Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
Believe it or not, I was voted “Teacher’s Pet” in my graduating class. To this day, I don’t know how that was the case. Regardless of whether I agreed with it, I had to take a yearbook picture with Judith Shannon, my dreaded English teacher.
I once read 30 books in an entire summer, including 10 John Grisham novels. Reading is something that I enjoy doing. I am a paperback kind of guy as I will dog-ear pages, highlight passages, and make notes in the margins. My wife, on the other hand, only reads Kindle books or listens to audio books.
Whatever your preference, it is important that you read. Readers are leaders. As Dr. Seuss said, “The more that you read, the more things that you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
What follows is my recommended list of books in various categories that were published during the last two years. I have previously made recommended book lists of “19 Books to Read in 2019”, “18 Books to Read in 2018”, “15 Best Books for Coaches”, “15 Best Books for Leaders”, and “7 Underrated Books for Leaders”.
[Read more…]
The year 2020 should be your best year ever. Do you plan on setting some “New Year’s Resolutions”. Resolutions are really just goals that we set for ourselves. The following is a list of 25 of my favorite quotes about achieving goals. I hope that some of these inspire you to achieve your goals for 2020.
Mark Twain said it best when he stated that “Kindness is a gift that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Ellen Degeneres came under fire when she was caught on camera at a nationally televised Dallas Cowboys game sitting next to former U.S. President George Bush. It seems that some people are so angry and disagreeable that they think everyone else should be also.
It got so bad that Ellen had to address it on her show the next day.
As a college student, I spent my summers as a life guard and camp counselor. During the weekends, the camp director would take the staff for boat rides around the lake. It seemed like every five minutes, he said, “See that turtle over there” or “Look at that turtle sunny itself on that log”. I don’t think I saw a turtle before he saw it at any point during that entire summer. Funny thing is that I also never saw a turtle on my own when I went out on the boat out without him.
My dad was a throwback to a different time. A different era. He could fix anything. Build anything. Seemingly do anything.
He had been a fire fighter, police officer, truck driver, elected official, army vet, and Hillsdale College maintenance worker.
He was featured in the top lawn and garden tractor magazine (he was so excited that he was finally a centerfold model). He also got more than half a million views on Facebook for his customized John Deere lawn mower/fire truck. In all, he built 5 custom tractors that have seen their fair share of parades.
Gandhi once said that “an eye for an eye makes the world world blind.” 18-year old Brandt Jean applied this principle in his life when he made headlines for what he did in a Dallas courtroom in October of 2019.
After Amber Guyger was sentenced in the 2018 murder of Brandt’s brother Botham, he said that he forgave her and asked the judge if he could give her a hug.
“Healthy skepticism is the basis of all accurate observation.” (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
John Brubaker, the author of best-selling books such as “Stadium Status” and “Seeds of Success” recently brought something to my attention. I like to think that I am a fairly educated person and have a good grasp on reality but he pointed out that I have believed a lie for many years.
Wait, what?!?
Winning is fun. Winning when it is not expected of you might be even more fun. Most of us love a good comeback story and recently, we were treated to a couple of good stories from the world of sports.
Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, understood the importance of choosing a right attitude even in bad situations. She was known to be someone that avoided grudges. One time a friend reminded her of a cruel thing that had happened to her previously, but Clara seemed not to remember the incident. “Don’t you remember the wrong that was done to you?, the friend asked. Clara answered calmly. “No, I distinctly remember forgetting that.”