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Dominate Your Current Role

The author and speaker, Tim Ferris, asks his podcast guests: “If you could write a word or a phrase on a billboard what would it be?”  One of my messages would be, “Dominate your Current Role.”  Many people have a negative attitude toward “small” and “unimportant” jobs.  This flawed mindset leads to missed opportunities.

Filling Water Bottles:

My first coaching job was an assistant baseball/assistant cross country coach.  I knew very little about cross country other than running that far and that often was not something I would ever want to do.  One of my jobs was filling the water bottles.   “Why do I have to do this?  This is stupid.”  I had many negative thoughts initially; however, I quickly shifted my perspective.  I took pride in my work realizing that hydration was critical.  I paid attention to the amount of ice I put into each bottle.  I made sure the Gatorade logo was “faced” properly in the water carrier (a lesson I learned stocking shelves at Coke).  While not glamorous, this was my role and I wanted to dominate it.

Over time, my role expanded.  I never became an expert on the science of training elite runners; however, I was able to impart strategies on team building and competition.  The head coach and I began discussing race strategy and I took a more active role in team meetings.  I earned the increased responsibilities because of my positive attitude toward the mundane task of filling water bottles.

Sports Application:

As a coach, I see it all the time.  An athlete is disappointed in their playing time or role.  This athlete has a powerful choice: either pout and complain or figure out a way to crush their current role.  Unfortunately, it’s common for people to think that a poor attitude will lead to more opportunities.  In successful teams and organizations this approach will get you buried and eventually removed from the program.

It takes guts and fortitude, but the athletes that make it out of the pile are the ones who are willing to keep pushing.  They are not playing in varsity games, but they treat pre-game activities like it’s their game.  During intra-squads they are flying around and doing everything they can to push the starters and win the competition.  While not content, they CHOOSE to face the situation as a challenge and they attack it with an “A” attitude.  They are relentless in their preparation because they have faith their number will be called, and when that time comes, they will be ready.

Business Application:

I work with 18-22 year olds.  It is interesting to hear their perspectives on internships and new jobs.  Not always, but frequently, they are disappointed in the early responsibilities and tasks. Getting coffee, proof reading the report, answering phones or emails are not what they envisioned. Most people miss a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate a positive attitude, competence, and a team first mindset by approaching these task halfheartedly.  I often ask, “how can they trust you with bigger roles when they can’t trust you with the smaller jobs?”

In business, just like sports, new employees have a choice: pout or figure out a way to stand out.  People notice when someone is working hard and trying to add value to an organization.  It doesn’t have to be a high profile assignment.  Sometimes it’s easier to make a positive impression during the “low burn” jobs.

A Note to Leaders:

It’s become quite popular to bash the younger generations.  The term “Millennial” has become derogatory.  There are many stereotypes that accompany the younger generation, one being that they don’t want to do the “grunt work.”  When are we going to stop blaming the generation and start demanding better leadership?  What if we took a different approach and became extremely intentional about acknowledging “lower-profile” jobs and tasks? What if we clearly articulated the importance of the job and explained the opportunity for growth within the organization?

Most of our time and attention goes to the “star” performers.  While the “A-players” need recognition, it is a better investment to spend time with those who are underappreciated.  The freshmen shortstop who is batting third is just fine; it’s the freshmen that is grinding and not seeing the results that needs us the most.  Celebrate and praise those individuals and groups who are doing thankless jobs with a plus attitude; the ones who raise the energy level just by stepping in a room.  Those are the future stars.

There are plenty of young athletes and workers who are special.  These gifted people will make a big impact on any organization.  We just have to look at the problem differently and ask better questions as to how we can best serve them.  It’s our obligation to help them dominate their current role!

Make it an Awesome Week,

Mike

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Standing on the Shoulders of Those Before Us

Recently, I was speaking at an event.  During the presentation, I discussed the importance of creating clarity. The example I used was our baseball program’s five and ten-year plan.  Following the discussion one man asked, “How do you get young people to buy into a vision ten years out when they won’t even be there?”

A Program vs. A Team:

This past season, our baseball program had one of the most successful years in school history.  The team set the record for most wins and made the program’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament.  What made me most proud was the reaction of our former players, parents and staff.  It was their hard work, sacrifice and dedication that allowed the 2018 club to have success.  It was proof that we created a strong program.

A team is together for a year.  The members of a team have a goal that they are trying to accomplish during a particular season.  Being a part of a team is great; however, the most special thing for any athlete or coach is to a be a part of a program.  When you are a member of a program, time doesn’t matter. Roles will likely change, but the individuals continue to care deeply about the program long after their playing days.  This is not the case for those just involved with a team. When a team member’s service time concludes, they move on.  In fact, former team members are frequently jealous of the groups that follow.  They silently hope for failure.  Members of a program understand the journey of the present team.  They empathize with the struggle, they offer support, and they celebrate accomplishments.  They are the present team’s biggest cheerleader.

A Team is bound by time.

A Program is timeless.

A Team can be selfish.

A Program is selfless.

Standing on the Shoulders of Those Before Us:

In our locker room is an aerial picture of our baseball field.  The field is empty, manicured perfectly, and the lights are on.  We added the names of the past players in our program to the picture with a headline stating, “Standing on the Shoulders of Those Before Us.”  It’s our way of honoring the past players and teams. In our minds, the names listed are legends.  They each have a story that greatly impacts our current situation.  Any accomplishments we achieve are directly related to the effort of our past groups.  Every year, before our players move into the locker room, I bring them in small groups and discuss the poster.  I’m sure some of the guys roll their eyes as I explain the importance of the previous teams and players.  That is o.k.  I want them to know they are a part of a program and not just a team.

Action Step:

Have you thought recently about those people who allowed you to flourish?  Did your parents work thankless jobs in order for you to have opportunities?  Was there a teacher or coach that believed in you at a critical time in your life?  Maybe there was a colleague that for some reason took the time to mentor you.  Is it possible that the current success you are having is in large part to someone else’s prior effort?

My hope is this week you will take a few moments each day and reflect upon those special people who have allowed you to “stand on their shoulders.”  Better yet, reach out and connect with someone who made a big impact on your life.  Why wait?  Pick up the phone, write an email or a handwritten letter (Read The Power of the Handwritten Note).  We should intentionally thank those special people that have guided us along our path.

A Word of Encouragement:

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never see.” James Kerr Legacy

For those of us who are working and striving and may not be seeing the present results have you thought that maybe we are paving the road for someone else?  Maybe our job is to do the hard work in order for someone else to flourish.  There is a ton of honor in this.  I may never become a world class coach, author, or speaker.  But my commitment may allow someone close to me to reach their goals.  My motivation is no longer about myself.  It is to make life’s journey better for those I love.

Final Thought:

To the man in the audience who asked, “How do you get kids to buy into a vision when they won’t even be there:” well, unless you have been a part of a program I’m not sure you’d understand.  Everyone plays a role in a program.  It’s special.  And, if you’ve only been a part of a team, you will never truly “get it.”

Please share with me the person or persons whose “shoulders you are standing on.”  Also, I’d love to hear about how your correspondence went with someone who has impacted you.  Don’t wait.  Take the time to show appreciation and gratitude.  You’ll make someone’s day; you’ll also make yours.

Mike

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The Mental Toughness Challenge

The term, Mental Toughness, is talked about frequently.  In the coaching world, we tend to make quick judgements on our athletes’ mental toughness.  When players don’t perform well in so called big moments, they are often labeled as mentally weak.  Before slapping a permanent tag on athletes (and people in general) it is important to first define the characteristics of the mentally tough.

 

Three Characteristics

  1. Courage: Sports and life tend to favor the bold.  The doers.  The ones who will take a challenge.  The ones who are not afraid of failure, or at least if they are afraid, they decide to dance anyway.  It takes courage to overcome obstacles and persist.  The pursuit of excellence is filled with challenges.  Being uncomfortable and experiencing pain is a possibility; however, the courageous know pain is an impetus for change and being uncomfortable is a stimulus for growth.  Courage is a prerequisite for elite performance.  Courage allows you to be in the amphitheater.
  2. Optimism:  Is an act of faith, a belief in something that can’t be proven.  Optimism is what keeps us going when conditions are tough and the outcome appears bleak.  Folks with a pessimistic outlook will generalize these road blocks in a negative way.  “Why me?” “I can never overcome this.” A person with optimism acknowledges the set-back back but charges on knowing she can positively impact the future.
  3. Confidence: The closer we inch toward the pinnacle of our profession the more challenging it becomes to maintain a positive self-image.  It’s important to remember that it is our job to construct our self-image and we control our confidence level.  High achievers rarely feel “at-their best.”  Instead, they draw on their mental skills to win with what they have.  Ken Ravizza, who recently passed away, said it best, “Are you that bad of an athlete that you have to feel great to perform well?”

 

Nearly everyone would agree that mental toughness is critical.  We’d also likely agree that the three traits mentioned above: courage, optimism and confidence are admirable.  The interesting thing is we do very little to enhance these virtues.  Most of us assume these are genetic gifts; that we are born with courage, optimism and confidence.  Sure, there are those who may have a certain genetic coding that helps them along the way.  I, however, believe that if we are intentional we can sharpen our mental performance much like we can improve our physical skills.

 

Internal Resume:

What if we became intentional about sharpening our mental skills? What if we sought out ways to train and measure?  When we attempt to improve physically we test and measure.  Why don’t we do the same thing with our mental skills.

 

This Week’s Challenge:

First, decide the virtues you would like to either gain or improve upon.  Next, find a way to quantify.  For example: to increase your courage do one thing completely out of your comfort zone.  By doing, and not sitting on the sideline, you will be strengthening your courage muscle.  For confidence listen intently to your self-talk and the stories you tell yourself. Are you speaking greatness, or are you using a demeaning voice that kills your self-image?  Be aware of situations in your life where you can choose a positive or negative approach.  Choose the high road and envision the successful outcome.  Finally, journal your findings.  Putting pen to paper will enhance this exercise greatly.

 

Final Thought:

Please don’t sit on the sideline and expect your “mental toughness” to improve.  Get in the game and find ways to enhance these critical skills.  Also, by being in the arena trying to improve we will make those we lead better as well.  It is hard to ask someone to follow if we are not trying to improve ourselves.  I look forward to hearing about your journey this week.

 

Mike

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Do You- The Power of Living Authentically

One of the great gifts an athlete can possess is the ability to know their identity.  It doesn’t matter the sport, knowing and playing to your strengths is critical. In baseball, it’s the guy who doesn’t have great power but he has a knack for getting on base.  He doesn’t try to “go yard” or “hit nukes;” instead, he scraps and figures out a way to help the team.  In basketball, this person is willing to make the extra pass, defend and rebound.  The player’s awareness leads to more at-bats, minutes or repetitions than their “more talented” teammates.  Coaches throughout the country love this type of player.  Why? Because this player embraces who they are, they don’t try to be something they are not, and they end up being incredibly consistent because of it.

The Journey to Authentic Leadership:
The most important thing a leader can do is identify his or her true self. Deep down inside, we know exactly who we are.  Unfortunately, over the years many of us lose our way.  We end up being the type of person/leader we think we are supposed to be, not the person we truly are.   This leads to an identity crisis.  We lose sight of our authentic self.

It’s taken many years, but I am now able to lead authentically.  In order to lead from our heart, we must first take a deep dive into ourselves.  It starts with developing a personal philosophy.  A mistake I see many leaders make is trying to develop a culture without fully understanding their own beliefs.

Michael Gervais, the sports psychologist and high performance coach, says there are three ways to develop your personal philosophy.  These three ideas have greatly shaped and enhanced my life:

  1. Write: There is something powerful about putting pen to paper.   Writing forces you to think deeper; to clarify your thoughts.
  2. Mindfulness Practice: Mindfulness is being present; it’s being where your feet are.  This is my biggest challenge.  My mind races a mile a minute, I can’t sit still, I’m always pushing.  There are numerous ways to practice mindfulness.  I practice mainly by morning walks and with the Head Space app.
  3. Get around wise people: Once you begin down the path of self-mastery an amazing thing begins to occur; you attract wise people into your life.  These relationships have a profound impact.  You start seeing and understanding things in a different light.  For me, this human connection is powerful.

The bad news is that this process is not a quick fix. Living authentically is a life-long endeavor.  It takes time and effort.  The good news is that it has the ability to transform your life.

Once you identify your personal philosophy you’ll clearly notice your strengths and your weaknesses.  Recently, I was with a wise friend.  After a long discussion, he proclaimed, “Mike, you are allergic to money.  Any time charging someone comes up you shut down.”  Holy smokes! He nailed it.  He found a huge hole in my swing.

Here’s another benefit of knowing yourself- you’ll understand your weaknesses, and the best part is, you’ll learn to embrace them.  I have several areas where I am deficient (money is one).  It’s o.k.  Life is about forming teams and tribes.  My goal is to seek out teammates who can make up for my deficit areas.

On the other hand, it’s also important to play to your strengths. Lean into the things you do well! Instead of stifling energy focusing on the weaknesses, I propose working in your sweet spot. Unless we go through the arduous process of self-discovery we won’t know where to focus our time and energy.

Final Thoughts:
The player that I described in the opening paragraph is special.  Anyone who has coached knows exactly what I am talking about. By simply understanding themselves they are able to play free.

The same is true for you and I.  Once we lead from an authentic place our impact on others increases.  We accept our flaws and lean into our strengths.  Self-consciousness and the feelings of inferiority cease to exist. Much like trying to describe the player, it’s hard to articulate and quantify.  You free yourself up to make mistakes and take chances.  You learn that failure is part of the process.  You learn to let it rip!

This Week’s Challenge:
This stuff is heavy.  It’s definitely not for everyone.  It can be scary and lonely at times.  It’s easy to dismiss a personal philosophy as being esoteric or hokey.  It’s also easy to claim busyness as an excuse for lacking the discipline to execute.  Remember, Busy is a decision. I believe that if you want to be your best and live a fulfilling life, a personal philosophy is a must.  This week, pick up a pen and start writing, begin a mindfulness practice, and seek out wise people.  You owe it to yourself.  Please join me on the journey!

Make it a great week,

Mike

P.S. Another major hole in my swing is PowerPoint and Excel.  If you would like to join “my team” and offer your services, please let me know.

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Parental Guilt: How to Deal with the Guilt of Missing Events

My 8-year old son had a baseball tournament last Sunday.  I was able to watch the first game, but I had to miss the rest of the day.  As I was leaving the field I felt terribly guilty.  First, I was missing his game.  Second, I was leaving my wife to take care of our three young daughters.  As I took the walk of shame to my car, I began wondering, “Is it o.k. to miss your child’s games and events?”

If you attend a youth event you will usually find parents intensely watching.  It’s not only games, eager guardians attend practices too.  Currently, there is an unspoken “peer pressure” to always be in attendance.  I’ll be honest, I miss a lot of events.

I decided to write this article for anyone who has, or is, struggling with parental guilt.  Call it self-justification if you’d like, but I believe it is o.k. to not always attend your child’s activities.  In fact, I believe it contains many benefits.

It helps them understand the world does not revolve around them. 

I was speaking with a father who told me his son wanted to play travel baseball.  Travel baseball is a time and financial commitment.  After much debate, the father allowed his son to play, but he explained to him that he and his mother would not be attending many games. The parents would support their son’s desire to play but it was not going to alter everyone’s life.  Commitment was also important to this family; consequently, dad told the young man that they were going to keep the family vacation as scheduled and he would not be able to attend this year.

Reading this may sound extreme.  I think it is brilliant.  The parents allowed their son to make a choice.  Life is full of difficult choices.

It’s good for kids to see that the world does not revolve around their events.  Mom and dad have to work.  Mom and dad, believe it our not, have activities they also enjoy.  Their siblings have activities too. In some way, it helps the child understand that they are not the center of the universe.

They get to share the experience through their eyes.

I’m a coach.  A lot of what I do is analyzing.  Confession: I find myself analyzing and judging the play an 8-year old (I know, it’s pathetic).  It is a hard habit to break.  When watching my son play I often find myself in “coach mode” and guess who gets the brunt of my focus? You guessed it–my son.  “Why didn’t you back up there?”  “Always run hard.”  “Do you think you could have knocked that ball down?”

When I miss a game one of my favorite things to do is ask my son about the experience.  This past week, I asked him about his game.  “B, made a great catch and we got a double play to end the game.  It was awesome!”

What if I would have been at the game?  Would I have focused on the success of his teammates and how fun it was?  Or, would I have critiqued his mistakes?  I think you know the answer.

Hearing your child share the experience through their eyes is priceless.  Adults explain the game through a misguided lens.  Sure, it is important the kids improve and learn “adult” lessons from time to time.  But, it is a beautiful to listen to the child’s account of the game.

It helps you appreciate them more.

It is tough for me to attend events from February-June.  I do, however, have the flexibility to make it from time to time.  Over the years, I have learned that I watch the kids’ events in a much less heightened state during my busy time of year.  In other words, when I am able to attend I watch with much more appreciation.  It’s their activity; I get to enjoy watching them.  Instead of observing to critique, I find myself in a state of amazement and gratitude.

What If:

Why are we so obsessed with attending all of our kid’s events?  I can’t speak for everyone, but my guess is the majority of us worry that by not being present we will be causing harm.  We worry that we are not being supportive of their hopes, dreams and passions. We need to keep up with all the other parents.

What if we are actually helping our children by not attending?  What if they are becoming stronger, more independent, and learning to enjoy the activity?  Is it possible that this guilt is completely unnecessary?

Final Thoughts:

There is nothing like the love of a parent.  It is powerful.  You want to do everything to ensure your children live a happy, a healthy and a meaningful life.  This love and desire can lead to irrational thoughts and behaviors.  This can lead to a false belief that missing an event somehow damages the child. I don’t believe this is the case.  I talk to our kids when I am going to miss: “Daddy won’t be there, but I can’t wait to hear all about it.”  Our kids are fine with this.

Of course, I don’t have the answers.  Time will tell.  I just know that I love my family dearly; even if I have to miss their performances from time to time.

My best to you this week,

Mike

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