One of my favorite authors/life gurus is the charismatic football commentator/ex-University of Notre Dame Head Coach (1988 National Championship), Lou Holtz. I was reminded this morning of a book Coach Holtz often refers to in his own writings and speeches. (Side note, one of the things I like about Holtz is that he is a dreamer but also a “doer”, he walks the walk.)
The book he credits to his goal setting ways was written in the 1950s by Dr. David Schwartz, “The Magic of Thinking Big”. This is a “must read” for anyone goal setting or looking for their path in life, young, middle-aged, or old.
Here are some of my favorite take-aways:
– Beware of “Exusitis”. (Don’t make excuses)
– Creative thinking – not just for artists.
– Believe it can be; Don’t believe anything is impossible (Positioning). Eliminate “impossible” from your vocabulary.
– Average is “worst of the best” and “best of the worst”.
– Become and “experimental person” – try new things (I think this is really important and easy to implement with little things, i.e, new route to work)
– Get up an hour early and do some daily planning.
– If you want something done, give it to a busy person.
– Listening – leader does more listening.
– Encourage others to talk, “What do you do?” (Takes practice and focus)
– Confidence – no one is born with confidence. (Help those around you understand this.)
– Action cures fear (One of my favorites and so true!)
– Don’t wait for things to be “just right”.
– Do what you fear doing.
– Deposit only positive thoughts in memory bank, don’t dwell on negative situations.
– Change attitudes by changing your daily actions.
– Be a “front-seater“.
– Practice speaking up.
– Be the first to speak, be the icebreaker.
– When you speak slowly, you come across more confident.
– Smile big – great medicine for confidence deficiency, great to do when most fearful
– Appearance matters – look like the person you want to be
– Always give people more than they expect to get.
There are many more, just a sampling.
In the spirit of Lou Holtz and Dr. Schwartz, I am going to “action” 3 ideas from these today:
1) Write down one creative way we can be more helpful to our clients.
2) On phone call today, going to practice my listening skills by encouraging others to speak.
3) Overcome “excusitis”- going to run outside despite the snowstorm. No excuses!