11 Benefits of Being Positive

Great stuff from Jon Gordon...

1. Positive People Live Longer - In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed positive emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)

2. Positive work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)

3. Positive, optimistic sales people sell more than pessimistic sales people. (Martin Seligman)

4. Positive leaders are able to make better decisions under pressure. (Heartmath.org)

5. Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce. (John Gottman)

6. Positive people who regularly express positive emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (Several Studies)

7. Positive people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions where as negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)

8. Positive thoughts and emotions counter the negative effects of stress. For example, you can't be thankful and stressed at the same time. (Several Studies)

9. Positive emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org) 

10. Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity. (Robert D. Putnam)

11. Positive and popular leaders are more likely to garner the support of others and receive pay raises and promotions and achieve greater success in the workplace. (Several Studies)

Contribute or Contaminate

Easy enough: you're either contributing or your contaminating the practice court. Great video.

3 Ways to Build Team Trust

Another great blog post by Stephanie Zonars (www.LifeBeyondSport.com)!!

As I gathered with a team for a Building Trust workshop last weekend, the assistant coach roamed around the room with a small box collecting cell phones. I’ve heard about coaches doing this, but it hadn’t happened at one of my workshops yet. Got me thinking about the impact of technology on relationships.


We’ve experienced the upside. Facebook has connected us with long lost friends and family. Texting makes it easy to communicate basic information quickly. Twitter even saved some lives in the Haiti earthquake.
 
But for all the benefits, electronic communication alone will not result in strong, healthy, trusting relationships. The youngest of Generation Y (born after 1990 and referred to by Tim Elmore as Generation iY) seem to lack patience as well as listening and conflict resolution skills—all of which are required to build relational trust.

I’ve noticed, however, that when given the opportunity to connect face-to-face, young people do engage. In fact, the high school and college teams I work with share with courage and vulnerability. Seems that it’s less a function of willingness and more a response to environment.

Our world is moving so fast, we must proactively work to slow it down and create an atmosphere for the individuals on our teams to feel comfortable sharing. Three practical ways you can do this on your team:

Model the behavior you want. If you want your team to put their phones away and talk to one another, show them how. Refuse to check your phone when you are in the middle of an in-person conversation. Answer it when your athlete or co-worker is in the midst of a heartfelt disclosure and you can bet they won’t readily open up to you again.

Institute tech-free zones. Make team functions tech-free zones. Meals together, game nights, bus rides—make some of these tech-free times and opportunities to interact face-to-face. Keep it playful and your team may not even notice the absence of their tech toys.

Ask questions. Your team members want to know that you care about more than just their performance. Take time to ask them about their families, dreams and experiences. People like to talk about themselves, and you’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn! Can’t think of what to ask? Check out these great questions.

Building trusting relationships isn’t hard, but it takes time. If you want a trusting team it’s going to take intentional time, effort and creativity.

Coach K's Most Important Ingredient for Success

-Post written by Stephanie Zonars (www.LifeBeyondSport.com)

Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his 903rd game a week ago, surpassing Bobby Knight as the winningest coach in men’s collegiate basketball. (Basketball super-fans know that Pat Summitt holds the overall coaching record with 1,071 and counting).

Amazing accomplishment for Coach K! He’s built the strong, winning tradition of Duke basketball through qualities like dedication, hard work and perseverance. Yet, when asked after the win for the single most important characteristic for a coach to have in order to achieve success, Coach K said “trustworthiness.”

With the myriad of answers he could have given, he says trustworthiness? Yes. And I couldn’t agree more.

Trust to a team is like the foundation of a house. If you build a house on a foundation that’s been poured correctly, when the storms come up against that house it will still stand. But if your foundation has cracks and fissures, the rain and wind will tear your house apart.

Same is true for your team. If you create strong team trust, your team will stand in the face of adversity like injuries, losses or other drama. But if your team trust has cracks and fissures, the tough times will tear it apart.

3 ways to build Team Trust: http://lifebeyondsport.com/2011/02/3-ways-to-build-team-trust/

Quote of the Day:

"A person really doesn't become whole, until he becomes a part of something that's bigger than himself." -- Jim Valvano

Is your team a family?

At the WBCA National Convention at the Final Four in Indianapolis, Kyle Rechlicz (then at Dayton, now at Wisconsin) had a terrific roundtable presentation about team building.

She asked one basic question, "When you have recruits on campus, how many of you tell the recruit that your team is like a family?". Naturally, we all raised our hands. Then her next questions stumped us, "What do you do to make that happen?'. 

In other words, how were we practicing being a family? Was it only talk and no action? You can declare yourself a fast break team, but if you don't work on your transition game daily- what kind of fast break team will you be?

Kyle sends out "Motivational Mails", otherwise known as M&M's, and presents different team building exercises to help improve your team's feeling of being a family, improve communication, trust, etc. I highly recommend emailing her and ask to be put on her mailing list! (KAR@athletics.wisc.edu) Here's an excerpt from one of her emails:

M&M #2:  CAMARADERIE REVIEW
Is it possible to be a “Family” without trust? How do you build something so quickly that takes some people years to develop? In this M&M you will find helpful activities to guide your team towards the trust and camaraderie it takes to believe in each other and be successful with one another.

1.    Buddy System

·      Split your team up into groups of 2 or 3 (underclassman with upperclassman and not with someone they are already close to).

·      Give them the following rules:  Once every 2 weeks you need to do an activity with your buddy (and only your buddy)!  Be encouraging on and off the court and attend their extra workouts. If your buddy is late...you are late…if your buddy breaks a rule…then you have also broken that rule! Occasionally, you may be popped quizzed about your buddy, so truly try and get to know each other.

·      Keep up with your team by asking them how their buddy is and simple questions that they should know the answers to. 

·      Explain to them that they have to learn to pull together to be successful even when it isn’t their closest friend on the team!

2.    Past, Present, Future

·      At the start of the year, when your team is working to get to know each other better…bring in the Past, Present, Future Team Building Activity.

·      At a place outside of the gym (coaches house, restaurant, etc.), have each player bring something that reminds them of their past, something that is relevant to their present, and something that represents what they want for their future.

·      It can be anything from pictures to stuffed animals to a magazine article (believe me, I have seen it all).

·      Instead of having them present their items to the team, pair them up with someone new and have them explain their items to each other.

·      Then have their partner, explain to the rest of the team and coaching staff what each items means to that individual person. 

·      Let people ask questions, as well, because this will further build your team’s trust and the discussion.

Confidence

My definition of confidence is….. a result of repetitively and optimally executing a task to the point where one has many accumulations of positive outcomes. Confidence has two parts: the tangible (practicing the task to gain confidence) and the intangible (acquiring a confident attitude).

From "The Art of Coaching" by Dr. Carolyn Savoy:

A relaxed and confident performer is also a superior performer (Orlick, 1986).

 

When a team is confident you will see that...
-they are prepared for games and fully understand what needs to be done.
-they carry themselves with a little "strut"
-they have a focused look in their eyes
-they are not afraid to ask questions in practice
-the players sound like extra coaches at practice, in the locker room and in games.
-the players encourage each other to do what they have to do to win games.

When a team lacks confidence you see...
-losing streaks....red flag if your team losses three games in a row
-slumps...dry spells where players don't perform to their abilities
-lethargic practices
-player's shoulders slump
-inability to make eye contact

Three keys to exercise confidence:

1) Positive praise and recognition:
-Sincerity is key!
-Give recognition immediately after proper execution by a player or team; it's very powerful to praise someone in front of the team (single out players who do not play regularly...starters and high scorers get enough public recognition)
-Make a special attempt to recognize players that do the "little things" or "dirty work". If you praise and recognize great rebounding, a great assist or lockdown defense...the message will be sent to the team that these qualities are very important to you and do not go unnoticed.

2) Tangible means:

-If your team is having a problem scoring....use 7 offensive players against 5 defenders. This way players will achieve success and their confidence will improve. You can adapt drills to fit this concept.
-Create a highlight video of your teams success. You can also use tape from previous years to help players feel connected to something bigger than this years team.
-Have graduates come back and talk about their success and what the program did for them (especially their confidence).

3) Team bonding:
-Kyle Rechlicz used this at Dayton and I'm sure she will use this in her new job at Wisconsin: Confidence Cards for each player. A colored piece of construction paper is decorated by the team and highlights a particular team member’s strengths and positive qualities. This can be on-court and off-court analysis. Have each sheet laminated and have each player post in their locker; a great reminder of their team’s belief in them!
-At the end of practice, have the entire team stand in a circle and have one player turn to their left, make eye contact and say one thing that player did well today. The player receives the compliment, says "thank you" and compliments the next player. Your players will leave the gym feeling good about themselves.
-Have each player name one of the team’s strong points. The coach takes notes and then reinforces these same points during future practices and games. This is very powerful because the team members themselves identified these strengths.
-Have each player choose an inspirational reading to share with the team at the end of practice. Collect these so players can post in the locker room or their notebooks.