Category: Practice

Thinking For A Change

Focus, Focus, Focus

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Thinking For A Change

Thinking For A Change

Skill #2: Unleash the Potential of Focused Thinking

  • “He did each thing as if he did nothing else.” – Spoken of Novelist Charles Dickens (77)
  • Focused thinking can do several things for you: (1) Harness energy toward a desired goal, (2) give ideas time to develop, (3) brings clarity to the target, and (4) take you to the next level. (80-82)
  • Focus can bring energy and power to almost anything, whether physical or mental. (80)
  • “To be able to concentrate for a considerable time is essential to difficult achievement.” – Bertrand Russell (80-81)
  • A good idea can become a great idea when it is given focus time. (81)
  • “knowledge is power only if a man knows what facts are not to bother about.” – Robert Lynd (81)
  • One of the most important things about golf is the presence of clear goals. (82)
  • “The immature mind hops from one thing to another; the mature mind seeks to follow through.” – Harry A. Overstreet (82)
  • Be selective, not exhaustive, in your focused thinking. For me, that means dedicating in-depth thinking time for four areas: leadership, creativity, communication and intentional networking. (83)
  • Identify Your Priorities (84)
  • “a conclusion is a place where you get tired of thinking.” – Edward DeBono (84)
  • Discover Your Gifts (84)
  • if you’re going to focus your thinking in your areas of strength, you need to know what they are.” (85)
  • Develop Your Dream ((85)
  • “You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration.” – James Allen (85)
  • “The real path to greatness, it turns out, requires simplicity and diligence. It requires clarity, not instant illumination. It demands each of us focus on what is vital — and to eliminate all of the extraneous distractions.” – Jim Collins (86)
  • Wherever you are… be there! (87)
  • The mind will not focus until it has clear objectives. But the purpose of goals is to focus your attention and give you direction, not to identify a final destination. (89)
  • “If you can’t write your idea on the back of my business card, you don’t have a clear idea.” – David Belasco (89)
Thinking For A Change

Always Think “Big Picture”

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Thinking For A Change

Thinking For A Change

Part I of this book had some really good shtuff in it, but I wasn’t able to make time to write about the key points that stood out to me. I will do a better job for Part II: Eleven Thinking Skills Every Successful Person Needs. I will actually use these types of posts as my “notepad” when I complete the assigned readings for my Leadership & Critical Thinking course. As most of my posts about the books in my “Bookshelf,” I will just report (in bullet form) the more interesting points that I found in each chapter. Hopefully these bullet points serve a purpose for you; whether they be good conversation starters or even serve as “thought provokers.” Definitely, comment on any of these posts with your thoughts and we can have a discussion 🙂 Enjoy!

Skill #1

  • “Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking.” – David Schwartz (59)
  • “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.” – Konrad Adenauer (61)
  • How many thousands of people had seen what Eratosthenes saw and never made the same connection? (61)
  • When somebody like Jack Welch tells a GE employee that the ongoing relationship with the customer is more important than the sale of an individual product, he’s reminding them of the big picture. (62)
  • Spend time with big-picture thinkers and you’ll find that they: (1) Learn continually, (2) Listen intentionally, (3) Look expansively and (4) Live completely. (63-65)
  • Big-picture thinkers are never satisfied with what they already know…. they often are able to connect the unconnected. They are life-long learners. (63)
  • If I’m going to learn and grow, I must know what questions to ask and know how to apply the answers to my life. (63)
  • Big-picture thinkers recognize that they don’t know lots of things. (64)
  • Big-picture thinkers realize there is a world out there besides their own, and they make an effort to get outside of themselves and see other people’s worlds through their eyes. (64)
  • You can spend your life any way you want, but you can spend it only once. (65)
  • [Big-picture thinkers] experience fewer unwanted surprises, too, because they are more likely to see the many components involved in any given situation: issues, people, relationships, timing and values. They are also, therefore, usually more tolerant of other people and their thinking. (65)
  • Leaders must: (1) See the vision before their people do, (2) Size up situations, taking into account many variables, (3) Sketch a picture of where the team is going, (4) Show how the future connects with the past to make the journey more meaningful, and (5) Seize the moment when the timing is right. (66-67)
  • “He that is everywhere is nowhere.” – Thomas Fuller (67)
  • “You’ve got to think about the ‘big things’ while you’re doing the small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler (67)
  • One of the most important skills you can develop in human relations is the ability to see things from the other person’s point of view. (68)
  • see what other see… that is a powerful thing. (68)
  • The better the grasp team members have of the big picture, the greater their potential to work together as a team. (68)
  • The person who forgets the ultimate is a slave to the immediate. (69)
  • With preparation, the most important things will be done well. (69)
  • If you want to cultivate the ability to think big picture, then you must get used to embracing and dealing with complex and diverse ideas. (71)
  • Learn from Every Experience: Failing Forward (71)
  • Teachability is an attitude, a mind-set that says, “No matter how much I know (or think I know), I can learn from this situation.” That kind of thinking can help you turn adversity into advantage. It can make you a winner even during the most difficult circumstances.” (71)
  • If you want to be a big-picture thinker, you will have to go against the flow of the world. (73)
Wooden on Leadership

Wooden on Leadership — Introduction

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Wooden on Leadership

Wooden on Leadership

This is one of the books that I will be reading once I start my Sports Management Program at USF on January 8th. I love reading these types of books so I thought I’d get a headstart. I’m super excited to get started in this program; 2013 is going to be a great year!

Just like my post, “Start With Why — Chapter 1: Assume You Know,” I will bullet point all the parts of each chapter of Wooden on Leadership that I find interesting.

  • Balance is crucial in everything we do. Along with love it’s among the most important things in life. 
  • Leadership is all about helping others achieve their own greatness by helping the organization to succeed.
  • How you run the race — your planning, preparation, practice and performance — counts for everything. Winning or losing is a by-product, an aftereffect, of that effort.
  • Effort is the ultimate measure of your success.
  • COMPETE ONLY AGAINST YOURSELF — Set your standards high; namely, do the absolute best of which you are capable. Focus on running the race rather than winning it. Do those things necessary to bring forth your personal best and don’t lose sleep worrying about the competition. Let the competition lose sleep worrying about you.
  • You must define success as making the complete effort to maximize your ability, skills, and potential in whatever circumstances — good or bad — may exist.
  • My standard of success counted most to me.
  • Before you can lead others, you must be able to lead yourself.
  • Learn to master the 4 P’s: Planning, Preparation, Practice and Performance. These are key to successful execution.
  • Write down the tasks, initiatives, and actions that each member of your team needs to do to perform at his or her peak level.

HMT: Days 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 & 36 “Just Around the Corner”

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HMT: Days 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 & 36

HMT: Days 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 & 36

Day 30: 5 mile run

5 miles in 39 minutes; one of my best treadmill runs

5 miles in 39 minutes; one of my best treadmill runs

This 5 mile run felt really good. I started with an easy pace and gradually increased the speed throughout the run. This was def. one of the best runs I’ve ever had on a treadmill. I have to thank my brothers Ant and Gordon for pushing me through this workout. For the past week or so, we’ve been texting each other each others runs, and these texts have served as motivation to keep pushing.

Day 31: 3 mile run or cross

Today was a very light day. I chose to do some cross training so that I could conserve my legs for the 10 mile run that I had scheduled for the Sunday upcoming. I chose to do 30 minutes of boxing drills with my brother Jeff. We did a few rounds with the mitts followed by a few rounds of light contact drills. Jeff has been training Muay Thai for close to 3 years now and has always been the go-to-guy for everything boxing. He’s really helped sharpen my boxing skills and has always given me a great workout with the mitts.

Day 32: 5 mile run + strength

5 miler

5 miler

Today’s run was just an ok run. I wasn’t really feeling it today, so instead of forcing myself to run a good time, I listened to my body and  took it real easy. I would run a mile, then walk a quarter mile, run a mile and then walk a quarter mile and continued this for the entire run. It’s getting real close to my Half Marathon and I don’t really want to push too hard during my running days if I’m not feeling up to it. It took me 55 minutes to complete these 5 miles and I was absolutely ok with that. After this run, I did some back, shoulder and tricep exercises.

Day 33: Rest

If you ever come to my neck of the woods, you MUST visit Little Lucca . On this rest day, all I did was watch the SF Giants game and consume this bad boy (I did not eat the remote. I just placed it in the photo to show you how ginormous this sandwich is.)

Crab Sandwich from Little Lucca... MmMmMmMmMmmmmmmm

Crab Sandwich from Little Lucca... MmMmMmMmMmmmmmmm

Day 34: 60 min cross

Ok, I approached this cross training day a little differently: I just hit the “Start” button on my iPhone stopwatch and did anything for an hour. I do not remember exactly what I did, but there was jump roping, burpees, lunges, pull-ups, bicep curls and much much more.

Hit start and work for an hour

Hit start and get to work

Day 35: 10 mile run

Oh hell yes, my first 10 mile run! And this wasn’t just any 10 miles, it was 10 miles around Lake Merced. Gordon and I started off with a very easy pace, but then picked it up every mile. At Mile 4, I had some water and walked while I drank instead of running while trying to drink. I tried to run while drinking during my 10K, but that did not turn out well; water in my nose + water in my eyes = not good. At Mile 8, I was about to reach into my pocket and pull out the GU packet that I had but I decided to push through, but I don’t think I’ll do that during the Half. I think I will have water and Mile 4, GU at Mile 8, and water and/or GU at mile 12. Here’s the break down of our run

My first 10 Mile run, I loved it!

My first 10 Mile run, I loved it!

Day 36: Stretch and Strengthen

Today I spent a lot of time with the foam roller. I took the knots out of my IT Band, adductors, quads, and calves. I also did a good amount of static stretching for my hamstrings and hip flexors. For my strength training, I did 2 chest, 2 bicep and 2 leg exercises. I didn’t push too hard today; I really want this week to be an easy week because my FIRST EVER HALF MARATHON is just around the corner! Holler!

I hope all is well with you all! Cheers!

Deep Listening

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“our culture cries out for, even demands, understanding and influence. however, the principle of influence is governed by mutual understanding born of the commitment of at least one person to deep listening first.” – 7 Habits (10)

deep listening: this is one thing that i have been working on for a while now. people very close to me have kindly pointed out that i like to interrupt others with a quick “yea” or “uh huh” when conversing; i hate it! i really am trying to improve on this and hopefully you see my improvement the next time we speak.

3 Simple Words, 3 Simple Sentences

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i am amazed what 3 simple words can do. when i feel like giving up, sometimes 3 simple words is all i need to keep going. it’s as if 3 simple words take over and are the only 3 things in my world at that moment; not even the task at hand stands a chance. i become the 3 simple words.

i hear the 3 simple words in my head, but deeper in my mind, i see/hear/feel my ypowr!  i see/hear/feel my future family, my future wife, my future kids, my future career, my future health, my past health, my past friendships, my past hardships, my past mistakes, my current state; i see/hear/feel it all.

3 simple words can motivate you.

Just Keep Moving

3 simple words can humble you.

Thank You Lord

3 simple words can change your life forever.

I Love You (is there someone in your life who deserves to hear these words from you? or is there someone who you’d want to hear these words from? sometimes these 3 simple words limit us. never limit yourself. and don’t be concerned about their response (or non-response). this is about YOU and how YOU feel about someone! I love YOU. and please remember that LOVE is a VERB. to love someone means that you sacrifice for that person, that you work hard for that person, that you put that person before yourself.)

if these 3 sentences are part of your daily life, then i believe you are a positive & progressive individual. always keep moving, always be thankful, and always think love.

My Rising Routine (re: practice 04/03/11)

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  • set my iPhone alarm for 6:30am every morning
  • hit snooze (which is ~8 minutes on the iPhone). during these ~8 minutes i will do 3 things:
  1. say a quick, thankful and grateful prayer
  2. recite my TOP 3 (goals) in my head or aloud
  3. decide what my daily goal is
  • play my current theme song(s) (Till I Get There – Lupe Fiasco)
  • shower/brush teeth/get dressed – or as i like to call it proper “y-giene”
  • take 20-minutes for a productive read (ie. Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, The Compound Effect, or any book recommended by #Striveware)
  • eat breakfast

hopefully this gives you some ideas for your own Rising Routine.

 

Practice 04/03/11 – Rising Routine

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Create a morning Rising Routine!

the reason i say “rising” routine instead of “morning” routine is because i know we all can’t wake up the same time every morning. i am surrounded by many friends who are nurses, a sister in college with a hectic college schedule, and clients who work graveyard shifts; i understand that we all don’t have 9-5s.

here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

what will always be your first waking thought? what is your precept, your motto, your maxim?

what song will be the first song you listen to everyday that will prepare you for your day? what is your current theme song?

“to reach new goals and develop new habits, it’s necessary to create new routines to support your objectives” – The Compound Effect (99)

Practice 03/31/2011

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“Get out your notebook and write out your top three goals. Now make a list of the bad habits that night be sabotaging your progress in each area. Write down every one.” – The Compound Effect (76)

Hey everyone, try this one out. And if your comfortable with it, post it on your tumblr. Hopefully you are surrounded by positive people who will support you and encourage you to change those bad habits and help you achieve your goals. Let me know how it goes. – JR