Misconceptions about Success and Greatness

Facts About Coaching Greats:

• After 6 seasons, Bill Belichick’s head coaching record was 41-55.
• Cowboy’s coaching legend, Tom Landry, experienced his first winning season in year seven of his career. His winning percentage during that time was .311.
• John Wooden did not win his first national championship until year 17. He could never win the “Big One.” Ten National Titles later he proved people wrong.
• Mike Krzyzewski’s record was 111-106 in his first eight years as head coach and 38-47 during his first three seasons at Duke.
• In 22 years as a Big League skipper Jim Leyland experienced ten losing campaigns.
• Four-time Super Bowl winning head coach, Chuck Noll, had a 51-60 record in his last eight seasons. His first three years as a head coach he compiled a 12-30 record.

1. It comes easy: Studying coaching greats, you can see that most, if not all, struggled at some point in their career. If you want to be great, be prepared to fail.
2. The path is straight: There will be peaks and there will be valleys along the journey. Stay humble when you are on a peak and confident when you are in a rut.
3. Reaching the summit is the best feeling in the world: Please watch the video below (it is the best TEDx  talk that I have seen) about Alison Levine’s experience conquering Mount Everest. The journey is more memorable than conquering your goal. “Lessons From the Ledge.”
4. Hard work guarantees success: Somewhere along the line we developed the idea that hard work means you will get the results you want. It doesn’t. There are no guarantees. That is the beauty of it.
5. There’s no such thing as luck:  Call it want you want, timing or being in the right place at the right time; there is often an element of luck involved. Most highly successful people are humble enough to acknowledge that circumstances, at some level, played a huge part in their success.

Are You Struggling?
Have you ever been frustrated with your lack of success?  You have a clear goal.  Maybe it is a weight loss goal.  Possibly you’ve dreamed of greater financial success or climbing the corporate ladder. You’ve changed your habits.  In addition, you have worked hard; really hard.  While your friends and colleagues have played, you’ve sacrificed.  You are doing all the right things, BUT, here is the hard pill to swallow….the results have actually gotten worse!

Sports can teach us a lot. The graphs display results of some of the all-time coaching greats.  We are talking the top 1% of coaches in their given sport.  There was adversity in their careers. We have developed misconceptions about success.  We believe that John Wooden never had a player upset with him.  You can guarantee he did (there are stories of disgruntled Wooden players).  We believe that Coach K was able to experience immediate success.  It is not true; in his first eight years he was around a .500 coach.

My Advice to Myself:
I have a few pieces of advice after studying some of the titans in coaching.  Please understand that the advice is for myself.  Hopefully, my reminders, can assist you as well.

1. Never compare your journey to someone else- The goal is to experience our best self;  comparing will only lead to arrogance or frustration. Neither are admirable.
2. Focus on the next 200 feet- Sometimes goals seem insurmountable. Chunk it down. Focus on winning segments of the day. Looking too far ahead will make you want to stop.
3. Embrace the valleys- Yes, there are going to be challenges along the way. Everyone experiences struggle. Who are we to think we are above adversity? Be different. Take a challenge; adjust our thinking. We are in this position for a reason.
4. Connect with others– Along the journey we will encounter special people. Don’t take them for granted.
5. Help someone- There will be times when you have the ability to enhance someone’s life experience. Do it.
6. You’ll need assistance along the way- Your success will be the result of many things but none more important than the people you are surrounded by; parents, spouse, friends, bosses, administrators and your assistants. There is no way you can do it alone. Don’t forget it.
7. Stay in the Fight- the best coaches of all time very rarely reached the ultimate prize (Super Bowl Champs, World Series Champs, National Champs). However, they never “gave a season away.” Each opportunity is special; treat it as such.
8. Everything is not in our control- What if Tom Landry got fired after his fifth losing season in a row?  Is he still considered great? What if Coach K doesn’t get hired at Duke after going 9-17 in his last year at Army? Would he be the coaching icon he is today?
9. You will face critics- Your name will get drug through the mud. You will upset people; sometimes you will be to blame and other times you will not. Accept it, apologize sincerely, and move on. I wish it could be seamless; however, it is not.
10. It’s not about reaching the summit- Treat others well, work hard; “smell the roses” and develop deep relationships. Understand that the end goal is not the most important thing; instead, it’s what you experience during the journey.

I don’t know much, but I do know we have a misunderstood concept of what success and goal pursuit actually looks like.  If you are doing the right thing and not getting the results you want, join the club! Success isn’t a straight line; just look at the legends of coaching.  Let me say it again, we are talking about elite level coaches! You can clearly see their careers were not exempt from struggle, nor was their success a perfect climb.  Why would we expect ours to be? You are in insanely good company.  Put your nose down, keep working hard, be kind, enjoy the journey and understand that you are exactly where you need to be.

I don’t know about you, but this week I’m going to embrace this moment in my quest.  Great things are destined to happen; however, it isn’t going to happen on my time or exactly the way I planned.  Thank you all for being a huge part of my journey.

With much respect,

Mike