If there are men on our team who are not willing to “throw their body to the wolves” or cannot find the spirit or passion to run and make plays until their lungs burn with fire, then we will move on without you. We must be “All In”…
Absolute commitment to Brown State ideology and personal emotional strength when the game is on the line will be the difference…
Men, the land of great is a lonely place. Why? Because it is too easy to give in to fatigue and to make excuses. Being great is hard… really hard. See you in 2011.
- Brown Lacrosse Head Coach in an email to the 2010-11 team.
I never got the chance to play for Coach Tiffany, but I remain involved with the team as an alum and it is great to see how Coach motivates the team - to be a team - and play with extraordinary passion.
Andy Swan posted “The heart to finish” the other day.
This video of a high school cross country runner who hit the wall, but maintained her will to finish - after collapsing, and thus crawled across the finish line - is absolutely amazing. [NY Times article]
What made her do it? This article explains that she was running this particular race in honor of her coach, who is battling Lou Gehrig’s disease.
She could’ve quit with any single footfall, but she was determined and determination like that will get you to the finish.
So inspiring.
I love the phrase “rocket surgery.”
And he’s right… it, whatever it is, is not rocket surgery.
It’s not rocket surgery, it really isn’t…
Be Lucky - It’s an Easy Skill to Learn
I recently read God’s Debris and just like the intro suggests, I got together with some friends to discuss it over beers after we all finished it.
I won’t get into the entire thought experiment that is the premise for the story, but one of the main takeaways is around the idea of probability. It struck a chord because Joe and I have been talking about this at length lately and it all reminded me of this article in which “luck” is considered a skill.
My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
It’s such a simple analysis, but really poignant. Lucky people are just self-aware optimists. Opportunity is all around us, you just have to know it when you see it… and then act on it!
I remember a quote my coach gave us in college. “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” - Seneca
The idea is that you practice your shot thousands of times so that when it really counts, when it’s the championship game, and you catch a pass in front of the goal… you can’t miss.
My other favorite quote on this topic is “Life is the interruptions, not the space in between.” If you put blinders on your whole life, you’ll never see the chance encounters waiting for you.
So do two things. 1. Read God’s Debris. 2. Put on a smile and seek opportunity.
