Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
🔊 Click here to listen to the 2-minute audio version of this article.
As a middle schooler, my mother wouldn’t let me play tackle football. I figured I’d be able to talk her out of it prior to entering high school.
I guess I overestimated my lawyering skills.
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…
Tom Brady just helped lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship. This was his first year with the Buccaneers. He nows has seven Super Bowl wins and has appeared in the big game an amazing 10 times during his 21-year career.
He has more championships than any TEAM in NFL history. Most people consider him the GOAT – the greatest of all time.
However, it is easy to forget that he wasn’t always the greatest. He didn’t just pop out of the womb and it was all rainbows and butterflies after that. He had to work to get to where he is at.
This past summer, I went golfing with my wife and her parents. Now, this might seem like the opening line to a joke, but I assure you that they are nice people and I would never say a bad word about them – at least until they stop reading my articles.
About halfway into the round, I finally birdied a hole and my father-in-law said “It’s about time. I’ve waited 10 years to see you get a birdie.”
I think I saw a playful smile on his face.
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.
JJ Birden played 9 years in the NFL as a Wide Receiver after a stand out career as a star track athlete at the University of Oregon, which is known as “Tracktown, USA”. A 5’10”, 157-pound wide receiver, JJ was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 1988 NFL Draft and played nine seasons (Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons). To play nine years in a profession where the average players career last an average of 3.2 years is something special. Two of those nine years was with Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana. He certainly was not the biggest, strongest, or fastest guy on the field, but he knew how to seize his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and maximize his success through dedication and hard work.
He is now a motivational speaker and representative for the health and nutrition company Isagenix. He is an engaging communicator and a leading expert at helping individuals seize their opportunities in life. In his presentations, JJ shares lessons from his experience as a small man in a big man’s game. JJ’s time in the NFL helped shape the message that he now delivers to audiences around the world. After seeing the successes and failures of others at the highest level, he developed a set of principles that others could follow to achieve greatness, no matter how they defined it or what they’re pursuing.
JJ has also written a book entitled, “When Opportunity Knocks: 8 Surefire Ways to Take Advantage.” He and his wife Raina have 8 kids, including 5 that are adopted.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
Chad R. Allen serves as the editorial director for Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. He is also a writer, editor, speaker, entrepreneur, and creativity coach. Chad is also the creator of Book Proposal Academy, which is an online course that shows you how to build a compelling book proposal so that you can get your book out of your head and into the world. He and his family live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
The 2016 NBA Finals was one of the most memorable series in recent history. It truly was historic. In fact, last night ESPN re-aired their 30 for 30 entitled “Believeland”, but this time had a new ending. Cleveland has been the poster child for bad luck and hard times when it comes to sports having not won a championship in any sport since 1964.
“Believeland” pointed this out, agonizingly so, for Cleveland fans. But all of that changed on Father’s Day when the Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers completed the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history and won the NBA Championship. The Cavs were down 3-1 to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were the overwhelming favorite with Steph Curry, the league’s first-ever unanimous MVP winner (that’s right…Magic, Bird, MJ, Shaq…they never were unanimous).
Has your season been disappointing? Are you frustrated with your results? Do you have a sense of despair? Do you feel that there is little hope?  If so, then I want to encourage you today to run the race with perseverance and finish strong. Don’t be discouraged.
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.
The following excerpt is from Bill Plaschke’s article in the L.A. Times (originally posted on March 31, 2013) about Kirsten Moore, the head women’s basketball coach at Westmont College. She recently led her team to the NAIA National Championship. This story is an amazing example of perseverance and overcoming adversity. Kirsten is a first-class individual and is well-respected in the coaching profession. She certainly has a bright future ahead of her in the coaching world, but as you’ll see from Plaschke’s great article, it is her past which fuels her present and future.