Wilferd Peterson messages readers in The Art of Leadership, "The leader uses his heart as well as his head. After he has considered the facts with his head, he lets his heart take a look too." Balance management skills with humanity for our people.
Every day creates timeframe tests and opportunity:
- "Win the morning" with a consistent routine. Define and refine.
- Adjust when the process isn't working. Simplify.
- Practice thankfulness at the end of the day (Shawn Achor's gratitude exercise).
What went wrong?
- "It's a guy thing." Directions? I 'presumed' that I knew how much yeast was in a package. Except, I didn't, short by half. That meant longer (doubling) the proving of my dough. Read the directions. Reread. Get readback on messages. One out of eight messages is miscommunicated without readback. Some of the biggest tragedies in the aviation industry occurred because of misunderstanding (language) or deference to pilots who read the situation wrong. Trust but verify.
What went right?
- I had the chance to thank a National Guard representative for performing an important service. "Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." Find a way to thank someone(s) every day.
Be Patient.
Wooden's Pyramid of Success has "faith" (belief) and "patience" (time) flanking the top.
For six days, sourdough starter had bubbles but no volume expansion.
The elastic marks the prior evening's level. On the seventh day, the batch is rising. Persist and stay patient.
Make specific plans for personal improvement as a player or coach. Write it down.
- Reread excellent books/articles. Abandon bad ones.
- Reread Dean Smith's Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense
- Watch >= 3 Coaching Clinics/week at CoachTube
- Commit to mental resilience with daily mindfulness training.
- Write a daily educational piece to learn and share.
Lagniappe: Shawn Achor's Happiness Advantage
I'm grateful for reasonable health, family, and the basketball community.
Find something that fits our level players and that we can teach. Implementing something like Princeton offense for middle schoolers isn't appropriate without the skill and practice time available.
Lagniappe 3: The introduction to Coach Smith's book shows his analytic ken. He talks about tempo as being the major determinant of points per game allowed, with ball-control offense producing low scoring. He defines possessions in terms of "losses of ball" (remember those jump balls) and insists that turnovers (loss of ball) be reported not as a number but as a percentage of possessions. An offensive foul showed up as a "loss of ball."
Lagniappe 4: Nerds have been around a long time. The article will give most an ice cream headache, but this 2006 article rates the best ACC player Wins Over Replacement Player from 1982-2006. Celtics' fans know the cruelty of ping pong balls.
