Daily Message
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Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill
One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard as a high school teacher/athletic director was to hire for attitude and train for skill.
With the right attitude you can learn to do anything, and as a supervisor you can train people with the right attitude to perform the way you want them to perform.
When you hire someone with the wrong attitude who may be a better performer initially, you are destined to regret that decision. And the time it takes to clean up after someone with the wrong attitude is much greater over time than training the person with the right attitude.
Those with the right attitude are not focused on their way; they focus on the best way. They do not do what they do because that is always how it has been done; they do what they do because it is the best way to do it.
Anything can be accomplished with the right attitude, but very little can be accomplished with the wrong one.
Bring The Right Attitude Today To Win the Day!
Get Excited!
We often think that we will get enthusiastic about our life or our career when we have a life or a career that is exciting. I have learned that the opposite is true.
When you get excited and enthusiastic about your life and your career, then your life and career will become exciting. When you get excited about going to your career each day, your career becomes exciting.
When you get excited about going home each day after work to invest time with your family, your family time becomes more exciting.
Be excited first, and then the excitement will follow. What in your life have you wanted to become exciting?
Get excited about it now - and it will thus become exciting.
Win Your Day By Getting Excited!
Build It Big All The Time
There once lived a master carpenter who built custom homes for a real estate tycoon for the better part of his career.
The master carpenter had been paid well and had made a lot of money due to his excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail. He was a carpenter of excellence; he never cut corners and always double-checked his work.
He used only the best materials and built homes that would stand the test of time.
When the master carpenter decided it was time to retire, the real estate tycoon begged him to build just one more.
Reluctantly the master carpenter agreed and spent the next half-year building a mansion with a HAVE-to mentality, the opposite of the WANT-to and GET-to mentality he had carried his entire career.
With his have-to mentality the master carpenter purchased the cheapest lumber that was available so he did have to wait for the lumber to be shipped in, and he used materials that he would otherwise have not used because they did not meet his standard of excellence.
He just wanted to get done with this house. It was a HAVE-to and the last home he would ever build. Instead of doing all the work himself or carefully supervising a team of excellence-seeking workers, he hired contractors and went to play golf - something that he had said he would never do earlier in his career. He just wanted to get the job done and was not focused on getting it done right.
When he finished the job, it looked awesome on the outside; but the house was built as a HAVE-to and the infrastructure where it mattered most, the skeleton of the house, was weak.
The master carpenter had a different feeling when finishing this house. He was happy it was done, but he was disappointed in his efforts and knew the home was not built to the standard of excellence that he had exemplified throughout his career.
When the real estate tycoon showed up to see the final product, he was impressed. He thanked the master carpenter for his years of selfless service, dedication and commitment to excellence.
He then handed the keys to the carpenter and said that he hoped he would enjoy retirement in his new home. The house the carpenter had built was his own.
Win The Moment
You've heard me say, "Win the moment."
I don't want to give the impression that all you need to do is win one big moment. Instead, I want you to understand the goal is to win as many moments as possible of every kind. Every moment you win builds strength, momentum, and confidence.
Turn your attention to your moments of discipline today.
Some is better than none. A little more is better than a little less. Lean into it and see how it feels.
Win the Moment Today!
Bite It Now or Swallow It Later
As a coach who works with many players over the past 30 years, I have found one common characteristic that consistent bowlers possess that flash-in-the-pan, good-once-in-a-while performers do not.
The consistent performers know the importance of putting off what they want in the moment for what they want most.
They know that today’s efforts are tomorrow’s results. They know that as competitors they are always staring down the barrel of a gun, and they choose to bite the bullet now and do what needs to be done TODAY!
The inconsistent players have success early and then get away from the processes and day-to-day attention to detail that made them successful. They believe that they don’t need to do what they used to do because of their success. They are the ones who will swallow the bullet of regret later because they were not willing to bite the bullet today, every day.
TODAY’S EFFORTS ARE TOMORROW’S RESULTS
Win Your Day!
Ask Specifically And You Shall Receive
There was a study done around goal setting and motivation in financial giving.
The corporate donors were divided into two groups. The donors in group one were thanked for their generosity the prior year and asked to “do the best they could” in donating toward the upcoming campaign.
The donors in group two were thanked for their generosity the prior year and asked specifically to “do 10 percent better than last year.” The donors that were specifically asked to “do 10 percent better than last year,” on an average, did 24 percent better.
The donors that were told to do the best they could actually did worse than the year before.
Start asking more specifically for what it is you want. Identifying what you really want provides clarity and direction in your life.
What do you really want? Now Go Win the Day!
BE WHERE YOU NEED TO BE, WHEN YOU NEED TO BE THERE
Ken Ravizza, the Godfather of Mental Performance, used to always remind his students to be where you need to be when you need to be there. He reminded of the importance of being present and focused during the course of the day.
All too common is the person who, when at home, is still consumed with mentally being at the office and when at the office is mentally home with the family.
Many of us go through the day without really being present. When we listen to others we may be hearing the words, but are we really absorbing the message?
If you go through the day and recognize your thoughts drifting to the past or future, remind yourself to be where you need to be when you need to be there. I always tell my students to make sure your head and feet are in the same place at all times.
Don’t be so involved in yesterday or tomorrow that you don’t notice that today is slipping by.
Be Present to Win the Day!
Worrying Is A Waste Of Time
Worrying about what might happen or about aspects of life that are out of your control is a tremendous source of stress and a waste of time.
Worrying will make even the smallest troubles seem huge. When you worry, you focus on the “what ifs” and the potential outcomes and not on “what is,” the actual, matter-of-fact way that life is in the present moment.
Today, worry less about what you cannot control and focus more on what you can control. Focus more on what is and less on what if.
Worry is an old man with bent head, carrying a load of feathers he thinks is lead. Billy Graham
Control the Controllables to Win the Day!
Work On Yourself First
Working at yourself first is one of the key success principles most commonly discussed in the books I enjoy reading the most.
Kaizen is the Japanese word for improvement. Self-help guru Tony Robbins coined the term “CANI” – Constant And Never-ending Improvement. The pursuit of excellence is more about constant and never-ending improvement than it is about achievement and accomplishment.
To work at myself I listen to audio books and podcasts in the car. You can find almost any book on audio in iTunes or Audible and can access the greatest minds of all times.
Your challenge this week is to find one audio book (there are many on the mental game).
Work at yourself to Win the Day!
The Thought Police
Who do you call when your thoughts are speeding or are being driven under the influence of others?
You should call the thought police. The thought police are there to serve and protect you from the dangers of negative thinking. And help increase your awareness to the thinking under the influence of others. You are your own thought police.
Today, police the thoughts you choose to carry and be sure that you accept responsibility for the thoughts that run through your mind.
Think something positive to Win the Day!
Mike Shady Bowling
Mike Shady
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