The Power of a Positive Attitude

As coaches, we routinely tell our players that Attitudes are contagious.  Moreover, the only two things you can control are your attitude and your effort.

Attitude is defined as: manner, disposition or feeling, a tendency or orientation of the mind.  Simply stated, an attitude is an habitual way of thinking.  When thoughts become action, action becomes behavior.  Behavior is an outward open display of your attitude.  Attitude is the power behind the action.  It is the foundation for life.

God’s blessings are all around us everyday.  How often do we neglect the beauty of a sun rise or sun set?  Do we really appreciate our time?  A 2013 Gallup Poll showed that over 70% of Americans hate their jobs or are negative about their careers.  How many people would like to have a career or even a job?

My wife Dana and I had some tough conversations with our young daughters.  The last one we had together was about the doctor’s prognosis for Dana’s life.  All along Dana’s battle with cancer, we told our girls the doctors are trying to heal momma.  Once the doctors had said we were out of treatment options, Dana calmly said, “I need a time frame.”  The doctor’s response was chilling, “One to three months.”  We told our girls individually to allow for their own emotional processing.  Once each one calmed down, Dana told them, “This is not an excuse for bad behavior.  This is not an excuse not to do your best at what ever you do.  This is not an excuse to mope around.  If anything, you have to be grateful and happy for all that you have.  Know that I love you.  I will always love you.”  An amazing sentiment from a woman who’d been given 1 – 3 months to live.

It seems as if people faced with their own mortality provide us left behind with a an attitude of gratitude for life.  My wife Dana did it.

I watched ESPN broadcaster Stuart Scott state, “When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer.  You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and the manner in which you live.” 

Jimmy Valvano said, “To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week; you’re going to have something special”  Coach Valvano concluded his speech by saying, “Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you and God bless you all.”

I have found three studies that demonstrate the significance of a positive outlook on life.  In a study of nearly 1,500 people with an increased risk of early onset coronary artery disease, those who reported being cheerful, relaxed, satisfied with life and full of energy had a one-third reduction in coronary events like a heart attack.

Those with the highest risk of coronary events enjoyed an even greater risk reduction of nearly 50 percent. This was true even when other heart disease risk factors, such as smoking, age and diabetes, were taken into account. The study’s lead author noted:

 “If you are by nature a cheerful person and look on the bright side of things, you are more likely to be protected from cardiac events. A happier temperament has an actual effect on disease and you may be healthier as a result.”

           A Mayo Clinic Study, concluded in 2000, demonstrated from a 30 year study of 839 people who were pessimists had a 20% increase of death than the optimist group.

           Another study at the University of Pennsylvania tracked 120 men who’d suffered a heart attack.  After 8 years, researchers found that 80% of the pessimists had died of a 2^nd heart attack compared to only 33% of optimists.

We need to try to have a positive attitude as if our live’s depended upon it, because they do.

Bible scriptures state:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!”

John 16:33

The word “will” is the operative term.  It doesn’t say you may, might, could or possibly have trouble it says, “In this world, you will have trouble.”  This scripture also goes on to say, “take heart!”  As Rocky said, “Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.  Adversity and tragedy are part of this world.  Take heart and have peace.  Try and find God’s plan in it all.

“Considerate pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

James 1:2

Being positive is not always easy but it is a choice.

 

 

 

ADVERSITY

During these last 3-weeks, things have been extremely busy.  We have a new a new group of superintendents in charge of our school district.  The administrative principals are new at our high school.  We started our pre – season football camp with a new head coach and new faces on our coaching staff.  There was so much going on, I could not find time nor isolate anything to post about.

I can say, in 20 years of coaching, last night’s win was one of the proudest moments of my career.  There was plenty of off the field professional adversity that trickled down to our kids.

We started our season last night.   Our opponent was ranked, in some publications, as #1 in Texas and as high as #6 in the nation.  I’ve never understood how “high school” football teams could be ranked nationally.  Supposedly, from 10th through 12 grades, they have 15 high school kids with FBS College Football Scholarship Offers.  Their “back – up” quarterback has a scholarship offer and is committed to The University of Florida.  Manvel had soundly beat us 35 – 10 in 2014.

Granted, we are talented in our own right.  We have 3 to 5 FBS College Football Scholarship type players.  We are also ranked #11 in Texas and #20 nationally.

We trailed at half time 12 – 7.  Early in the 3rd quarter we trailed 20-7.  The officiating was among the worst I’ve ever seen in 20 years.  Some rules are set up for the physical protection of the athletes.  Yet, we were fortunate not to lose players to injury because these rules were not called.  Our players did a great job of keeping their composure against “smack talking” and punching or shoving after plays.

We scored 22 unanswered points and were able to win the game.  In the process, we had a wide receiver make a physically tough guy catch across the middle.  He had to be helped off the field but would return.  A sophomore linebacker intercepted a pass and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.  Our place kicker is a kid that has worked his way into maximizing his abilities.  He made a 31 yard field goal to seal the win 29 – 26.

Our team overcame adversity to win one football game.  One task at a time, right down to one play of that one game, they mentally and emotionally applied themselves.  Basic psychology and human nature shows that the more time and effort a person invests in something, the more important it is to them.  Sports becomes a passion for those who invest their time and effort into it.

Adversity is defined as an unfavorable fortune, event or circumstance.  A Tragedy is a fatal, lamentable or disastrous event.

Some athletes work for a life time for short moments of competition.  Parents love their children because they are their children, not accomplishments.  This is one of my favorite Youtube motivational videos.  It is about Derek Redmond in the 1992 Olympics.

Athletics represent life.  In athletics and in life, plans are put in place, God’s plans.  All we can do is put forth our best effort to glorify his blessings.  We must adjust, improvise, adapt and overcome adversity.

Shelby, 13, and Cameron, 10, were baptized on Sunday 9 June, 2013.  Dana fought to attend the baptism.  Yet, the portable oxygen tank would not provide enough oxygen for her to breathe.  In order for me to get to the girl’s baptism, I left Dana with her mother in our driveway with a 100 foot oxygen tube running from the home sized oxygen unit inside our house to her in the car.  This is the video Dana never saw.

My next post will be about the ‘Power of a Positive Attitude’ and ‘The Process’.

 

MORE THAN JUST A GAME

There is a DVD about Kenny Chesney’s song The Boys of Fall.  It is called The Boys of Fall: When You’re Playing, You Think You’re Going to Play Forever.    It is a film by Kenny Chesney and  Shaun Silva.  This clip is about 2-Minutes long with comments from:

Joe Namath:  Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame Quarterback

Bill Curry: Won champions as a player and coach.  Earned 5 different ‘Coach of Year’ awards through 3 decades of coaching.  He has had one term as the President of the NFLPA.

Condredge Holloway:  Quarterback at the University of Tennessee 1972 – 1974

Bill Parcells:  Super Bowl Champion and NFL Hall of Fame Coach

I value education.  I have a Master’s Degree, earned with a 3.9 graduate school grade point average.  Roughly 30% of Americans actually earn a four year college degree.  Only about 10% have an advanced degree.  Playing the odds, I believe there is a direct correlation in the level of education a person earns and their average income.  As a political system, our democracy / republic only functions as well as it’s people are educated.  However, I have learned far more about life from athletics than I did from the world of academia.

Life is made up of human beings, our environment, animals and the symbiotic circle between us.  It is about relationships.  Relationships are interpersonal interactions between us.  Within these interactions are defined roles.  Leaders, followers, partners and support providers all working in greater harmony with defined and accepted roles.  Some of the most significant accomplishments in all of the human race are marriages, creating and responsibly raising a child, leading someone to Christ or simply serving as a positive influence on another.  For those of us that are Christian believers, our faith is founded on our personal relationship with God.  Even the United States Military works together in teams.

Teams involve a surrender of an individual’s ego or personal agenda for a role in the unified effort of a group toward a common objective.  Life is about team.  Sports, in my case, specifically football,  teaches us about life.  Sports teaches us the value of: team and teamwork, the significance of a positive attitude and mental toughness {resiliency}, the value of a solid work ethic / effort, the power of commitment, and discipline.

High School Sports programs are the best Response To Intervention {RTI} solutions for at-risk youth.  High School age students that participate in sports have better attendance and higher grade point averages.

The power of athletics transcends the world of academics and life situations.  One of the last fun and positive memories I share with my wife, Dana, before her health deteriorated due to breast cancer, was us watching the LSU vs. Alabama “Game of the Century” in November 2011.  LSU won the game 9 – 6.  Moreover, as her health began to deteriorate, I remember walking in our house and seeing Dana and her sister sitting on the couch together with an LSU Baseball game on TV with an LSU Softball Game on a laptop computer.  Sports, specifically LSU athletics served to provide us a few moments of levity when it was needed most.

As coaches and players, the lessons and relationships of athletics last a lifetime.  In June 2015, I visited a recently graduated former player that had been shot.  He laid in his hospital bed and told me about his thoughts while in transit to the hospital immediately following the shooting.  Thoughts of, “Man, coach, all  I kept thinking about was things you used to tell us.”

In the most extreme of life’s adversity and the most joyous of triumphs, athletics are more than just a game.