This week’s TED Talk clip is from an independent TEDx event:
How to turn busy into balance | Sara Cameron | TEDxTemecula
Clip length: 11 mins 51 secs
Prefer to watch via YouTube? In that case you’ll need to click here.
In today’s guest post former basketball coach James White shares a little of his approach to working with teams:
by James White
Coaching a team is a multifaceted act of teaching. Not only do successful coaches teach their team the nuances of a particular sport or practice, but they also teach team members valuable lessons about life.
You see this type of duality in every great sports movie. Regardless of whether or not the team is successful in the end, the coach’s players walk away having learned invaluable life lessons. Given the authority and level of influence that coaches have on players, it is no surprise that they are looked upon as role models.
Whether you are coaching players in a traditional sport or leading a team in a business setting, here are five valuable life lessons that you can instill in those who look up to you:
One of the most important lessons that a coach can teach players is the importance of finding a balance in life. While it is a coach’s job to achieve excellence on the field, it is also a coach’s responsibility to ensure that people succeed in the classroom and serve as role models in the other facets of their lives. I usually combine this lesson with doing dribbling drills that take focus and balance to achieve. While they are doing the drill I talk about the importance of balance both in the game in their own lives.
The relationship between hard work and success is another concept that sports can help people understand. Sports serve as an excellent allegory for life in general, as they offer a set of standards for success and a designated path for achieving it. If a coach can manage to show players the correlation between hard work and success on the field, these players will understand the value of hard work in every other aspect of their lives as well.
Winning and losing are two occurrences that coaches will likely have to navigate their team through. Managing to teach your team to win and lose with grace is an invaluable lesson, according to Sports Feel Good Stories. Understanding how to handle these occurrences within the sporting world will help people to manage successes and failures later in life. Encourage your team to have a good attitude even when they lose.
Working well with others is not only a skill that is necessary for success on the field, it is also a skill that directly translates to a professional setting. Just as players must learn to play with their teammates, business professionals must cooperate with their fellow employees. Not only does this mean contributing to the team with your own talents, it also means doing your part to make those around you better.
One analogy that explains this life lesson is the wheel. Explain how each player represents a spoke and without all of them performing at their best a wheel will not work. Helping players recognize the importance of their team members is perhaps the most important lesson coaches can bestow upon their teams.
Sports such as football, basketball and soccer require extensive studying and preparation. Teaching your players the value of being prepared for the big game is a realization that is applicable for other aspects of their lives, as well. Use the well-known phrases “Practice make perfect” and “No pain, no gain” to remind players why they need to practice hard.
Coaches have the opportunity to use sports and other team scenarios as mediums for teaching people important life lessons. A good coach isn’t necessarily the one with the winning team, but the coach whose players walk away as better people is always appreciated.
James White coached basketball for 3 years and is currently working on his business degree. Connect with James on Twitter at @JGtheSavage or read more articles from him on his personal blog Info Bros.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
(Albert Einstein)
In today’s guest post Andrew A. Faccone draws upon his own life experiences and his coaching expertise to share 3 points around life, commitment and time.
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“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
(Albert Einstein)
We are all given 24 hours a day, 1,440 minutes per day and 86,400 seconds per day to use how we see fit.
Those of us reading this post are very fortunate and blessed to choose how we are to use that precious time we are given. That allotted time has a short life span, it must be used immediately and it cannot be carried over. If it is not used properly it expires.
It is our choice to maximize or minimize how we allocate our days, weeks, months and years that we are given in our lifetime. The mystery of life reveals that life is not a straight line, there is no instruction booklet on how to live and we are responsible for our actions.
The attention that we pay to the little things throughout life has a dramatic effect on the outcomes of our life as we progress and mature throughout our lifetime. Since our birth we have all pursued different paths, we have learned, prospered, been knocked down and despite the challenging conditions have succeeded as well as failed in some of our endeavors. The challenges have made us stronger and the shortcomings have taught us what not to repeat in the future. In some cases we are all learning from those shortcomings.
Past events somehow always re-appear at various times throughout our lives. In the time of our youth we pursued our education and the playful desires of our youth. Academics, athletics, music, literature, sciences, religious education, play time with our childhood friends, youth and civic groups, participation with a strong supervision from our families who attended those important life events. They cheered us on in victory and comforted us when the results did not materialize as hoped for.
When our formal education ended we then used our educational backgrounds or God given talents to find a way to make a go of it on our own. Welcome to being a grown up! We now face the commitments of professional life, parenthood, earning a living, providing for our families, advancing our professional careers and now we have become those attendees routing for our family members as they progress through their childhood and young adult activities that we participated in in the not so distant past.
Where is the person who wanted to change the world and make the difference in the world?
Is this life still a life in balance? Is there equal push and pull in our daily activities? Finding that balance, the constant struggle that addresses all of the aspects of our lives. Spirituality, physicality, and mentality.
I am asked many times in all of my personal & professional travels how did I get where I am in life? I have some of the answers to this question and some answers I do not have. I have been blessed to have had some extraordinary people that have been a part of my life. Nine years of a disciplined Catholic school education, athletic participation in high school and college, a loving family along with several key family members who taught me about the true lessons of life and that I can do anything that I set myself to attaining.
I try to rely on 3 key points and try to use them as my daily guide as I try to find a balance between the many commitments I am involved with in my daily life both personally and professionally.
What you say will determine what you will become. I have always been a believer in word affirmations. The words you are projecting will impact your individual outcomes. If you’re not projecting positive words and expecting great things to occur, they will not happen. If you don’t believe something will happen nobody else will. Use those empowering words to get you to where you want to be.
Life is an attitude -have a good one and you will enjoy the wonderful journey. When you start to make these new adjustments in your daily activities, changes in those daily habits, week after week, month after month, and year after year you will start to recognize that new person in the mirror who you have not seen in some time. Start small but think big, because you can do it, great things are coming your way… it all depends on you!
Andrew Faccone, MBA is employed in the healthcare industry as a long term care account specialists in the United States near the New York Metropolitan area. Andrew has over 18 years experience as an athlete,& coach positively impacting the lives of athletes he has coached. Andrew is available for speaking engagements of any size or location and individual coaching sessions.
Contact Andrew A. Faccone at aa****@ya***.com or
Linkedin : http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-a-faccone-mba/24/291/3b2
Cell Phone 732 614 8425 Eastern Time Zone
Background on Image above title via: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Performance coach Marie Yates shares her expertise in this week’s guest post.
by Marie Yates
When something isn’t going quite as you planned what do you do? Do you give up, feeling despondent and as if the whole world is against you? Or do you try and figure out how to adapt to the new situation, amend your plans and keep on going?
As you’re now over a month in to your plans for 2012, what have you done to take action? Has everything gone according to plan? If the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ then I hope you are finding time to celebrate. If the answer is a demoralised ‘no’ then have you taken some time to establish what has been happening?
It is easy to become inundated with tasks. Quite often we are exhausted at the end of every day as it has been jam packed but we can’t quite remember what we’ve done. It is during these days that our goals seem so far removed from our reality.
Thankfully there are still eleven fabulous months waiting to be filled with taking positive action!
Block out some time in your diary to allow yourself the space to consider these questions.
Once you know what your next steps are, do not waste a second! Taking that action will be a catalyst towards making 2012 your year. It is never too late to make a resolution to change.
As you consider what it is you need to do. Check that you are also creating balance in your life. Being focused on achieving your goals is vital; however it needs to be one part of your daily agenda.
Also write down the other important things that are going on in your life. Your family, friends, fitness… The list is endless. These need to be factored in to enable you to create balance and stay motivated. Making a sustainable change can only happen when you are working in congruence with your values. A goal to set up a business by April, working 24/7 and therefore missing out on spending valuable time with the people that matter most will leave you exhausted and possibly a little resentful. Consider this idea if you have been struggling to stay motivated, have you been neglecting other important areas of your life?
Now is the time to take stock, re-engage and make a sustainable change. Consider January as your warm up… The main event starts now!
Marie Yates is a performance coach based in the Midlands and can be found at www.indigo-turtle-coaching.co.uk
In today’s guest post performance coach Marie Yates addresses something that is relevant to coaches in all niches of coaching.
By Marie Yates
YOU are your coaching service! So while you’re looking after the marketing, the planning, the finances, the diary… Oh, and the clients… How are you looking after YOU?
You know that the synergy between the mind and body is paramount for true health and wellbeing so do you put this into practice? Do you conduct a large percentage of your business over the telephone? What would happen if you lost your voice?
Do you spend a significant amount of time sitting down to work and driving to meet clients? What would happen if you needed to take an extended break from sitting down and/or driving due to back pain?
ο A good posture enables effective breathing – deep breathing acts as a stress reducer, releases endorphins (your own unique painkillers!) and focuses the mind!
ο Enhanced capacity for thinking – with correct breathing, there will be more oxygen getting to the brain, enabling it to do an effective job!
ο Improved self image – try slouching for thirty seconds and then sitting up straight, breathing deeply… Is there a difference in how you feel?
Do you feel your energy levels dropping throughout the day? What would happen if you were not giving your client 100% during their session or you a leading a workshop and the fatigue sets in? Eat well balanced meals throughout the day! Although you know that need to aim for your 5 fruit & vegetables a day – do you do this? Avoid the quick fix approach to energy levels that caffeine and sugar have to offer as what goes up, must come down!
Give yourself the BEST and look after yourself… Lead by example and make sure you have the energy in your mind and body to strive for your own goals!
About the Author/Further Resources
Marie Yates is a performance coach based in the Midlands and can be found at www.indigo-turtle-coaching.co.uk