“If the game of life ended today, would you be a winner?” This book goes deep on the practices best practices Jim Tressel has found on winning the game of life. I loved it. And if you’re pursuing the highest version of yourself, you probably will as well.
- On Goals
- Goals are important but it’s important to understand people are not defined by their goals. A win or a loss does not make you better or worse as a human being.
- Let your goals come from your purpose
- Goals must be measurable. You need to be able to quantify what you want to accomplish
- On Success
- “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you’re capable of becoming.” –John Wooden
- Success is an everyday proposition
- The true measure of success is whether we feel good about our ability to contribute to whatever team we’re on.
- More difficult to handle success than adversity. That’s because it’s a natural human tendency to rest on our laurels when we’ve done well. If we get punched in the nose, we have an instinctual desire to fight back
- “Success is a lousy teacher. It makes smart people think they can’t lose.” –Bill Gates
- True success is achieve when our main concern is the good of others and the building up of the team
- On Losing
- You learn a lot more from losing than you do winning
- When you go through adversity, you often find yourself alone. No one’s calling to speak to you or clamoring for your time, so you have more of it to yourself.
- On Skeptics
- Some will laugh at your dream and say you need some dose of reality. Don’t allow those people to distract you from your purpose
- On Attitude
- “The greatest discovery of my generation that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” –William James
- “Paradise is where I am.” –Voltaire
- Champions believe in themselves even if no one else does.
- It’s not what happens to you in life. It’s how you handle it.
- On Gratitude
- “It’s impossible to grateful and unhappy at the same time”
- On Optimism
- The word “enthusiasm” is a derivative of the Greek word entheos, which means “full of spirit, full of God”
- On Discipline
- Discipline will help us live more freeing, invigorating lives
- When no one else is looking: Discipline is what you do when no one else is looking! It’s being considerate of the other person. Having good personal habits – you are polite, on time, and take care of business with pride.
- “Self-discipline is when you tell yourself to do something and you don’t talk back.” –W. K. Hope
- On Focus
- “The only thing a player can control at golf is his own game; so concern about what other competitors may or may not be doing is both a useless distraction and a waste of energy” –Jack Nicklaus
- Wherever we are, that’s where our focus needs to be. Be the best where you are.
- “In basketball, as in life, true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way. Of course, it is no accident that things are more likely to go your way when you stop worrying about whether you’re going to win or lose and focus your full attention on what’s happening right this moment. The day I took over the Bulls, I vowed to create an environment based on the principles of selflessness and compassion.” –Phil Jackson
- On Excellence
- “Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible.” –Cadet Maxim, U.S. Military Academy
- The hallmark of excellence, the test of greatness, is consistency
- On Faith
- “Faith doesn’t mean the absence of fear. It means having the energy to go ahead, right alongside fear.” –Sharon Salzberg
- There are two components to faith and belief: (1) the faith people have in something bigger than themselves and (2) the belief they have in themselves and what they’re doing
- “I think when you move past your fear and go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free. Know what I’m saying? Move past the fear.” –LL Cool J
- You have to believe you can reach your goals or it’s not going to happen
- On Work
- “Work is love made visible.” –Khalil Gibran
- “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” –Colossians 3:23
- Take your craft seriously
- Work is a gift from God
- On Persistence
- “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of uneducated failures. Persistence and determinate alone are omnipotent.” –Calvin Coolidge
- On Failure
- “Whatever you do, do it passionately. Failure is an event, not a person. Every obstacle presents an opportunity… if you’re looking for it. Relax! You only fail when you quit.”
- On Love
- “Concern for man and his fate must form the chief interest of all technical endeavors… Never forget that in the midst of your diagrams and equations.” –Albert Einstein
- Every team needs two basic components in order to be champions: love and discipline. And if you have love, discipline will follow because players who love each other don’t want to let the team down. They’ll do anything to make the team better. Dr. Pat Spurgeon
- Love isn’t a deep mushy term. It’s that feeling of commitment each player has for another player.
- “When we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged on how much we loved.” –Mother Teresa
- “All I ask is that you play better than you are. As an individual and as a team, play better than you are. you may not win. but that’s all I’m asking. And for you to play better than you are means you’re not just playing for yourself. You’re playing for that man on each side of you, on the other side of the ball, your coaches, the people cheering you on. You will forget being tired. You will not be tired. You will play better than you are. But you cannot do that unless you have love.” –Doc Spurgeon
- Showing genuine care for someone helps the giver as much as the receiver, if not more. There is a by-product of love that can’t be quantified on the spreadsheet
- When you help someone up a hill, you get that much closer to the top yourself
- On Responsibility
- Responsibility is doing whatever your role is, no matter how small you think that role is. Can the team count on you for that? You have to do your job and do it well, with all your heart.
- Every small part of your craft is important. The minute you lower your standards for yourself, the minute your work suffers
- Gandhi’s 7 deadly sins
- Wealth without work
- Pleasure without conscious
- Knowledge without character
- Business without morality
- Science without humanity
- Worship without sacrifice
- Politics without principles
- On Reputation
- “The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.”
- “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation: for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.” –George Washington
- The way you speak about others says so much about who you are.
- On Self Pity
- Self pity is a trap that leads to depression
- On Caring
- Caring for others also changes your own life