"Do your best to project in your mind a successful performance." - Usher
See yourself unfolding a successful life. Coach Wooden said, "make every day your masterpiece." Share something great with everyone.
Let ritual rule. Have pre-school, pre-practice, and pre-game habits. Simplify. Your rituals extend throughout your life... mindfulness and gratitude, reading and study, stretching and exercise. Prepare for success.
Replace time wasting with productivity. James Clear suggests making time wasting harder...put the television controller in a draw behind a book you're reading. Plan your craft and craft your plan.
Alan Stein, Jr.'s podcast with Clear is epic.
Tend your garden. Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote about Lyndon Johnson's affection for senior senators, "he assisted them with committee preparation, provided concise summaries on issues, showed overt and lavish respect...their gratitude couldn't adequately express itself with anything less than total support." Johnson meticulously watered the flowers and reaped the reward by becoming the youngest Senate Majority Leader.
Be intentional. If ambition drives us, plot a course to reach our destiny. If educating drives us, plan lessons so well that students arrive early for the best seats.
Be here now. Focus here and now to forge the dream. Time will always be our precious commodity.
Lagniappe: #Basketball IQ. This Youtube video asks viewers to choose among actions in almost real-time.
Lagniappe 2: Bucks stuff (old but still applicable)
Lagniappe 3: Lincoln Lessons from Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Acknowledge when failed policies demand a change in direction. (Gen. McClellan fails.)
- Gather firsthand information, ask questions. (Lincoln meets the troops.)
- Find time and space in which to think. (He finds retreat at the Soldier's Home.)
- Anticipate contending viewpoints. (His cabinet is the Team of Rivals.)
- Assume full responsibility for a pivotal decision. (Owns the Emancipation Proclamation.)