Frank L. Gaines: On Greatness

I used to work for a boss that used to say this or some close derivative, good to know the original source. I didn't really understand it at first, but it certainly shows that there is a clear difference between having an idea and having a vision, It ties closely to the difference between good and great.

from goodmenproject.com
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/frank-l-gaines-on-greatness-kcon/
Frank L. Gaines: On Greatness

"Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible." – Frank L. Gaines

The Good Men Project's On Greatness brings you the most inspiring quotes and related imagery from the world of sports.

Join us! If you have a favorite sports quote, please send us your submission via email to anyone on the GMP sports team: Mike at mkasdan@gmail.com, Kimanzi at kconstable29@gmail.com, or Tor at torconbooks@gmail.com. You can also connect with them via Twitter @torcon, @KimanziC and @michaelkasdan #OnGreatness and #GMPSports.
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Flickr/ Al_HikesAZ

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The Law of the Harvest Baseball Edition

Choose Your Words Carefully When Motivating Your Young Athletes | Sports Are 80 Percent Mental

Sports Are 80 Percent Mental: Choose Your Words Carefully When Motivating Your Young Athletes:

On the day before a big game or competition, both the parent and the athlete were each given a survey to capture their goals for that event and their level of nervousness. They were each asked if they wanted to (or wanted their child to) “outperform their best performance to date”, “perform no worse than they had in the past”, “outperform their opponent”, or “perform no worse than their opponent.”

Anxiety levels of the athletes were measured along three scales; worry, amount of concentration disruption and physical symptoms (tense, nausea, headache, etc.) Phrasing the performance goal questions this way reflected the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, known for her Achievement Goal Theory.  She has defined two styles of learning, Mastery and Performance. A child with a Mastery focus is more concerned and motivated by their own achievement compared to their individual growth, not that of others.  A young athlete with a Performance mindset always uses their peers as measuring sticks for their own progress.

By asking the kids and their parents if they want to beat or at least do as well as their personal best, Dr. Kaye was looking for a Mastery mindset.  If the focus was more on how they compared to their opponents, then they were using a Performance mindset.  
Here’s where it gets interesting. A parent’s performance expectations, and especially how they were communicated, predicted their child’s level of anxiety. When a parent set a goal to outperform (known as performance-approach) or avoid doing worse than an opponent (performance-avoidance), the level of worry increased for their young athlete. However, the parents who set a goal for their kids to beat their personal best (mastery-performance) or at least achieve their previous best form (mastery-avoidance) did not cause any increase in their kids’ anxiety levels. 

A subtle change in pre-game conversation from “you need to beat those guys” to “you need to beat your personal best” can make all the difference in maintaining your child’s confidence.

"You might think that's a really positive thing for the child [to encourage them to win], but that's creating a lot of worry [for the kid] as well,” said Dr. Kaye. “I don't think parents are necessarily thinking about that kind of thing."

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Watch What you Say - The Subliminal Power of Positive Cheering

Sports Are 80 Percent Mental

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The Subliminal Power Of Positive Cheering Posted: 03 Feb 2015 07:19 PM PST Young athletes often hear phrases of encouragement like, "dig a little deeper" or "you have to want it more than they do" or, ideally, "be mentally tough."  For most kids, these words from a coach, a parent or a teammate go in one ear and out the other.  But, what if there was actually some scientific substance to the words?  Could the smiling, confident face of a coach delivering a pep talk actually have a subliminal effect on performance?  While the conscious brain may dismiss this positive talk, the subconscious mind may actually be putting it to work, according to new research from sports scientists at the University of Kent in England. Besides skill level, one of the most limiting factors of top sporting performance is fatigue. Pushing through the last mile or the fourth quarter without total exhaustion will often determine a winner. Fatigue has long been tied to purely physiological causes like lactic acid build-up or lack of glycogen energy. Then, researchers pointed to a "central governor" theory that claimed that our brains protect us from complete physical collapse by hiding a secret small reserve of energy while signalling to our muscles to quit before the reserve is needed. Imagine a car's "low fuel" warning indicator but with no gauge with a needle showing how much is left in the tank.  As athletes, we trust that when the warning light of fatigue comes on, we need to stop even though a few more gallons of energy may be left in the tank. However, Professor Samuele Marcora, Director of Research at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kent, has a different theory, which he calls the psychobiological model. "According to this effort-based decision-making model, any factor that influences perception of effort and/or potential motivation influences endurance performance, even when the physiological capacity to perform endurance exercise is unchanged," writes Marcora. He proposes that, "the point at which people stop endurance exercise (i.e., exhaustion) is determined by perception of effort and potential motivation." In his latest study, Marcora wondered if subliminal messages shown to athletes could help block some of the fatigue signaling by communicating with the brain at a subconscious level.  He and his team gathered 13 healthy adults to undergo a wonderful sounding athletic test, the "time to exhaustion trials." Just as it sounds, the volunteers first set a baseline of their fitness by pedaling a stationary bike at an ever increasing difficulty level until they simply could not go any further, either quitting or pedalling slower than 60 RPM.  There were asked for their Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) on a scale of 1-10 of their perception of the activity's difficulty. On their second visit to the lab, they watched a video screen in front of them as they cycled.  For a slight 16 milliseconds (0.02 seconds), either a series of happy faces or a sad faces was flashed on the screen.  At this speed, the human eye is not able to consciously recognize an image, even though it does register with the subconscious brain.  For the group that saw the happy faces, they were able to pedal three minutes longer than the group that saw sad faces.  RPEs were also lower for the "happy" group. The research has been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Marcora sees possibilities to help endurance athletes before and during races with positive subliminal messaging delivered by intelligent eyewear. Imagine a cross-country runner or a triathlete receiving ongoing positive reinforcement directly to his or her subconscious mind. For parents, we could send all of those well-intentioned, motivational phrases to our young athletes with a lot less yelling. With the same set-up at a third visit, the test subjects "saw" either positive words (Go, Energy, Lively) or negative words (Stop, Toil, Sleep) flash in front of them.  Again, the positively motivated group outperformed the negative group, this time by 17%.  Simply being exposed to motivating faces or words increased their effort and performance. Like all of those positive homemade signs along the course of a marathon, these results show that this reinforcement does indeed help change our attitude at a level that we don't even recognize.

Rules of Success to Adopt by Age 13

Liked!!! I need to get cracking on a lot of these and I'm well past the age of 13.


from garynorth.com
Rules of Success to Adopt by Age 13:

I could list these rules by order of importance or by chronology. I chose chronology. You must get into good habits now. Start where you are.

This is the #1 rule of success in every area of life: exceptional service.
Honesty really is the best policy.
Progress rests on these words: "Let's make a deal."
Adopt this as your criterion for decision-making: "Something is better than nothing."
Adopt its corollary: "You can't beat something with nothing."
Adopt its other corollary: "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
When you receive a gift, say "thanks." It cost the gift-giver something.
Life is a trade-off between time and money. Watch for any unexpected change in the ratio.
Early warning signal: when an event a year ago seems like a month ago.
Never post anything on Facebook or Twitter that you would not say face-to-face.
Be fair to everyone on your way up. You will meet them again on your way down.
Memorize people's names. This will open many doors in life.
People are more interested in themselves than in you. So, start with them.
When you start a project, finish it. Obvious dead ends are exceptions. Be sure.
Start thinking about your lifetime calling. On your calling, watch this.
Put your three major lifetime goals in writing. Create plans to achieve them.
All written plans should be specific and have deadlines. Review these plans on a schedule.
Work hard for half a day for the rest of your life. It doesn't matter which half.
Take one day off each week. No exceptions. Plan your work schedule for this.
Budget your time to be in control of your life. Time is the only irreplaceable resource.
Cut TV viewing to an hour a day. Use TiVo. Skip the ads.
Do the same with social media, texting, and phone calls. One hour, total.
Set up a budget for money. Then stick with it. Mint is free.
Tithe 10% of your earned/invested income to your church. No church? Then charities.
Save 10% of your earned/invested income. Put it in the bank until you have $1,500.
Earn some part-time income. Get a job or start a business.
Start using Evernote Clipper. Clip articles from now on.
Learn screencasting. Screencast-O-Matic is free.
Buy an external microphone. The Nady LM-14/U is cheap.
Start a YouTube channel. It's free.
Learn Scrivener. This is the key tool for writing reports and papers.
Take as much math as you can handle. Do not cut off your career possibilities.
Knowing statistics is better for most people than knowing calculus.
Learn how to speak in public. This is a universally applicable skill.
Start a blog on a serious subject. Post at least twice a week.
Sex is for married couples. No exceptions.
Single motherhood will set you back 25 years or more.
So will child support.
Either marry a Proverbs 31 woman or be one.
If you sense that you are becoming addicted to anything, quit immediately.
This includes sugar.
Never pay retail for college. To pay wholesale, watch this.
Start taking CLEP and DSST exams at the end of next term. Quiz out of college.
Never go into debt for college. This includes your parents.
Earn an online accredited college degree. It's cheap. It's fast.
Save your college money for grad school. Earn your M.A. or MBA online.
Start a business while you're going to grad school.
Better yet, start a business while you're in high school. Alternative option:
Get a part-time job in a local mid-sized business.
Find out how the owner started and built the business.
Read 25 "how-to" books in your chosen career field before age 25. Age 21 would be better.
Start another blog in the field you decide to go into. Deadline: age 21.
Use a debit card. Use it sparingly.
Do not use debt to buy anything that depreciates. There is one exception:
Buy cheap items on credit, and pay off each debt in 3 months. This raises your FICO credit score.
Get the lowest-interest credit card you qualify for. Never be late on a payment.
Buy used goods with paper currency, and ask for a discount. Get a written receipt.
Pay a premium to get exceptional service that saves you time and lowers your risk.
Do not be too uppity to shop at a well laid-out "dollar store."
Do not buy her an engagement ring. Spend the ring money on the honeymoon.
Great memories appreciate; stuff depreciates. Keep a digital scrapbook of great memories.
Buy her wedding ring at a pawnshop. Buy the other guy's mistake. Pay 25% of retail.
Do not unknowingly marry anyone with college debt over $10,000. Find out. Desperate people may lie.
Get a pre-nuptial agreement: neither partner accepts the other's pre-marriage debts.
Life insurance: 10-year level term, $500,000 minimum. The beneficiary must own the policy.
Spouses must own policies on each other. No exceptions.
Legally independent adults should have a Health Savings Account (HSA).
Have one more child than you think you can afford. Maybe two.
Never buy a new car. A 4-year-old one will do just fine. Pay cash.
Do not sell your home when you move up. Keep it as an investment.
Sit on a committee, but never let one veto you. Quit. Then appoint a committee.
Do not become economically dependent on any government promise.
Never settle for anything less than the top 20% in anything. Never means never.
Never break these three rules of lifetime success:

1. Do what you say you will do.
2. Do it on time or a little early.
3. Do it for the price you agree to, and then add a free bonus.

Here is a rule that you will wish you had followed at age 50, but you probably won't:

Spend 10 minutes a day with a speed-reading program. Which one? Something is better than nothing.

There is a mark of success. It indicates that you are no longer struggling. You may not have arrived, but you are on the last leg of your journey. It was articulated by Max Blumert, the father of coin dealer and libertarian activist Burt Blumert. I call it Max's law.

Buy the Best. Pay Cash. Take Delivery.

Update: I had only one attack on this article. It came from a very upset Christian, sent on a Sunday. You can read it here: http://www.garynorth.com/public/13951.cfm.

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TED Talks: Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation?language=en

Good stuff forwarded to me this morning from Mrs. TheSlav so Hat Tip to her. Hey, wait a minute!!
You don't think she sent this to me because she thinks I have a problem with motivation, do you? It did arrive in close proximity with an ever-increasing "Honey-Do" list, but maybe I'm just reading too much into this and imputing motivation on her part.

From the site I gathered that Mr. pink was a former speechwriter for Al Gore, but somehow I got past that and watched the presentation anyway and I'm glad I did. Great stuff. Enjoy, I have work to do.

P.S. - Excellent suggested reading list below.

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

11:31There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. And what worries me, as we stand here in the rubble of the economic collapse, is that too many organizations are making their decisions, their policies about talent and people, based on assumptions that are outdated, unexamined,and rooted more in folklore than in science. And if we really want to get out of this economic mess, if we really want high performance on those definitional tasks of the 21st century, the solution is not to do more of the wrong things, to entice people with a sweeter carrot, or threaten them with a sharper stick.We need a whole new approach.

12:17The good news is that the scientists who've been studying motivation have given us this new approach.It's built much more around intrinsic motivation. Around the desire to do things because they matter,because we like it, they're interesting, or part of something important. And to my mind, that new operating system for our businesses revolves around three elements: autonomy, mastery and purpose.Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives. Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters. Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. These are the building blocks of an entirely new operating system for our businesses.

17:23There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. Here is what science knows.One: Those 20th century rewards, those motivators we think are a natural part of business, do work, but only in a surprisingly narrow band of circumstances. Two: Those if-then rewards often destroy creativity.Three: The secret to high performance isn't rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive--the drive to do things for their own sake. The drive to do things cause they matter.

17:52And here's the best part. We already know this. The science confirms what we know in our hearts. So, if we repair this mismatch between science and business, if we bring our motivation, notions of motivationinto the 21st century, if we get past this lazy, dangerous, ideology of carrots and sticks, we can strengthen our businesses, we can solve a lot of those candle problems, and maybe, maybe -- we can change the world. I rest my case. (Applause)

Dan Pink's Reading List:

• The Talent Code

  Daniel Coyle
  Arrow Books, 2010

  A savvy and snappy compilation of some of the best research on talent. I've given away more than a dozen copies of this one — including to my own kids.
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  Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 
  Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008

  The classic book that introduced the idea of "flow" — those delicious moments when the challenge we face is so exquisitely matched to our capabilities that we lose our sense of time, even our sense of self.
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  Why We Do What We Do

  Edward L. Deci and Richard Flaste 
  Penguin Books, 1996

  Edward L. Deci is a legend in the study of motivation, and this 1996 book offers a nice early introduction to his work.
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  Mindset

  Carol Dweck 
  Ballantine Books, 2007

  One the most important books a parent can read. Seriously. Get it now.
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  The Sports Gene

  David Epstein 
  Current Trade, 2014

  A fascinating book that shows that in some pursuits, practice, practice, practice is more effective when you've got the right genes, genes, genes.
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  The War of Art

  Steven Pressfield 
  Black Irish Entertainment, 2012

  An essential read on overcoming resistance in the quest for mastery.
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  Readings on self-determination theory

  Much of the work I write about in Drive comes out of the University of Rochester. You can find a great selection of academic papers on self-determination theory online.
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  Dan Pink: My 5 favorite TED Talks on work

  You can't go wrong by watching my five favorite TED Talks about work.

Motivational maestro Zig Ziglar dies at 86 - Washington Times

Sad news of the loss of an icon in the motivational and self-help area. I was struck by a note he sent to another giant in the industry -- and another favorite author of mine, John C. Maxwell as noted in his book Ethics 101 -- regarding the loss of leadership in this country.

At the beginning of Chapter 3: The Golden Rule Begins with You, Zig noted to Maxwell the following:

I believe the reason we had so many outstanding leaders in the early part of our country's history is the fact that, according to the Thomas Jefferson Research Institute, in the days when men you were mentioning ( the founding fathers) were growing up, over 90 percent of the educational thrust was of a moral, ethical, religious nature. And yet, by the 1950's, the percentage of that same educational thrust was so small it could not be measured. I wonder if that's the reason three million Americans in 1776 produced Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, etc. and why in the year 2002 we have no one to equal men of that caliber.

Zig Ziglar, letter to author, 15 April 2002.

Three million Americans produced so many great leaders and today from a population of over three hundred  million, we cannot produced a single politician worthy of standing in the team photo with any of these guts in terms of leadership. 

I know it's fashionable today to denigrate the founding fathers due to their failure to deal with the evils of slavery and the treatment of Native Americans, but we're doing some things today that history will look back on and shame us for as well.

I don't see any these folks dropping their keys off at any Indian reservation or donating to any reparation for slavery efforts. But they do talk a nice game.

R.I.P. Zig Ziglar ( 1926 - 2012 )   

from the Washington Times:
Motivational maestro Zig Ziglar dies at 86 - Washington Times:

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last,”  Mr. Ziglar noted in one of his dozens of quotable maxims liberally sprinkled throughout his pep talks.  “Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend [both] daily."

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