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Chasing Greatness (5 ways to turn season goals into long-term success)

August 8, 2017 by Tripp Atkinson

Tripp Atkinson Chasing Greatness Turning Goals Into Success

I was recently asked to challenge the Lanier High Football Team before they set individual & team goals for their season. The challenge was to approach season goals in a way that would pay dividends far beyond the game. Here are a few suggestions…

Great coaches, educators, and team leaders realize the value of leading individuals in an exercise to set goals that will challenge and motivate the team.

Such an exercise can provide much more than a target stat or team record for which to aim. It can also provide an opportunity to evaluate some foundational issues that will maximize the opportunities ahead of you.

As you evaluate the season ahead (in sports and life), consider these 5 ways to maximize your opportunity and turn pre-season goals into long-term success:

1) BE before you DO.

Before you determine what you want to DO, establish who you want to BE.

What you do flows from who you are. A right understanding of this can keep our focus in the right place. We get it wrong when we focus on the by-product more than the source.

Smoke & Fire
What if I woke up at night to a strong odor of smoke in my house and my biggest concern was opening the windows and turning on fans to get the smell out of my house? What would you say about me? That’s right…I’m an idiot!! Why? Because my focus should not be on the smell; my focus should be on the SOURCE of the smell…fire! Smoke is simply a by-product of the fire.

We realize this simple principle when it comes to fire, but sometimes we forget to apply it to our lives.

So many athletes are more concerned with:

– recruiting exposure than improving their game.
– having a microphone than having something to say.
– wanting to be a captain than actually leading.

The by-product always flows from the source. Get the source right, and the rest will take care of itself.

Like my friend Reggie Shaw (Head Coach, Byrnes High School) says, “You’ve got to BE before you DO.”

The Name on the Front

In setting goals, not only consider your identity, but also the identity of the team for which you play.

The name on the back of the jersey has got to embody the culture of the name on the front of the jersey. You have a responsibility to uphold the values and goals of the program that gives you an opportunity to play.

For example, Coach Korey Mobbs has determined that the Lanier High Longhorns are going to be about Character, Class, & Commitment in all they do. To put on a Longhorn jersey, each player must commit to represent those values both on and off the field. Make sure this is part of your goals.

 

2) Count the cost.

Determine what your goal is going to cost you. If it doesn’t cost you, it isn’t a worthy goal. Nothing great has ever been achieved without a great cost.

Your commitment and work ethic has got to match your goal.

Some people have got a $1 million goal and a 50 cent work ethic. That’s a problem. You either need to change your goal or change your roll!

If you are serious about your goal, what has to change to meet it? (5% more effort will probably not give you 60% more results.)

Nothing changes until something changes.

Some people have got a $1 million goal and a 50 cent work ethic. That’s a problem.

Click To Tweet

 

3) Take the lid off.

Don’t hinder the greatness that is in you from coming out of you.

As a coach, the hardest thing to see is wasted potential.

One thing I tell student athletes all the time is, “There is greatness in you….now go let it out!”

I constantly remind them not to put a lid on what they can achieve by:

– Making excuses. (“No excuses, no explanations.” – Tony Dungy)
– Listening to the noise of others’ expectations / opinions.
– Failing to see what they uniquely bring to the team.

You are unique and offer something to your team or organization that no one else can. Find what you offer, and give that better than anyone else. Realize your greatness and let it out!

 

4) Be Real.

Don’t pretend that you’re going to be someone on the playing field that you’re not in the classroom or in the community.

The playing field is simply a stage that shows a bigger audience who you really are.

If you are pursuing excellence in one area, but not another, then you have an identity crisis.

Faking
Social media has sold us a lie that it’s ok to change who we are based on the audience or circumstance. I know some students who are managing 3 or 4 social media accounts on the same platform. Why? Students are settling into a “Finsta” lifestyle of playing to different audiences.

How to be real
I love that Coach Mobbs is teaching his team these four ways to be R.E.A.L….

Relentlessly pursue excellence (in every area)
Exceed expectations (unmatched effort)
Always do the right thing
Live a life that matters

A life that matters
There is no better time than now to evaluate the things that matter most and make sure your priorities are in the right order. As important as sports are, they are not the most important thing in your life. Sports are not more important than Faith, family, or education.

If you look for fulfillment in sports, you will walk off the field feeling empty. Every. Single. Time. But as you understand the things that matter most and get those things in order, you can play the game with deeper significance. You can find more meaning and purpose in how you play and enjoy your sport. It starts with getting real.

 

5) We > Me.

Your biggest goals should be about the WE, not about the ME.

You shouldn’t strive to be the best ON the team before you strive to be the best FOR the team.

How are you putting the team above yourself?
In what ways are you seeking team recognition above your own exposure?
How are you adding value to your teammates?

The success of your team starts with you.

Your daily motto should be “If it’s going to BE for the WE, it’s up to ME.”

It’s not up to you to be the best player… but the best TEAMMATE.

I promise that those in the locker room with you care less about how good a player you are than how good a teammate you are.

Good teammates:
– work hard to get better individually for the good of the team.
– make those around them better.
– adapt to the changing needs of the team.
– embody the vision of the program.

It’s not up to you to be the best player… but the best TEAMMATE.

Click To Tweet

I’ve heard it said, “It’s not the team with the best players that win. It’s the players with the best team that wins.” This is true in sports, and it’s true in life.

0-0

The best part of the preseason is that everyone is 0-0. There is nothing but opportunity ahead…individual opportunity and opportunity for your team. Set goals that will push you to achieve your potential and make your team better. As you pursue such goals, I have no doubt that you will see success both on the field and in life.

Go let it out!

 

Filed Under: Leadership, Motivational Tagged With: Football, Goals, Leadership, Motivational, sports, Success, Tripp Atkinson

The “Magic” of March Madness

March 28, 2017 by Tripp Atkinson

Tripp Atkinson March Madness

Maybe you know the feeling… sitting on the edge of your seat, palms clenched, breath held, hopeful, and poised to jump in the air at any moment with arms raised to the ceiling in victory.  Yep, it’s March Madness!

If you have a team in the “Big Dance” you know exactly what I’m talking about.  You understand the intense hope, anticipation, and sincere belief that the “impossible” really could happen.   Your emotions are overcome with nervous expectancy and cautious optimism that your team could take you on a ride like you’ve never been on.  Even if your team didn’t make the tournament, you can still easily be pulled into the excitement.  If you tune in, you will no doubt see upsets, thrilling finishes, and dreams coming true.  You may even find yourself adopting the underdog team, and cheering them through the gauntlet of Goliaths.

The “magic” of March Madness is this… the impossible can happen, and usually does!  And we LOVE it!  We all long to see “miracles.”  We all love to have hope, and are captivated by things that have never been done.  The raw and uncontrolled emotion of athletes who are living their dream draws in a multitude of bystanders who want to be a part of their journey.

While March Madness is certainly thrilling, we don’t have to wait until March to experience the anticipation of miracles and the reality of living beyond our wildest dreams.  In fact, as a follower of Jesus, living in this reality should be the norm.  Consider the words of Paul in Ephesians 3,

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. – Ephesians 3:20

We may read this passage and say we believe it.  Sure, we know in our head that God can do the impossible.  But I wonder if we are living life on the edge of our seats anticipating and expecting God to “accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”  I wonder if we are poised to leap into the air with excitement and praise as we see God working miracles in and through us.  I wonder if we are willing to be so in the moment of what God is doing, that our raw and uncontrolled emotion is visible to a multitude of bystanders.

Notice that the accomplishing of the “infinity more” is done “through his mighty power at work within us.”  In the preceding verses Paul prays for four things that his reader may have that are tied to God’s power at work.  These four things appear to be conditions through which God does “infinitely more” through the follower of Christ.  Paul prays,

  1.  May God empower you with inner strength through the Holy Spirit  Vs. 16
  2. Then Christ will make his home in your heart as you trust him.  Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  Vs. 17
  3. May you have the power to understand the magnitude of God’s love.  (You won’t fully understand God’s love and live in God’s love until it is rooted in your heart.)  Vs. 18
  4. May you experience the love of Christ, (though it is too great to fully understand) Vs. 19

Paul says, “Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

The empowering of the Holy Spirit leads to Christ making a home in our hearts, which leads to abundant love, which leads to God’s fullness and power in us.  Whenever we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Christ, mastered by love, and filled with the fullness of God, then he is able to “accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

This all begins with submitting our lives to Christ and yielding to the work and power of his Spirit in us.  Do you want to see God do the impossible in your life?

Make these four things your prayer today…

  • God, I yield to the work and power of your Holy Spirit in my life today.
  • I trust Christ as he resides in and rules my heart today.
  • May I live in the understanding and reality of the magnitude of spiritual things that make no earthly sense, and
  • May the fullness of Christ’s love be demonstrated in and through me today.

As we do these things, may our expectations be raised.  Let’s ever live in anticipation of God doing more in us and through us than we might ask or think.  Let’s live our lives on the edge of our seats with eyes and heart wide open.   And may our arms be ever ready to raise high in celebration and praise!

May we enter church this week knowing that God is going to move.  May we approach our daily time with God with the same excitement and anticipation of seeing things beyond what we can imagine.  Let’s live our lives today expecting God to work in us and through us as we yield to his power and presence in us.

As we do, we will never have to stop dancing and our very lives will be the “one shining moment” everyone longs to see.  (Only basketball fans will understand that last reference.)

*I really appreciate all those who take the time to read this blog.  Please consider subscribing by clicking HERE and entering your email address on the right.  (You can opt out at any time if my blog is lame.)  Thanks!

Filed Under: Christian Living, Devotionals Tagged With: basketball, Devotional, encouragment, March Madness, sports, Tripp Atkinson

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