Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
For many of us in the United States, Labor Day is the unofficial end of the summer and is filled with cookouts, pool parties, and college football.
Click here to listen to the 1-minute version of this article.
But Labor Day began as a way to recognize our nation’s workers and their accomplishments.
Do you happen to have a case of the Monday’s?
Click here to listen to the 1-minute version of this article.
Does someone around you have a case of the Mondays?
I hope not.
Many of us know Thomas Edison as the inventor of the lightbulb, but he invented many other things.
In fact, he received more than 1,000 patents during his lifetime. He was quite a prolific inventor.
I must admit that I wasn’t very good at science when I was young and don’t know a lot about technology or electricity. My dad could make anything work but the same couldn’t be said for me.
I’m glad there was someone like Edison to invent all this stuff but I have a hard time relating to his inventing prowess.
However, I can relate to him in one sense…
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.
You’ve probably heard of guys like Tom Brady, Joe Montana, John Elway, Terry Bradshaw, and Peyton Manning. These are some of the best quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League. But none of them – or anyone else for that matter – has ever done what Ryan Fitzpatrick has accomplished through the first 3 weeks of the NFL season. Ryan Fitzpatrick (“FitzMagic” as he is known) has thrown for more than 400 yards in all three games. No NFL quarterback has ever thrown for 400 yards in three straight games. Ever!
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” (Milton Berle)“March Madness” is my favorite holiday! My wife says that it isn’t really a holiday but then again she wants me to celebrate “Sweetest Day” 🙂
Regardless, this is a great three-week period that caps off the college basketball season. The tournament is a win-or-go-home event. It is a true reality show with plenty of intriguing story lines and drama. Plus, who doesn’t love filling out a bracket?!?
Of this year’s four #1 seeds, The University of Virginia was the tournament’s top overall team going into the tournament. They have a great coach and the team thoroughly dominated the regular season. This past Friday, they made history! Just not the kind they were anticipating.
UVA became the first-ever #1 seed to lose to a #16 seed. The University of Maryland-Baltimore County wasn’t even the best team in their conference but they got hot during their conference tournament and pulled off an upset to qualify for the NCAA’s. They were 22-point underdogs going into this game against Virginia. Instead of losing by 22, they won by 20! If you watched the game, you would have been impressed by the way they took advantage of every opportunity. They played to win – not to lose – even when they got up big and the game was winding down. They played with confidence and swagger.
Virginia might have been the better team overall, but this past Friday, someone out-performed them. There are many lessons that can be learned from this but the NCAA Tournament once again provides some madness in March. It provides a reminder that we need to be prepared for our opportunities. The Retrievers from UMBC believed in themselves and that is all that mattered. Abraham Lincoln used to say “I will prepare and perhaps one day my chance will come.”
What about us? We may be grinding day-in and day-out and the results might not be what we’d want. The odds might seem to be stacked against us. We might be 22-point underdogs to life. But, just like UMBC, we can believe in ourselves and keep preparing for the day that our opportunity comes. I am reminded of the Jacob Riis’ quote concerning rock sculptures…
Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
Just like the stone cutter, you don’t always know when good things will come to you but you do know that if you quit, it will never come! Be encouraged today and know that even though life might sometimes seem like a tough #1 seeded opponent, the underdog still has a chance to win! Success is a choice. What choice will we make today?