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3 Valuable Insights on Success from a Coach’s Perspective

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3 Valuable Insights on Success from a Coach's Perspective

I admit it… I’m a sports nut! Whether it is football (my favorite), lacrosse, cycling or golf, I love to watch it. I’m enamored with the pageantry, the competition and the tactics that envelop every event. However I don’t just watch for the entertainment value, as many do, but also for the opportunity to study amateurs and professionals alike as they go about their training, preparation, and performance of their craft.

The sporting world truly provides us with a laboratory to study the habits and strategies of those striving for, and playing at their highest levels. Thanks to the accessibility of these athletes and teams through traditional and digital media these days, we are given a perfect opportunity to take the lid off their entire operation. Now we can easily analyze the evolution of their personal and professional success. And, at the end of the day, as so many have written before me, the habits and processes involved in achieving sporting success are very much the same for achieving success in other parts of life too.

The story lines of sporting competitions are dominated by the athletes themselves. Their dynamic personalities and amazing display of skill captivate our senses. Indeed, many of them provide wonderful subjects for studying the pathways to success. But frankly, I’m more interested in the coaches that stand behind the performance, just out of the limelight. It’s their guidance and direction that shapes the development of nearly every athlete, allowing them to peak at just the right time and in just the right way.

Over the years the ways many coaches have approached success on the field of play have transcended the sporting world to take on a more universal application in life. Some have truly become life mentors from afar. I could fill hundreds of pages with the profound words of success wisdom from the coaching ranks of the ultra-famous all the way down to the unknown soccer dad/coach.

Here are 3 legendary coaches and their insights on success:

 

1. Bela Karolyi, Olympic gymnastics coach

I had the distinct honor to share the stage earlier this spring with a slate of inspiring speakers including Coach Karolyi. While he is probably best known for guiding Romainia’s Nadia Comaneci and the United States’ Mary Lou Retton to dramatic, perfect 10 Olympic gold medal performances, few realize he was also the driving force behind 7 other gold medal winning gymnasts too. His message to us that day was simple but profound: Be coachable!

We must be open and willing to follow the guidance of our chosen mentor despite how differently we may think something should go. They are in the position of leadership and know-how for a reason. They’ve already achieved what we are seeking! They are holding the door open for us and we must walk through it! We must be willing to sacrifice our ways and alter our life in order to achieve our goals under their direction.

Mr. Karolyi shared with our audience that day that there are no more painful professional memories for him than of those athletes with amazing talent and potential that refused to follow his guidance, instead relying on their own ideas in directing their gymnastics career. The vast majority of them, he said, remain unheard of to this day. Don’t be one of these people yourself. Listen and follow your chosen mentors in life!

“What is a better way to prove that your methods work than by winning? I have proved that my methods work.” – Bela Karolyi

2. Lou Holtz, college football coach

This College Football Hall of Fame coach is the only one to guide six different teams to bowl games and four different teams to the final top 20 rankings. Yet in many circles, the man known simply as “Coach”, is best known for his ever present list of “ 107 impossible life goals” written during what was arguably one of his darkest career moments. With 102 items currently checked off, including being a guest on the Tonight Show, meeting the Pope and having dinner with the President, Holtz has a clear message to the world: Write down your big, impossible goals!

Holtz realized that to achieve big things in life they must first be dreamed. A clear, concise picture must be formed for each imagined goal. Because the human brain thinks in images, writing down the goals serves as a method of laser focusing them. Further, returning regularly to review those written goals fuels the desire and prompts the actions necessary to make the images real.

“If you’re bored with life, if you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you don’t have enough goals.” – Lou Holtz

3. John Wooden, college basketball coach

If there is any sports figure to study in terms of success, John Wooden is it! Named by The Sporting News in 2009 as “the greatest coach of all time”, Wooden’s accolades are too numerous to recount. Of course, a career of this magnitude produces many success tips beyond the sporting arena, but one in particular appears to have been a reoccurring theme for him: Make time for achieving success!

Wooden preached regularly on the virtues of investing in a training path with a mixture of preparation, discipline and allowed failure. Simply put, once an endeavor gets going, there becomes much less time to learn, plan and act on the basics the right way or the efficient way. Naturally, this initial planning and training takes time. And often this time isn’t the most enjoyable or sexy part of a project. But taking the time to learn things the right way, to practice them when the pace is slower and the demands are relatively less, makes achieving your success outcome much more likely.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden

The sports world is abound with legendary figures that have offered up numerous practical success strategies applicable far beyond the field of play. Certainly, nothing is more important to achieving the success you dream of than first building your foundation as these three coaches taught. Be coachable, make your goals big and write them down, then make the time to perfect the necessary skills early and often. Your championship season in life is bound to follow.

So, what are your favorite words of practical guidance or success wisdom handed down by a coach from afar (sports coach, business coach, life coach)? Please share them in the comments below!

Doug is a chiropractor, a business coach and a writer too. He coaches and speaks on healthcare business success systems while he blogs and podcasts about strategies for handling life’s changes. In the last 3 years alone he has sold a business, evolved his career, moved his family from Texas to Wisconsin, lost control of his autistic son… and gained it back again. He knows change!  His goal is to help you face it and conquer it too! Join him at AchievementRenewed.com and Dr. Doug Sullivan on Facebook.

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All of us come to this world with our own reserve of magic unfortunately, not everyone can unleash it

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be. 

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time. 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

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