Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 | “The Christmas spirit of peace, hope, and love is the spirit Americans carry with them all year round, everywhere we go.” |
| Ronald Reagan |
Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 
Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 “My mission, stated simply, is a mission for peace.” – Ronald Reagan, Nov 14, 1985
Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 | Wooden’s Wisdom – Volume 1, Issue 43November 13 |
| The Coach as a Teacher – Part 5 (Just Three Rules) In order to be effective in our discipline (teaching, not punishing) we must have rules and suggestions. This issue will focus on Coach Wooden’s view of rules. In an interview with Marv Dunphy for his dissertation: “John Robert Wooden: The Coaching Process”, Coach Wooden describes the evolution of his approach to rules: In my early years of coaching I had a lot of rules and a few suggestions. In my latter years of coaching I had a lot of suggestions and few rules. I also had fixed punishment if they did this or that. If they were caught smoking, they were off the team for good. As time went by and I moved to the college ranks, my ideas changed on a lot of things, although I still feel the athletes shouldn’t smoke, for example, yet I know plenty of them do. I don’t drink and I don’t smoke, but I can’t say “don’t do it because I don’t.” That’s not the answer for your children or anyone under your supervision; that has nothing to do with it. In my latter years I would suggest that there be no drinking at all, but if they were to partake in any way and get unruly or did anything that would bring discredit upon UCLA or our basketball team, severe action would be taken. Most of my rules were general and I didn’t specify what action or severe action would be if they deviated from the guidelines that I set. In “John Wooden, A Life In Basketball”, Coach describes an incident that sparked the shift in his view of rules and suggestions. One of my greatest failures, I think, was when I was teaching in high school. I had an outstanding player and I had an absolute rule of no smoking. It was dismissal from the squad immediately. There were no second chances. I saw no gray area at all. It was either black or white to me. I had this youngster, a fine basketball player, outstanding, my best player easily, but I caught him smoking right face-to-face and I dismissed him from the squad. Later on I would not have done that. I would’ve probably worked it out in some other way. I didn’t know this but he quit school. He never graduated. He wouldn’t have had the money to go to college on his own but he was certain to get a scholarship. At that particular time, scholarships were being given for athletes. He would’ve received one but he didn’t finish school. I feel that that was my failure because I had this blind spot in a sense, no gray area, and I think I learned from that; but that is one of my great disappointments. Coach did not believe that it was fair to treat each player the same. He believed the fair thing to do was to treat each player with the respect they earn and deserve. His policy of not having a lot of team rules with specific penalties allowed him to deal with each situation individually. Ultimately he had just three rules. Be on time, no profanity and never criticize a teammate. This was a system he came up with after many years and it served him well as a teacher. Yours in coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Watch Video Application Exercise |
RJ Hamster 
Peter A. Hovis for President in 2024 | Celebrate Success November 12 |
| by Jon Gordon Each night before bed as my children were growing up, I’d ask them what their success of the day was. The idea came from a story I read about the Olympic gymnast, Bart Connor. Turns out 9 months before the 1984 Olympics he tore his bicep muscle. They said he would never make it back in time to compete in the Olympics. But not only did he make it back, he won two gold medals. When Charlie Jones, the television broadcaster, was interviewing him, he asked Bart how he did it. Bart thanked his parents. Charlie Jones said, “Come on Bart, everyone thanks their parents when they win a gold medal.” Bart told Charlie that this was different. He said, “Every night before bed my parents would ask me what my success was. So I went to bed a success every night of my life. I woke up every morning a success. When I was injured before the Olympics, I knew I was going to make it back because I was a success every day of my life.” Talk about a confidence booster! Since engaging in this practice with my children I can attest it works. I also know it works because I share this story in my keynotes and hear great stories from people all the time who are doing this with their children. It works for adults in businesses, schools, and organizations too because when we focus on what people are doing right, they do more things right. It’s the simple, powerful message in the classic book The One Minute Manager and it’s an important part of the work I do with organizations. Teams and organizations that focus on and celebrate success create more success. Success becomes ingrained in the culture and people naturally look for it, focus on it and expect it. That’s why certain football coaches and business leaders are always successful. They implement systems and principles that create a culture that celebrates and expects success and this drives behavior and habits that create successful outcomes. So how do we put this into practice? The ideas are endless but here are few: If you are in sales have a sales meeting each week (in person or by phone) and share success stories. If you are in management recognize people and their success throughout the year. Not just during annual meetings. Celebrate the small wins as much as the big wins. Celebrate successful projects and implementations. As a leader you’ll want to praise people and reinforce successes that shine a spotlight on important goals and growth initiatives. For your own personal growth, keep a daily and weekly success journal. Write down your success of the day. Do this for 30 days and you’ll see amazing results. What we focus on shows up more in our life. If we look for and celebrate success we’ll see more of it. It works for Olympic athletes, children and us. – Jon Make a difference today, Love Clint |
