Loving Your Family (from Tony Dungy)

Merry Christmas to all! Most of us are lucky to be spending the holidays with our families, people we should truly value. Tony Dungy had some great thoughts in his second book, "Uncommon", about how we should love our families. Most of them are directed toward adult men but everyone can apply these in your own life.

1. Be a leader around your home, but lead for the benefit of your wife and children, not your own benefit.
2. Give your wife breaks from her daily responsibilities.
3. Make memories.
4. Keep your vows sacred. Sometimes better comes AFTER worse.
5. If you are not married, be careful in selecting a spouse. It is one of the most important decisions you will ever make.
6. Be present with your family - emotionally and physically.
7. Be careful what you say and do.
8. Write notes to your children.
9. Honor those in authority over you.
10. Be careful with authority and influence that you've been entrusted with.
11. If you can't come to grips with your parents and your past, find a professional to walk with you through it.

Thoughts from Larry Bird

My old roommate, Matt, called me tonight from the Indiana Pacers game. He wanted to let me know he had gotten Larry Bird's autograph for me tonight. So in honor of Larry Legend, I thought I would post some of his wisdom from a book I read by Mark Shaw titled "Larry Legend."

- "Once I realized I could pass the ball, my game changed completely."

- "I never wanted to leave the court until I got everything just right. I would practice different kinds of moves for hours on end and work hard to make my left hand as strong as my right."

- "The way I see it, if I put two hours in by myself, then someone who is working out with somebody else has to put in four hours in order to beat me. That's the way I've always gone about it."

- "I've never really understood why more players don't make the effort to become great free-throw shooters. It just takes practice and hard work and concentration."

Thoughts from "How Lucky You Can Be"

ESPN baseball guru Buster Olney recently authored a book about the Coach of Coaches", Don Meyer. Coach Meyer broke Bob Knight's All-Time College Basketball wins mark while coaching at Northern State University in 2009. Upon emergency surgery after an almost fatal automobile accident on a North Dakota highway in 2008, doctors diagnosed Coach Meyer with cancer. Olney's book in both motivational and inspirational...one of the best I've read. The following are a few highlights from Olney's book:

- Coach Meyer had three rules for all of his players in his program:
Rule No. 1: Everybody takes notes.
Rule No. 2: Everybody says, “Yes, sir,” “Yes, ma’am,” “No, sir,” and “No, ma’am.” In other words, be courteous to everybody.
Rule No. 3: Everybody picks up trash.

- Meyer coached that their goal should be small and immediate: Execute the next play properly. That’s all.

- Don Meyer focused on the process and taught his players to think more about the process than the results – but of course, he understood that a preponderance of correctly executed plays would almost inevitably lead to victories. (Sounds a lot like his mentor, Coach Wooden!)

- A student coach had once remarked to Baruth that in Meyer’s program, every person doing every job was essential, whether you were preparing a tray of food for the players at a meal or you were an assistant coach working with the guards on transition defense. No job within the Northern State program was any less important or any more important than any other.

ESPN has covered Coach Meyer's story...

To view a preview of Coach Don Meyer's story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_019GcX-lyc

To see Coach Meyer's ESPY's Awards Speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoOkHawZKa4