help”
Don’t just want chatter….talk about whats going on!
We must have MEANINGFUL TALK….”we have 2 timeouts left, #12 is a shooter,
remember we’re switching that back screen, they’re going to try to foul us, so stay tough
with the ball”.
EYE CONTACT:
Good eye contact and a little nod when a coach speaks goes a long way toward
establishing the kind of player-coach relationship that leads to winning games.
Be proud of always looking your coach in the eye, nodding to him, even if he’s yelling.
Take it!!!
BODY LANGUAGE:
Psychologists say that 93% of all communication is non-verbal. Your body language
says a LOT.
Some players have great body language when things are going good, terrible when some
adversity pops up…..NOT ILLINOIS STATE
ATTITUDE:
You know what it means to have a good attitude – you work hard every day, you’re
cheerful, you cooperate, and you’re open to suggestions, you’re eager to learn.
But attitude is about the consistency of your disposition. Are you like that every day and
under all circumstances?
That’s the definition of MENTAL TOUGHNESS…what you put your focus on: Petty
problems….(floor slippery, too hot, ball not enough air, refs terrible, always something)
NOBLE MINDED…focus on bigger things. Energy flows where attention goes!
Pride themselves in being mentally prepared for every possible condition or
circumstance. They pride themselves in being able to be the same kind of competitor
under all conditions.
Want to know if you have mental toughness?......................Collapse when you get a bad
call? Or pride yourself in not expecting any gifts from referees? Lose focus when
somebody talks trash? Or do you smile and get more focused and more determine? Pout
when coach yells at you for something that wasn’t your fault? Or do you take pride in
your ability to take it and turn it into something positive for your team?
When you have a headache…when you get tired….can you play through tired? Take
pride in your un-ruffle ability!
Who really cares if you get yelled at for something that wasn’t your fault? Be big! Not
petty! Learn to routinely rise above pettiness and adversity.
When you become mentally tough, it gives you a HUGE advantage in basketball and in
life over the players who whine, moan, and convince themselves that the conditions
won’t allow them to play well. If you want to be special you can’t major in minor things.
PRECISION:
Means having the discipline to do something exactly right, every single time.
Means exactness! Precision is what most players are NOT… Most people are happy to
just do stuff “pretty well”. “Good enough” is the way most people approach life, and
“good enough” is how most players approach their game.
Hustle and passion and effort are great but you need DISCIPLINE.
FOULS:
Don’t waste time and energy worrying about and complaining about fouls.
Lack of mental toughness…..take pride in never expecting a gift from a referee….take
pride in your ability to play through fouls and bad calls and no calls……take pride in
never thinking of yourself as a victim on offense…..take pride in your un-ruffle-ability.
We can’t need good calls from refs if going to be good players. Can’t count on ref
knowing why you missed, why you stepped out of bounds. Have to rely on yourself. So
do things decisively, purposefully, prepared for bumps and fouls that may or may not be
called.
Learn to make moves that are so powerful and so decisive that a slight bump or shove
won’t bother you.
Play in such a way that fouls don’t bother you. Don’t put yourself in positions where you
have to hope for a referee to bail you out. Never expect anything from a referee.
POINTS TO PONDER:
If you needed heart surgery do you want an undisciplined, sloppy surgeon or a
disciplined precise one?
If being tried for murder, rather have an undisciplined sloppy lawyer, or disciplined,
precise one?
If flying in an airplane, rather have an undisciplined, sloppy pilot, or disciplined, precise
one?
If you are trying to win a championship….what kind of team do you need to have?
Attitudes are contagious! (how is your attitude?)
Hustle / Passion / Effort are great but you need discipline!
Don’t think about problems – think about solutions (negative thoughts don’t help
anything / anyone)
Mental Toughness: when your mind is in control of your thoughts that help the body
accomplish what is wanted!
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
When a wildebeest or zebra is finally entrapped by the lion, it submits to the inevitable –
its head drops, its eyes glaze over and it stands motionless and accepts it fate.
The posture of defeat is also demonstrated by man – chin down, head dropped, shoulders
slumped and arms hung limply.
Even in the most impossible situations, stand tall, keep your heads up, shoulders
back, keep moving, running, looking up, demonstrating pride, dignity and defiance.
--Jason Zimmerman and Emory basketball
Lone Survivor
– The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team
10.
Marcus Luttrell
Best Quotes / Phrases

“unbending courage, his will, his iron control.”

“in times of uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our
Nation’s call; a common man with uncommon desire to succeed. Forged by
adversity, he stands alongside America’s finest special operations forces to serve
his country and the American people, and to protect their way of life. I am that
man.”

“For me, defeat is unthinkable.”

“I will never quit. I preserve and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to
be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I
will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to
protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the
fight.”

“so stealthy no one ever hears us coming.”

“In general terms, we believe there are very few of the world’s problems we could
not solve with high explosive or a well-aimed bullet.”

“We operate on sea, air, and land.”

“But if the six of us were inserted into some hellhole of a battleground, soaking
wet, freezing cold, wounded, trapped, outnumbered fighting for our lives, you
would not hear one solitary word of complaint. That’s the way of our
brotherhood. It’s strictly American brotherhood, mostly forged in blood. Hardwon, unbreakable. Built on shared patriotism, shared courage, and shared trust in
one another. There is no fighting force in the world quite like us.”

“When things get very rough, they usually send for us.”

“The pure clarity of purpose was inspirational to us.”

“I will not fail.”

“Hard-won”

“In the SEALs, it’s always your teammates. No exceptions.”

“Because in the end, your enemy must ultimately fear you, understand your
supremacy.”

“Over and over during your training, we were told never to be complacent,
reminded constantly of the sheer cunning and unpredictability of our terrorist
enemy, of the necessity for total vigilance at all times, of the endless need to
watch out for our teammates.”

“We never give these guys (the enemy) one inch of latitude.”

“It was tough out there. But in many ways I was grateful for the experience. I
learned precisely how seditious and cunning an enemy could be. I learned never
to underestimate him. And I learned to stay right on top of my game all of the
time in order to deal with it. No complacency.”

“I’d rather shoot for a star and hit a stump than shoot for a stump and miss.”

“Nothing just happens. You always have to strive.”

“Take it to the limit. Every time.”

“And perhaps above all, your character is under a microscope at all times;
instructors, teachers, senior chiefs, and officers are always watching for the
character flaw, the weakness which one day lead to the compromise of your
teammates. We can’t stand that.”

“Accolades just wash off a SEAL, they shy away from the spotlight, but in the
end they have one precious reward – when their days of combat are over, they
know precisely who they are and what they stand for.”

“Backs to the wall. Never give in.”

“Honor, Courage, Commitment – the motto of the U.S. Navy SEALs”

“This all comes back to the ironclad SEAL folklore – we never leave a man
behind on the battlefield, dead or alive. No man is ever alone. Whatever the risk
to the living, however deadly the opposing fire, SEALs will fight through the jaws
of death to recover the remains of a fallen comrade. It’s a maxim that has
survived since the SEALs were first formed in 1962, and it still applies today.”

“Every one of us treasures that knowledge: No matter what, I will not be left
behind, I will be taken home.”


“I now understand that SEAL ethos – every officer, commissioned or
noncommissioned, must know the whereabouts of every single one of his men.
No mistakes.”
“Marcus, the body can take damn near anything. It’s the mind that needs training.
The question that guy was being asked involved mental strength. Can you handle
such injustice? Can you cope with that kind of unfairness, that much of a
setback? And still come back with your jaw set, still determined, swearing to God
you will never quit? That’s what we’re looking for.” - SEAL Instructor Reno

“Don’t’ buckle under to the hurt, rev up your spirit and your motivation, attack
the courses. Tell yourself precisely how much you want to be here.”

“Someone screws it up, the consequences affect everyone.” - SEAL Instructor
Reno

“He closed by telling us the real battle is won in the mind. It’s won by guys who
understand their areas of weakness, who sit and think about it, plotting and
planning to improve. Attending to detail. Work on their weaknesses and
overcome them. Because they can.”

“And remember this one last thing. There’s only one guy here in this room who
knows whether you’re going to make it, or fail. And that’s you.”

“That line of lonely hard hats was a stark reminder not only of what this place
could do to a man but also of the special private glory it could bestow on those
who would not give in.”

“I’d rather die than surrender.”

“Do I give in to the pain and the cold, or do I go on. It will always be up to you.”

“Never, ever go where your enemy might expect you to be.”

“We never stop learning, never stop training.”

“Remember the philosophy of the U.S. Navy SEALs: “I will never quit…My
nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies.
If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining
ounce of strength to protect my teammates…I am never out of the fight.”

“I think it was the tight-fisted old oil baron John Paul Getty who once observed
that for every plus that takes place in the world, there is, somewhere, somehow, a
minus. He got that right.”
Twenty Ways to Get Mentally Tough
From the book “Training Camp”
By: Jon Gordon
Information on “What the best do better than everyone else”
1.
When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will lead to
a future accomplishment.
2.
When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don’t just face
adversity; they embrace it, knowing it’s not a dead end but a detour to something
greater and better.
3.
When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive
in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. After all, everyone will have to
overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.
4.
When you face the naysayers, remember the people who believed in you
and spoke positive words to you.
5.
When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being
the best you can be.
6.
When you wake up in the morning, take a morning walk of gratitude and
prayer. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.
7.
When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.
8.
When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time you have
succeeded.
9.
When you head into battle, visualize success.
10. When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead
focus your energy on the present moment. The now is where your power is the
greatest.
11. When you want to complain, instead identify a solution.
12. When your own self-doubt crowds your mind, weed it and replace it with
positive thoughts and positive self-talk.
13. When you feel distracted, focus on your breathing, observe your
surroundings, clear your mind, and get into the The Zone. The Zone is not a
random event. It can be created.
14. When you feel all is impossible, know that with God, all things are possible.
15. When you feel alone, think of all the people who have helped you along the
way and who love and support you now.
16. When you feel lost, pray for guidance.
17. When you are tired and drained, remember to never, never, never give up.
Finish strong in everything you do.
18. When you feel like you can’t do it, know that you can do all things through
Him who gives you strength.
19. When you feel like your situation is beyond your control, pray and
surrender. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.
20. When you’re in a high pressure situation and the game is on the line, and
everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun, and enjoy it. Life is
short; you only live once. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment.
EFFORT
Luck means the hardships and privations which you have not hesitated to endure, the
long nights you have devoted to work. Luck means the appointments you have never
failed to keep; the trains you have never failed to catch.
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have
deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision.
Coach Ray Wilkerson
"Great effort springs naturally from great attitude."
-- Pat Riley
Sarah Breathnack said it best...
"When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for
the abundance that's present....we experience heaven on earth."
“My parents always told me that people will never know how long it takes you to do
something. They will only know how well it is done.” Anonymous
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man be perfected without trials.
-Danish Proverb
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one
thing.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and removeall doubt.
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it;
the tree is the real thing.
The above 3 Quotes are from Abraham Lincoln
The three things that are most essential to achievement are
common sense,
hard work
stick-to-it-ive-ness.
Thomas Edison
Your best friend loves you just the way you are, your mentor loves you too much to
leave you the way you are.
Find someone in your life like this.
Coach Ray Wilkerson
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for
what he gave.
-- Calvin Coolidge
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
-Napoleon Bonaparte
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly, a "genius" is often merely a
talented person who has done all of his or her homework. The first requisite for success is
to develop the ability to focus and apply your mental and physical energies to the
problem at hand - without growing weary. Because such thinking is often difficult, there
seems to be no limit to which some people will go to avoid the effort and labor that is
associated with it. --Thomas Edison—
"In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience."...W.B. Prescott
"Don't play for anybody other than your family, or God, or whatever you believe in. It's
easy to get caught up in playing for the crowd, trying to play a game you're not capable
of... I try harder not to do things that are over my head, not do anything too special."
Stephen Curry
Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking):
Develop a tremendous faith in God and that will give you a humble yet soundly realistic
faith in yourself.
Attitudes are more important than facts. –Dr Karl Menninger
General, never take counsel of your fears. –Stonewall Jackson
Make a true estimate of your own ability, then raise it 10 percent.
One must learn to live on a different thought basis, and even though thought change
requires effort, it is much easier than to continue living as you are.
Another effective method in developing a peaceful mind is the daily practice of silence.
If your mind is intensely interested, you can keep on at an activity indefinitely.
It is not hard work that drains off energy but emotional upheaval.
The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will
have. You won’t have time to think about yourself and get bogged down in your
emotional difficulties.
Energy drainage occasioned by fear and guilt is of such an amount as to leave little power
to be applied to a person’s job. The result is that he tires quickly.
I assured him that whatever he did that was right would turn out right. One never does
wrong by doing right.
A not infrequent case of diminishing energy is staleness.
You can’t get a man physically healthy until you get him spiritually healthy.
According to your faith be it unto you (Matthew 9:29). What things soever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mark 11:24).
The man who assumes success tend already have success. People who assume failure
tend to have failure.
Within the mind are all the resources needed for successful living.
I make it a habit to be happy.
If an unhappiness thought should enter your mind, immediately stop, consciously eject it,
and substitute a happiness thought.
The character of our thoughts determines pace.
Life can get muddled. But “muddied water,” says Lao-tse, “let stand, will become clear.”
Meditate on the solemn fact that when you get there permanently the world will go on
just the same and, as important as you are, others will be able to do the work you are now
doing.
To go fast, row slowly.
It is, moreover, a good procedure to practice being phlegmatic or apathetic, even
indifferent. To a certain extent even practice being sluggish.
I discovered that if you expect the worst you will get the worst, and if you expect the best
you will get the best.
Learn to expect, not to doubt.
Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that insures the
successful outcome of your venture.
Believe—believe—so it drives home the truth that faith moves mountains.
In other words, whatever you are doing, give it all you’ve got. Give every bit of yourself.
Hold nothing back. Life cannot deny itself to the person who gives life his all.
Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.
A man who is self-reliant, positive, optimistic, and undertakes his work with the
assurance of success magnetizes his condition. He draws to himself the creative powers
of the universe.
So expect the best at all times. Never think of the worst. Drop it out of your thought,
relegate it. Let there be no thought in your mind that the worst will happen.
Therefore take the best into your mind and only that. Nurture it, concentrate on it,
emphasize it, visualize it, prayerize it, surround it with faith.
If God be for me, who can be against me?
Faith power works wonders.
Doubt closes the power flow. Faith opens it.
Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t
half the strength you think they have.
Faith is the chief quality that you need. It is enough. In fact, it is more than enough.
There are people who have overcome every conceivable difficult situation, even the one
in which you now find yourself and which to you seems utterly hopeless.
Remember that your subconscious mind in a sense is one of the greatest liars in existence.
A clean mind will deliver power. Therefore flush out your thoughts, give yourself a clean
mental engine, remembering that a clean mind, even as a clean engine, always delivers
power.
Most of our obstacles, as a matter of fact, are mental in character.
If you have been long defeated by a difficulty, it is probably because you have told
yourself for weeks, months, and even for years that there is nothing you can do about it.
Your obstacles are present all right. They are not fanciful, but they are not actually so
difficult as they seem. Your mental attitude is the most important factor.
The rough is only mental. I think victory—I get victory.
Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.
I believe I will always take the right turn of the road.
I don’t believe in defeat.
You were not born with the worry habit. You acquired it. And because you can change
any habit and any acquired attitude, you can cast worry from you mind.
The last five minutes before going to sleep are of extraordinary importance, for in that
brief period the mind is most receptive to suggestion.
He says that every morning before he arises he repeats these two words, “I believe” three
times. Thus at the days beginning he conditions his mind to faith, and it never
leaves him.
The secret is to work out a method of attack and keep working at it.
But now, Lord, mistakes or successes, victories or defeats, the day is over and I’m
through with it.
You can become free of worry by practicing the opposite and stronger habit of faith.
Talk positively. For example, don’t say, “This is going to be a terrible day.” Instead,
affirm, “This is going to be a glorious day.”
That if I would have faith—and really have it—that I could overcome all of my
difficulties, meet every situation, rise above every defeat, and solve all of the
perplexing problems of my life.
1. Believe that for every problem there is a solution
2. Keep calm. Tension blocks the flow of thought power. Your brain cannot operate
efficiently under stress. Go at your problem easy-like.
3. Don’t try to force an answer. Keep your mind relaxed so that the solution will
open up and become clear.
I began to see that fear and guilt, hate and resentment, problems with which I was
dealing, were often closely connected with problems of health and physical well-being.
It was invariably his habit to lie down and rest after lunch, and he never allowed himself
to get under stress. He was early to bed and early up, always employing rigorous and
disciplinary rules of living.
Whenever a business problem starts to vex you or you begin to get angry, let yourself go
limp all over.
Many people suffer poor health not because of what they eat but from what is eating
them.
One may show definite physical symptoms as a result of fear and anxiety. We know that
healing has been accomplished when the thoughts are changed.
Remember that it is difficult to argue in a whisper.
Instead of attempting to destroy all of your anger, which as we have pointed out is a
consolidated force, snip away by prayer each annoyance that feeds your anger.
When a hurt-feeling situation arises, get it straightened out as quickly as possible. Don’t
brood over it for a minute longer than you can help. Do something about it.
The minute your feelings are hurt, do just as when you hurt your finger. Immediately
apply the cure.
Human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of mind.
You can also think your way to success and happiness.
A man is what he thinks about all day long. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thoughts are things, they actually posses dynamic power.
Think positively, for example, and you set in motion positive forces which bring positive
results to pass. Positive thoughts create around yourself an atmosphere propitious to the
development of positive outcomes.
Believe and succeed.
First the idea, then faith in it, then the means of implementing the idea. That is the way
success proceeds.
Should a negative thought of defeat come into your mind, expel it by increasing the
positive affirmation.
Nothing on earth is greater than the human mind in potential power.
It is surprising how many minutes or fractions of minutes during the day you can use to
rest where you are. It isn’t length of relaxation time that produces the power; it is the
quality of the experience.
I have learned one important fact, and that is in any situation be relaxed, keep calm, take
a friendly attitude, have faith, do your best. Do this and usually you can make things
come out alright.
Don’t get the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. Don’t strain
so hard. Don’t take yourself so seriously.
Practice being relaxed. Easy always does it. Don’t press or tug. Take it in your stride.
One hundred traits were scientifically analyzed and it was reported that one must have
forty-six favorable traits in order to be liked. Christianity, however, teaches that one basic
trait will go far toward getting people to like you. That trait is a sincere and forthright
interest in and love for people.
He was suffering from self-love, a chief cure for which is the practice of love for others.
Guard against the impression that you know it all.
Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone’s achievement,
or express sympathy in sorrow or disappointment.
It is natural to cry when pain or sorrow comes.
Why have I been afraid of death all my life? There is nothing to be afraid of in this.
As a result I began to experience overstrain. Everyone should work hard, but there is not
virtue in overtrying or overpressing to such an extent that you do not work efficiently.
Never belittle an experience because he had it, for he and God know the depth and
sincerity of that experience.
Thomas Edison
Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Living):
Most of my years have been extremely happy, but, as with all of us, some have not. And I
appreciate those, too, for sorrow ad struggle are great teachers.
I believe that when we discover something of great value, it is our obligation and pleasure
to share it with others.
And one’s thoughts determine one’s life, so that even diligent work cannot compensate
for failure in the thinking process.
And I still believe that every person who thinks he or she can, can be a winner.
Mind is everything. We become what we think. –Guatama Buddha
A monumental event can happen any day. Be ready for it.
To believe is to be happy; to doubt is to be wretched. To believe is to be strong. Doubt
cramps energy. Belief is power.
The achiever must believe in other people, for without helping hands no ladder can be
climbed.
I would add another high priority and that is the service to your community and those less
fortunate.
Never build a case against yourself.
Listen, you—you are somebody, so start being what you are supposed to be! And then
stand up to your full height: stand tall, walk tall, think tall, talk tall, and believe tall. Now
go and take that job.
Sure, not everybody is on the up-and-up. But believe in people nevertheless. The more
you believe in people and expect the best from them, the more they will be unconsciously
motivated to live up to your belief.
For example, when a long time negative thinker becomes a positive thinker, that person
may have to unlearn old negative habits that have been years in forming. It can be tough,
but, thank God, not at all impossible.
The second step is to say to yourself, even though you may not believe it at first, “ I am
going to be successful.”
Fourth step: Have the guts to take a risk. Practice believing in the impossible until
impossibilities start becoming possibilities, then actualities. Remember, that is the way
achievers achieve the unachievable.
1. Believe in people—don’t use them.
2. Replace negative attitudes with constant affirmation and optimism.
3. Have faith that what you need will be given you.
We can’t see down that road, but the Lord can. And if we confidently take that first step
He places before us, He’ll show us the next and the next until we reach our goal.
Even if my shoes wore out, I decided, my faith wouldn’t.
Just believe, always believe.
I’ve never found happiness by reaching for happiness itself.
Happiness will never come if it’s a goal in itself; happiness is a by-product of a
commitment to worthy causes.
It’s true; anger, resentment, a nonforgiving nature can wreak havoc on a person
physically and spiritually.
During the good times as well as the bad, Dad held on to his faith.
There was another experience which taught me to be careful about judging others, to
remember that every person carries his or her own sorrow. Yes, you’ll find life will never
be empty if you get out of yourself by taking advantage of the many opportunities to help
others in their struggles.
Truly great people live extraordinary lives because, I believe, for the most part they have
an ingrained habit of always thinking of other people and showing them kindness.
The surest cure for an empty feeling, then, is to think and act to cultivate a genuine
concern for everyone, especially those who have it rough.
Each of us can expect astonishing results when we seize the opportunity to help someone
else. And in the right spirit, it makes us feel good.
Happy people, and I think they are smart, too, choose love, virtue, and hope.
It’s not always the number of one’s years, but the quality that counts.
That’s the way to think and talk! Take what you can get, and do the best you can with it.
Work at it until it becomes something great.
If you are not excited, you can get excited. And how? The answer is: Act as if you are
excited.
That was his gift to me - helping me to see my place in a world where people has to
depend on one another. Whatever contribution I could eventually make to our world, it
would be a lot more fulfilling than the life of fun and games I had left back in New York.
Everything worth accomplishing is tough and requires will, purpose, goals, stumbling,
falling, picking oneself up, and resolutely going forward again despite all setbacks.
There are two enormous powers operating in the world and one of them is fear. It is the
greatest power of all, save one, and that is faith or believing. Faith is the most powerful of
all forces. It alone is greater than fear; and faith, firmly held, can cancel out fear. Faith
works wonders.
The next time fear knocks on the door of your mind, ask yourself what is the worst that
could happen. Then ask if it has ever happened to you. And what are the chances of it
happening now? Aren’t the chances that the worst will not happen far greater than the
slim chance that it will?
And keep talking about positive thinking, for to have a sound, healthy body you’ve got to
have a sound, healthy mind.
The life force pours out of you through the holes you create in your life through
addiction. The worst are emotional addictions such as addiction to sadness, to chaos, to a
feeling that we are not good enough.
Always remember, there is more strength in you than you have ever realized or even
imagined. Certainly, nothing can keep you down if you are determined to get on top of
things and stay there.
Always hold the thought that you can, if you think you can.
Believers draw upon extra power reserves.
However you get there, you’ll know when you have arrived at that still, quiet place at the
center of your being where mind and body are unified.
What’s in your mind is often quite literally or ‘anatomically’ what is your body.
Anything that offers hope has the potential to health.
The desire to get better is very important and is needed in order to build up real faith.
“If you have faith even as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you”
(Matthew 17:20). It isn’t so much the quantity of the faith as the quality of one’s belief.
This expectation extends into the cancer field, where bad news is always traumatic. Your
immediate attitude is negative.
A natural cell is stronger than a cancer cell. Strengthening it in its natural environment
will give it a greater chance to overwhelm the cancer cell.
You can think your way out of sickness.
A country doctor, prominent in the American Medical Association, discussed with me the
physical effects of hate. He told me that it actually ought to be called a disease, a virulent
one.
If you find anxiety getting the upper hand, imagine peace of mind.
If you simply accept the situation, you’ll get well.
I think and talk health and you’ll be smart if you do the same, for what you think about
your body has a lot to do with how you feel.
“Let me give some advice, son; live your life and forget your age and always think
health.”
But you see, incredible things can happen to anyone who mentally takes charge,
constantly sending healthy thoughts circulating, vibrating, and pulsating through the
physical system. The general rule seems to be – and for a fact is – think right and feel
right.
Expectation, the pure kind, has powerful magnetic attraction. Whatever you call it,
“comeback power” or “rebound power,” it is in your personality all the time, even in the
worst of times. That is why things can always be better.
When we are trying to adjust to things that go wrong, we need to recognize that most of
what is going wrong usually comes from within ourselves.
We ourselves are almost always the cause of things going wrong. You may not become a
national celebrity on your comeback trail, but things can become better, much better, and
that is our goal, to achieve the better life and live there with joy.
Everyone has greater powers than we ever realize.
Believe that you can, you can, you can. Personalize that word “can” and say it aloud
every day: “I can, I can, I can.” Success is lurking in your mind. Let it out. Let it come to
life. Think it out, pray it out, believe it out.”
Their success is as much a matter of attitude as of hard work and talent. They are
optimists. That optimism is astonishingly powerful, and it can be cultivated.
The optimist almost invariably has an edge over less enthusiastic colleagues.
Doubts tried to creep into my mind, but every time a negative thought came to me, I
stopped, mentally if not physically, challenged it, thrust it out of my consciousness and
thought of something worthwhile.
Henry J. Kaiser’s Five Rules for Being Successful
First: Know yourself and decide what you want to make out of your life. Then write
down your goals and plan to reach them.
Second: Use the great powers you can tap through your faith in God, the hidden energies
of your soul and your subconscious mind.
Third: Love people and serve them.
Fourth: Develop positive traits of character and personality.
Fifth: Work! Put your life’s plan into determined action. Go after what you want with all
that’s in you!
Her talent was there all those years, lying dormant. It was not until her thinking changed,
until she discovered her native talent, that she found fulfillment in painting.
List your asses when you’re feeling hopeless or inadequate.
Do every job – no matter how “small” – with care and enthusiasm.
Do only what you know to be right if you want to gain real happiness.
Stand porter to your mind.
“As an actress, before I went on camera, I’d make sure anxiety stayed out and confidence
in my ability came in.”
That’s a wonderful sign to put up yourself when fear or negative thinking tries to push
past your censor: “No Vacancy.”
…the sort of rolling gait with which he walked and that thousand-watt smile of his
But he took this blow chin up, throwing himself into his work.
And if you are saying, “But I have no faith,” I like you, anyway. You and I are friends.
It is not the strongest man who wins. It’s the one who wants it just a little bit more than
the next and keeps on believing.
Thought stopping is an effective response to self-defeating thoughts and emotions. Each
time a negative thought comes to mind, students can immediately say to themselves
“stop.”
We need not let ourselves be limited as to what we can or cannot do because we “don’t
have the strength” or we “are not important” or “don’t have any influence.”
Your life is not in your arms and hands, but in your brain and in your heart. You are
going to accomplish everything that you really want to accomplish.
They didn’t put the winner of the race on their shoulders. They put Ike on their shoulders
and carried him around the track, shouting his name.
Each became extraordinary. How? By thinking and believing, by working, failing,
picking themselves up, and trying again and yet again.
To every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage.
I believe + I can + I will = I did.
The answer to difficulty is to be a believer.
Life is not all fun and easy going. Far from it; there are many rough times. But, sadly, we
too often let the hard times dull our enthusiasm. And that is dangerous, if not fatal, to our
lives.
“I rate enthusiasm over professional skill.”
Enthusiasm is the force that keeps motivation going until a goal is reached.
He taught that a person wishing to cultivate a better way of thinking may act “as if” he
did possess it; and if that individual continues persistently to act “as if,” then he or she
will, in fact, become as acted.
He has worked all his life with the problem of himself and has found that for him positive
mental attitudes bring much better results than negative thinking.
**End of Norman Vincent Peale books**
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to
try just one more time." - Thomas Edison
Humble people don't think less of themselves ... they just think of themselves less. Norman Vincent Peale
Act in alignment with your highest point of confidence not lowest point of caution. Keep
caution in the backseat and boldness in the front
"Discipline is not punishment. Discipline is changing someone's behavior." -Nick Saban
“Don't aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are
going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only
does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than
oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness
must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring
about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to
carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—
in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to
think about it."
Viktor Frankl
“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing to you.”
“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether
you did it or not.” Oprah
“When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to
learn.” Tom Landry
The ones who want to achieve & win championships motivate themselves. -Mike Ditka
"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is more important than the outcome."
Arthur Ashe
Players need to understand that talent is a "gift"; but attitude, focus, spirit, discipline, and
character are "choices”
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. -Steve Jobs
The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender. -Vince Lombardi
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. -Dr. Seuss
"I encourage players to “be the best you can be every day.” Some days will be more
difficult than others, but by focusing on trying to get something out of every day, even if
it is something small, that’s an important step in becoming the best possible version of
themselves." -John Wooden
“Success has always been easy to measure. It is the distance between one’s origins and
one’s final achievement.” Michael Korda
“Impossibility: A word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.” Napoleon
“Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all
time.” Chilon
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never
grow.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”
Andrew Carnegie
“A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance.” Tom Flores
“All men who have achieved great things have been dreamers.” Orison Swett Marden
"The greatest holiday feast is eaten one bite at a time. Gulp it down all at once and you
get indigestion. I discovered the same is true in teaching. To be effective, a leader must
dispense information in bite-size, digestible amounts." John Wooden
“The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret.” Sarah Bombell (swimmer)
“You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” Michael
Phelps
On winning a second consecutive SoCon title … “It feels amazing. Everybody from the
starters to everybody who comes off the bench put in countless hours of work over the
summer, in practice, and in conditioning for times like this. We will never forget these
memories. Knowing the hard work pays off after countless hours in the gym takes you a
long way. We struggled and had some ups and downs this season but we all came
together like a family. That’s what it’s all about.” De’Mon Brooks