6 Lessons On Winning From The Knicks Jeremy Lin

There’s nothing like a live example

You can read all the books, blogs and articles you want on winning but never make the impact of seeing a real live example.

Last week Jeremy Lin provided just such a stunning example. 
The NY Knicks were in big trouble. Their season has had a disastrous start. Their coach has been under attack by the fans and media…a lot of suggestions he should be fired. Their desperately needed but injured point guard Baron Davis wasn’t going to be available for quite a while. On top of all this, last week they lost their 2 biggest stars, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire out of action. It was crisis time in New York. Things now could only get worse!

Turned out to be a perfect situation for a miracle.
Only because he had no other choice, last week Coach Mike D’Antoni put in the seldom used point guard, from Harvard of all places, Jeremy Lin, into the starting line up. The team was decimated and they were slumping even with their stars. Now they had no stars and an unproven back up player running the team. Everyone expected the worst but what happened next is the stuff of legend. If you want the whole amazing story check this out.

Here’s the Summary
After 1 week and 4 games, this young star pulled off one of the most electrifying performances in the history of the NBA. He led the Knicks to 4 straight wins, scoring over 20 points in each game. In fact in the last game he scored 38 points as they beat, on national television in front of 20,000 screaming fans, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers! In one week his story has spread around the world. (Update: he's now won 5 games, and has scored 108 points, the most points of any first time starter in 5 games since 1976, and the biggest name worldwide in sports right now.)

Let’s see what we can learn about winning from this astonishing story:

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare! One day your opportunity will come. At that point it’s up to you. If you meet the challenge you can change your life forever! Jeremy was ready.
2. One dynamic person can change the whole team dynamic. Enthusiasm is contagious! Jeremy plays with energy and a love for the game that has caused the totally average players on his team to play like they are all-stars! Their attitude and energy has turned around instantly.
3. What was bad for others turned out to be an opportunity for him. If you are running a team, treat all your people with respect because the time will come when you need them to step up and deliver. 
4. When he was put in the starting line up, he attacked. He was timid. He wasn’t hesitant. He didn’t apologize about being there. He focused on the job he had to do. He made up his mind to make an impact and to have no regrets. He knew he couldn’t control the results but he could control his effort, attitude and enthusiasm.
5. He deflected praise when things started going well and gave all the credit to his team. He refused to take credit. He kept his team and coaches in the spotlight. He kept his focus on what was coming next. He said “We’re hoping and preparing for the best, expecting the worst and we’ll take whatever happens.” He’s staying humble. He knows it’s only one week and they have a long season in front of them.
6. If you keep working your dreams can come true! As he told the reporter after the Laker game “This is everything I’ve dreamed about happening”. 

Success like this isn’t an accident. 
It happens because people are doing a lot of the right things. The best way to put yourself on a winning track is to learn as much as you can from stories like this and apply the lessons to your situation.

Jeremy Lin has been on a winning track for a long time. He has been working hard to develop his skill, his craft, his command of the game. In the world of professional basketball he was largely unknown, but that didn’t keep him from working.

All happened this past week is that he got his chance to show the world he what he can do…and now the whole world knows!

Jerry Jones is Living in Denial

Someone needs to dump a bucket of truth on his head

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is living in anticipation of the day when the team will drop a big bucket of Gatorade on his head for winning the Super Bowl. But that’s never going to happen, unless someone drops a big bucket of truth on his head first.

Greatness in one area doesn’t necessarily lead to greatness in another
No one doubts Jerry Jones genius as a business man. He bought the Dallas Cowboys for $147 million and built it into one of the most valuable franchises in all of pro sports. In addition, he has recently built the equivalent of the Roman Coliseum of professional sports stadiums. The new billion dollar Cowboy Stadium is absolutely breathtaking on many levels. Everyone loves it! He had a vision. He built the support. He got the financing.  He put together the design and he got it built to glowing reviews. What he did in building the team and the stadium are two incredibly staggering achievements.  

Unfortunately he’s also the Cowboy’s General Manager
Once again, after the Cowboy’s were eliminated from the playoffs Jerry Jones was asked if he was going to give up the general manager’s job and hire someone else. In his reply, you can find the exact problem with the Cowboy’s on field lack of performance and likely source of future disappointment. Jerry said “I’ve been doing the same job for 22 years and I’m going to continue.” He said, “the heat for our failures should fall on the person most responsible and that’s me. A full time owner always makes the final decisions and if we had a general manager it would only confuse and clutter up the decision making process.”

Wrong. A full time owner hires a general manager to be the one to make the final decisions on football operations. There doesn’t need to be conflict. There needs to be freedom to do the job without interference. 

Reality check! Isn’t that the mark of insanity?
He’s been General Manager for 22 years. They have won 1 playoff game in 15 years. Shouldn’t he be noticing a connection? Isn’t that the mark of insanity... doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Isn’t that’s what Jerry Jones is doing? His insistence on remaining general manager is sabotaging and undermining all of his other tremendous efforts. Sure, the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls 20 years ago, but what worked then isn’t working now.

Here’s what Jerry needs to hear. 
No one is good at everything. No one is expected to be good at everything. Championships are won by putting teams of great people together. Your track record says you are not a great general manager. Of course you’ve had some successes but your overall record is failure. You only have 1 playoff win in the last 15 years.  Every year the result is the same. High priced, highly talented teams that underachieve.

The first step in solving any problem is to accept reality. As Bill Parcel says, your record tells you who you are.  Jerry, your record says you are no longer a top general manager. 

He’s putting himself above the team.
It seems that he doesn’t just want the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl, he wants the glory of being the General Manager that got them there as well. He wants that glory. He wants that recognition and respect. He wants it so bad it had blinded him to what he’s doing to his team. He’s become the problem. Whenever anyone puts themselves above the team, the team always suffers. The Dallas Cowboys are suffering....defeat after defeat...year after year.

Until Jerry Jones wakes up and accepts reality, it’s highly unlikely the Cowboys are going anywhere, much less to the Super Bowl.

PEOPLE ARE AWESOME!

You are awesome!

Why not do something amazing, spectacular, fun, invigorating and inspiring this year?

Others have, more will and SO CAN YOU! Watch this and see if you agree…

Tim Tebow: What the Analysts Miss

Tim Tebow is one of the biggest sensations in the NFL right now.

The Denver Broncos were 1 and 4 when he was installed at quarterback. The analysts and critics howled. He can’t throw. He is inaccurate. He has a long wind up and release. It takes too long. He can’t make the professional throws. He doesn’t have the skills to lead a team to the Super Bowl. No team has ever won running the option attack that best suits his strengths.

There was an explosion of criticism unlike any that’s ever occurred over a first round draft pick. The verdict seemed to be unanimous—he would fail, he wouldn’t last.

Set up to fail
The team was depressed. There’s nothing worse than being in a losing locker room. They had just lost 4 out of 5 games with Tebow installed as quarterback, in spite of the fact that they have mediocre talent and almost no receivers who can catch a pass because they had even traded away Brandon Lloyd who was their best receiver one a week before Tebow took the starting job. It seemed like Tebow was set up to fail. 

Then something shocking happened
When Tebow went in he asked the team just one thing, “all I ask is that you believe in me.” They were energized by his excitement and intensity. They became filled with hope and their spirits renewed. They started playing inspired ball and 5 out of the next 6 games which gave the Tebow Era a 5 and 1 record. A dramatic and immediate turnaround, once Tebow took over at quarter back.

It was astounding because they won on the road—the toughest place to win. They did the unthinkable; they beat every one of their division opponents in their own stadiums. That almost never happens, certainly not with a rookie quarterback in his first start. 

What the analysts missed
They missed the fact that a players impact and performance goes way beyond his skill set. It has to do with how few errors he makes. Does he throw interceptions? Does he fumble the ball? Does he make stupid decisions?

It also has to do with sprit and inspiration. Does he energize his team? Do they play better because he’s in the game and they believe in him? Do they feel like as long as he’s in the game they have a chance to win? And also how does he play in the clutch when the intensity and anxiety is in the highest? Does he fall apart or does he rise to the occasion? You can be a picture perfect passer of the ball, but if you panic during the game, you’re useless. 

Tebow excels at all the intangibles
What the critics have underestimated are Tebow's strengths. Just take a look at his stats. He makes great decisions plus he’s turning out to be one of the greatest running quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen. He’s so dangerous and smart about his running that it has opened up the line for the other running backs to have huge games.

And in crunch time his passes are deadly accurate. The Denver Broncos have become very dangerous for the senses to face. And the other thing is he’s just now getting his first chance to play regularly and he’s improving every game.

That’s what the inexperienced players do. They improve when they’re given a chance. You can’t learn how to play and perform as an NFL quarterback until you get a chance to get experience in the game. Tebow is getting that now and is developing rapidly. But all of these things seem to fly right over the radar of the expert analysts. Maybe they’re not so expert after all. 

The lesson for me and you 
Don’t give up your dreams because you might not be as talented as someone else. You can win anyway. You can improve. There are a lot of ingredients that go into winning and talent is just one—and talent will only take you so far.

A willingness to compete, a love of the “game” and a determination to improve and win is what really takes you to the top. If you’re driven you can do amazing things in your life and… like Tim Tebow you can astound your critics as well!

You Won't Know Until You Try

 What you see on the outside very often has NOTHING to do with a person's potential.

"There has never been a test—and there never will be a test that can measure the heart of a man or woman." —Art Williams

Life is full of opportunities.

As you look out there and try to decide what you are going to do with your life, you wonder… “Could I do that? Would I be any good at that?”

There is only one way to find out. Go for it!
Tennis may look like fun, but you’ll never know until you get a racket, get on the court and start hitting some balls. Until you get into the water, you’ll never know if you really like swimming.

On the outside looking in you get certain impressions on how it would be to work somewhere, but you’ll never know for sure how you like it until yo start doing it. You’ll also never know if you have an aptitude for it, if you could be good at it.

The same with employers.
They’ll never really know until they see you in action. It's even true in professional sports. They put months of analysis, testings, interviewing, looking at video, conducting tryouts to see who they are going to draft. They make their pick, sign them to million dollar contracts and then hope. Because years of experience has taught them that they really are just guessing. They won’t know, even after all that research, how they will perform in intense game situations.

So what’s the point? 
If you think you’d like to do something, if you think you would enjoy it and be good at it, then get started and find out for sure as soon as possible.

And if you are an employer...
Don’t pick your winners on appearance. Get them in the game and let them show you who the best ones are. Because if you try to pick them in advance, you’ll almost always get the wrong one.

Testing scores can’t measure anyone’s heart—their will to win. 

And their will to win is what makes them Winners!

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Have you been underestimating yourself, or holding yourself back because you're afraid to try? Or have you hired someone who totally suprised you (or disappointed you) because you misjudged their appearance?

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