Jamy Bechler

Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.

7 Things I Changed My Mind About as a Coach

Hey Coach, if you’re like me, you’re constantly trying to get better and improve. You probably see things differently now than you did five years ago, one year ago, or even yesterday. In my 20+ years of coaching and athletic administrating, I had my fair share of ups and downs, but I also felt that I got better every year. Leaders are learners and I wanted to always be learning.

I’m a product of those people I’ve been associated with and the environments I was a part of. Oftentimes in coaching, we do things the way others close to us did them. We may coach similar to the way our old coach did back in the day. We might run some of the same plays. Our communication might resemble their methods, as well.

However, through the years I realized that if I’m going to get better and improve as a coach, I must constantly be re-evaluating and honestly assessing some of my actions, words, and philosophies. Especially toward the end of my career in organized athletics, I tried to be as coachable as possible and be willing to adjust, adapt, and pivot when it was necessary.

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What REAL Leadership Looks Like

You’re a coach, which means you have a position of leadership. However, keep in mind that just because you have a business card, plaque on your office door, or embroidered shirts saying “coach” doesn’t mean you are a good leader. There are plenty of politicians, CEOs, administrators, and yes, even coaches that aren’t maximizing the leadership potential of their positions.

Your status as a coach provides you a tremendous opportunity and starting point to make a positive impact on people. Leadership isn’t about positions or status, but about influence. Anyone can be a leader because anyone can have influence. However, you have a head start because you have power, status, and authority. You have a built-in platform and opportunity to use your power for good … or for bad.

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The Coffee Beans

“Life is 10% what happens to you, but 90% how you react to what happens to you.” (Charles Swindoll)

Once upon a time in a small Italian town, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable.

Click here to listen to the 2-minute audio version of this article

She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed like life was one problem after the next.

The next day her father, who was a chef, took her to the kitchen. He boiled three pots of water. He placed potatoes in one, eggs in another, and ground coffee beans in the third.

Of course, the daughter waited impatiently, wondering what he was doing.

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Motivational Minute: Burn the Boats

​“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” (Jim Rohn)

Please click here to listen to the 1-minute audio of this email on the “Success is a Choice” podcasting network

After landing his invasion forces on the shores of some far away country, it’s been said that the sixteen-century Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes would immediately burn his own boats.

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Hole in the Sidewalk

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we really are, far more than our abilities.” (J.K. Rowling in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

This week, I was reminded of a short little story by Portia Nelson entitled There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: Autobiography in Five Chapters.

Click here to listen to the 2-minute version of this article on the “Success is a Choice” podcast network.

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3 Ways to be a Verbal Leader

They may take our lives . . . BUT THEY’LL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!!!

Most of the time when we think of verbal leadership, we think of Hollywood speeches with the hero inspiring countless individuals to follow him into battle like the movies Braveheart, Gladiator, or 300.

We also might think of Tim Tebow giving the “Promise” speech and then backing it up on the way to a national championship.

We may not be Michael Jordan, Tim Tebow, Kobe Bryant, or William Wallace in Braveheart, but we all can be verbal leaders.

In fact, as long as we have a tongue, we should be verbal leaders.

Let me say that again for the people in the back…

Not only can we all be verbal leaders but we all should be verbal leaders.

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It Is What You Make It

“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” (Carl Gustav Jung)

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

Are you going through a mid-life crisis?    “IT IS WHAT IT IS”

Have you been passed over for a promotion?    “IT IS WHAT IT IS”

Is your girlfriend is a nag?    “IT IS WHAT IT IS”

Your parents don’t understand you?    “IT IS WHAT IT IS”

You say your husband doesn’t listen to you?   “IT IS WHAT IT IS”

Are the people around you are idiots?    “IT IS WHAT IT IS”

Hearing “It is what it is” makes me want to punch someone.  And then when they’d complain, I’d just say, “Sorry, but it is what it is”

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Episode 054: Larry Winget – The Pitbull of Personal Development

Larry Winget is known as “The Pitbull of Personal Development”. He was the star of A&E’s “Big Spender” reality show and is the author of many books, including 6 New York Times/Wall Street Journal best-sellers. Larry is the host of the “Grow a Pair” podcast and is popular expert guest on stations such as Fox Business, Fox News, and MSNBC. He has spoken to more than 400 of the Fortune-500 companies. Larry is the best branded, most recognizable speaker in the business. Many speakers claim to be original, but Larry Winget is THE original. He has established himself as an icon in the world of personal development and self-help. You won’t find many people who don’t know or who won’t recognize him as a result of his six national bestsellers, his thousands of on-stage appearances or his many regular television appearances. Larry was the first to be willing to take on the “positive attitude” motivational speakers and the Law Of Attraction bozos with his common sense, back to the basics approach. Larry still believes that hard work and excellence are the keys to success and communicates that like no other person on the planet can! Larry makes you think. He makes you uncomfortable. He offers common sense solutions that are impossible to argue with. On top of all that, he is hilarious.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • His awesome books with great content and creative titles
  • What he considers his best book and his most important book
  • How you can have more money
  • Why personal responsibility is important
  • How we should be making choices in life

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Branding Yourself on Social Media

It seems that every high school and college student-athlete is using some form of social media almost constantly.  With the advent of smart phones, it is easier now than ever before to communicate and share opinions and thoughts.  With this greater opportunity comes a greater responsibility to be wise.
 

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Stop Being a ‘BUT’

I heard an interview with MVP Steph Curry the other night after Game 6 of the NBA Finals, in which he made a comment that got me thinking about my pre-maritial counseling.

Wait, what?!?

You mean it’s not natural to associate Steph Curry getting ejected and throwing mouth-pieces with pre-maritial counseling?

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