LIFE'S GREATEST LESSONS CAN BE LEARNED ON THE HARDWOOD(en)

John Wooden is by far the greatest NCAA college basketball coach of all time. During his time at UCLA, he lead the Bruins to 10 National Championships in a 12 year period. His team won a record 88 consecutive games and he was named National Coach of the Year 6 times. He was also a 3 time All-American guard and a member of Purdue's 1932 national championship team. A legend. A man among boys. Through out his coaching years, Wooden based his core values off his Pyramid of Success. John Wooden wasn’t satisfied with Webster’s definition of success. He felt like young people deserved a healthier definition, and then laid out for them the ingredients of success in this chart..

 

 

If we all take time to reflect on Coach Wooden's success model, we can see the cornerstones of his pyramid are: Industriousness and Enthusiasm. Nothing can ever replace the value of hard work and ambition. Coach Wooden did not coach to win games. He did not coach to be the best dynasty ever created. He coached his players to be better people, to be student-athletes, to be involved in the community and most importantly, to be bring out the best in everyone. Thank you for the great life lessons, Coach Wooden!

 

“Success is peace of mind which is
a direct result of self-satisfaction
in knowing you made the effort to
become the best that you are
capable of becoming.” JRW

BATON ROUGE SURGEON, DR. CATHERINE BAUCOM, BRINGS A NEW MEANING TO BEING RELIABLE AND DEDICATED

This article was published on Yahoo News on August of 2012. Thanks for the great lesson!

Dr. Catherine Baucom was stuck in traffic while making her way to the BRASS Surgery Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Wednesday. So the determined doctor left her car behind and cut through the traffic jam on a 7-year-old's pink bicycle.

"Catherine called, she was outside my house.  She said 'Hey do you have a bike?'" colleague Dr. Brian Barnett told WAFB. "I walked outside and said yeah, it's a kids bike. I got the air pump out and aired the tires up as much as I could."

The nearly 6-foot-tall surgeon then donned the girl's helmet and peddled away.

"It was hot pink and small," Dr. Baucom said, "The helmet was pink with princesses."

Dr. Baucom then cut through traffic on Baton Rouge Interstate 10 before being stopped by police. When she explained the unusual circumstances surrounding her mode of travel, police immediately escorted her through traffic and to the operating room.

"They said we can escort you and he essentially drove past me and then he turned around and was videotaping me," Dr. Baucom said.  "I did tell him I didn't know if he could keep up with me."

Dr. Baucom herself is an avid cyclist. And as a small reward for her dedication, Dr. Barnett's daughter said she could keep the princess-themed helmet. However, the bike itself has been returned.

***This article is a great of example of doing whatever it takes to follow through with your commitments. Dr. Baucom could have easily gave into the temptations of an excuse of not showing up to surgery on time, but she did what every successful person does; she found a way to follow through with her commitment.  Thank you for the inspirational story, Dr. Baucom!

THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT WORDS

The 10 Most Important Words:

I won't wait for others to take the first step.

The 9 Most Important Words:

If it is to be, it's up to me.

The 8 Most Important Words:

If not me, who? If not now, when?

The 7 Most Important Words:

Let me take a shot at it.

The 6 Most Important Words:

I will not pass the buck.

The 5 Most Important Words:

You can count on me.

The 4 Most Important Words:

It IS my job!

The 3 Most Important Words:

Just do it!

The 2 Most Important Words:

I will.

The Most Important Words:

Me

 

 

Frank Tyger said it best... "Your future depends on many things, but mostly yourself."

IF 99.9% WERE GOOD ENOUGH

If 99.9% Were Good Enough
From InSight, Syncrude Canada Ltd, Communications Division

Below is a list of instances to why giving 100% in everything you do is so important.

If 99.9% Were Good Enough, then...

• Two million documents will be lost by the IRS this year.
• 811,000 faulty rolls of 35mm film will be loaded this year.
• 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next 60 minutes
• 1,314 phone calls will be misplaced by telecommunication services every minute.
• 268,500 defective tires will be shipped this year.
• 14,208 defective PCs will be shipped this year.
• 103,260 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly this year.
• 2,488,200 books will be shipped in the next 12 months with the wrong cover.
• 5,517,200 cases of soft drinks produced in the next 12 months will be flatter than a bad tire.
• Two plane landings daily at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago will be unsafe.
• 3,065 copies of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will be missing one of the three sections.
• 18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled in the next hour.
• 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.
• 880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to have incorrect card holder information on their magnetic strips.
• $9,690 will be spent today, tomorrow, next Thursday, and every day in the future on defective, often unsafe sporting equipment.
• 55 malfunctioning automatic teller machines will be installed in the next 12 months.
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written in the next 12 months.
• 114,500 mismatched pairs of shoes will be shipped this year.
• $761,900 will be spent in the next 12 months on tapes and CDs that won't play.
• 107 incorrect medical procedures will be performed by the end of the day today.
• 315 entries in Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language will turn out to be misspelled.
• 12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day
  
  Make sure you always put in 100% effort to get 100% return!

WINNERS VS LOSERS

Winners vs. Losers

THE WINNER

IS ALWAYS PART OF THE ANSWER

THE LOSER

IS ALWAYS PART OF THE PROBLEM

 

THE WINNER

ALWAYS HAS A PROGRAM

THE LOSER

ALWAYS HAS AN EXCUSE

 

THE WINNER

SAYS “LET ME DO IT FOR YOU.”

THE LOSER

SAYS “THAT’S NOT MY JOB.”

 

THE WINNER

SEES AN ANSWER FOR EVERY PROBLEM

THE LOSER

SEES A PROBLEM IN EVERY ANSWER

 

THE WINNER

SEES A GREEN NEAR EVERY SAND TRAP

THE LOSER

SEES TWO OR THREE SAND-TRAPS NEAR EVERY GREEN

 

THE WINNER

SAYS “IT MAY BE DIFFICULT BUT IT’S POSSIBLE.”

THE LOSER

SAYS “IT MAY BE POSSIBLE BUT IT’S TOO DIFFICULT.”

 

BE A WINNER

THE LINCOLN STORY

Lincoln, arguably the best president that the US has had had some pretty tough failures, but he got back up and ran again, and again, and again, and again… and became the man that he was.

YEAR	FAILURES or SETBACKS	SUCCESSES
1832	Lost job Defeated for state legislature	Elected company captain of Illinois militia in Black Hawk War
1833	Failed in business	Appointed postmaster of New Salem, Illinois Appointed deputy surveyor of Sangamon County
1834		Elected to Illinois state legislature
1835	Sweetheart died
1836	Had nervous breakdown	Re-elected to Illinois state legislature (running first in his district) Received license to practice law in Illinois state courts
1837		Led Whig delegation in moving Illinois state capital from Vandalia to Springfield Became law partner of John T. Stuart
1838	Defeated for Speaker	Nominated for Illinois House Speaker by Whig caucus Re-elected to Illinois House (running first in his district) Served as Whig floor leader
1839		Chosen presidential elector by first Whig convention Admitted to practice law in U.S. Circuit Court
1840		Argues first case before Illinois Supreme Court Re-elected to Illinois state legislature
1841		Established new law practice with Stephen T. Logan
1842		Admitted to practice law in U.S. District Court
1843	Defeated for nomination for Congress
1844		Established own law practice with William H. Herndon as junior partner
1846		Elected to Congress
1848	Lost renomination	(Chose not to run for Congress, abiding by rule of rotation among Whigs.)
1849	Rejected for land officer	Admitted to practice law in U.S. Supreme Court Declined appointment as secretary and then as governor of Oregon Territory
1854	Defeated for U.S. Senate	Elected to Illinois state legislature (but declined seat to run for U.S. Senate)
1856	Defeated for nomination for Vice President
1858	Again defeated for U.S. Senate
1860		Elected President

Every day we have setbacks, things don’t go like we want them to, negatives, loses, etc. We can choose to focus on the negative things in our lives and when we take a hit decide to retreat or we can choose to realize that life isn’t over and get back up and try again. What will you choose?

VISUALIZE YOUR GOALS

 Cutting Down the Net

We are taught if you really desire something in life, you must visualize it first.  People who see and visualize their goals are much more likely to ultimately reach them.  Tom Izzo coaches basketball at Michigan State University and took them to win a national
title in 2000.  The first practice that season he went into a storage closet and got out a ladder.  During practice he made the players climb the ladder and practice cutting down the net.  This shows the importance of setting goals and visualizing success.  Know what you want in life and visualize it everyday, making it a reality!