Ten Great Life Skills to Have, to Get, to Use, and to Improve!
April 13, 2007
It takes a lot of skills to negotiate through life. Many of them we pick up along the way, others we need to develop, and some we just need to polish a little bit.
Here are ten important life skills:
1. Listening
2. Giving compliments
3. Accepting compliments
4. Thinking positive
5. Saying “No”
6. Laughing
7. Planning
8. Asking questions
9. Reading
10. Exercising
Now, consider the following questions:
How often do you use these skills? –Not enough? Too much? Or not at all?
Could you benefit from studying or applying any of these more? What type of help would you need to improve a skill?
Are there others skills that are more important or more necessary to you than these are? If so, what are they?
Answer these questions and you’ll not only discover weak areas that you need to improve upon, you’ll discover your true strengths… and have a lot of fun while you do!
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Jim Allen is a writer, speaker, and life coach. For more ideas, subscribe to his weekly newsletter, THE BIG IDEA by sending a blank email to: SubscribeACT@CoachJim.com.
Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success Still Standing
April 4, 2007
At the age of 96, living in Encino, California and making 20 to 30 speeches a year, former UCLA coach John Wooden still keeps in touch with more players than he could name in one breath, including Bill Walton, Andy Hill, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Keith Erickson, Keith Wilkes, Mike Warren, Kenny Washington and John Vallely. And those are just the ones he has breakfast with on a regular basis. But that only seems natural for a leader whose “Pyramid of Success” includes friendship, loyalty and team spirit as three of its 15 blocks.
Wooden has been called the greatest college coach in history thanks to a long list of accomplishments, including a record 10 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship titles. But for him, it’s not about the number of wins and losses: It’s about how the game is played.
In fact, his players say they don’t recall their coach ever stressing the importance of winning a game. For Wooden, it was about sticking to the fundamentals. “On the first day of practice, I remember him saying, ‘I’m not going to be talking to you about winning or losing because I think that’s a byproduct of our preparation. I would much rather be focused on the process of becoming the best team we’re capable of becoming,’” says John Vallely, who played under Wooden on the 1969 and 1970 UCLA national championship basketball teams.
- Andy Hill on how Coach Wooden helped him become a good leader
- Coach Wooden on how he created his definition of success
- Coach Wooden on what he’s most proud of
- John Vallely on how the Pyramid of Success applies to all aspects of life
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the importance of preparation and the fundamentals
- Bill Walton on what Coach Wooden has taught him about basketball and life
Building the Pyramid of Success
Wooden’s famous philosophy on coaching and life has become ingrained in the minds of his former players and continues to guide many of their lives today. But Wooden didn’t create the pyramid with basketball in mind; he worked on it over a 14-year-period, aiming to create a new definition of success. While teaching high school English, he saw parents criticizing their children for receiving less than an “A” or “B.” That’s when he knew he needed to find a way to pass on his message that success isn’t just about how much stuff you have or how powerful you’ve become; it’s about finding peace of mind.
After completing the pyramid in 1948 while coaching at Indiana State University, Wooden coined his definition of success as, “Peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” Wooden says that even though he had new ideas about the pyramid throughout its building years, the cornerstones–industriousness and enthusiasm–have always remained constant.
Winning is a Habit. Unfortunately, So is Losing.
April 2, 2007
by Vince Lombardi
Winning is not a sometime 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 a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that is first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game–but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be the first in anything we do and to win, and to win, and to win.
Every time a football player goes out to play, he’s got to play from the ground up. From the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That’s okay - you’ve got to be smart to be number one in my business. But, more important, you’ve got to play with your heart. With every fiber of your body. If you are lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.
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FLOAT Above It All.
March 30, 2007
by Travis Wright
When a situation doesn’t turn out as you would liked it to, take a moment to reflect and visually float above it all. Seriously. Imagine that your are like a spirit floating above this moment in time. Now, take look from a new angle. Sometimes, you will find a certain ridiculousness about the situation than you initially thought.
Many of us like to think that we are logical 100% of the time. We would like to think that we are rational 100% of the time. But in reality, we make irrational and illogical choices every so often… probably more frequently than we would like to admit.
So, I propose taking a moment and being purposeful, fanciful and pretend to be omnipotent. Rise above the situation, and perhaps view it as if were an optimal situation. Do a 360 angle pan around the event in your mind’s eye, if you wish.
What would it take to make it happen and become the best it can be? How could you have acted and reacted in that event, to make this optimal situation occur?
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