by Don Yaeger
Inner Fire
They Use Adversity as Fuel
No matter what we
do—hitting an amazing shot or throwing the ball out of bounds (I'll let
you guess which one is happening most often!)—Coach
K yells "Next play!" as we make our way down the court. His point?
What just happened is finished—good or bad—and now it is time to move
on. Next play! Don’t revel. Don’t wallow. Move on, because the next play
is what’s important
I know this
newsletter is about developing Greatness in our hearts and minds, but
this month it is about the Greatest birthday gift I've ever received. As
you read this today, I am in Durham, North Carolina on the campus of Duke where Coach Mike
Krzyzewski is running me and a group of 79 other business people
through drills on the floor at famed Cameron Indoor Stadium. The trip—a dream for me—was a birthday gift from my wife!
Coach K and a slew of his former players are here teaching us fundamentals of a game I love...then coaching us old guys as we play against one another through the week. The fundamental I'm most enjoying, though, has nothing to do with dribbling or passing. It is Coach K's love of the phrase "Next play." And trust me, Coach believes that developing this mindset IS a fundamental
What an enormous lesson in success. If you want to win consistently, as Coach K has done for 30-plus years at Duke, you
cannot get too high after any win or too low after any loss. We have to
move on and let neither success nor failure keep us from doing the
right thing while running our next play.
When
my amazing wife Jeanette and I return home, I won't just be a better
basketball player (Look out, guys in my church league!), but I'm going
to be a better leader because I'm going to focus on Coach K's lesson.
Tips From the Great Ones
No matter what
happens, no matter how our last endeavor turned out, the thing we need
to stay focused on is our next play. It’s true on the basketball court
and it’s true in life.
Do you ever feel yourself getting bogged down by a previous failure? Try instead to shake off whatever was negative, take note of what you can learn for your next attempt, and then fix your eyes on whatever is ahead. Most importantly, do it quickly.
Try
to think like a Great one by constantly moving forward. In this way,
we ensure that our mistakes stay in the past instead of allowing them to
creep into the present…and maybe even negatively impact the future.
But it is just as
important not to spend too much time basking in the glow of a success.
How many great opportunities have been missed because people couldn’t
see the moment through delirious eyes?? I know I have experienced this
in my past.
Bring on the next play!
