If you’re looking for an alternative way to get motivated to train, try absorbing the message of a strong speaker.
Loved ones often ask me what I listen to in order to get me fired up for a workout or an event requiring inspiration. They generally seem confused when I suggest Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I’m not sure why they’re surprised; football coaches are well known for firing up their teams with big speeches before games. This tradition has an even longer history; Shakespeare frequently had generals motivating troops with soaring oratory before battles.
Sure, you could reference my post on workout music if you’d like to go a traditional route, but I dare you to watch Dr. King speak and not want to run through a brick wall. Because MLKJ isn’t the only skilled orator equipped to get your heart pounding and your veins pumping, I figured I’d throw out a suggested list of three after a strong assist from a friend. Thank you, RB
1. “I Have a Dream” -MLKJ. Key inspirational line: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
2. “It is An Ideal For Which I Am Prepared To Die” – Nelson Mandela. Key inspirational line: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
3. “Inaugural Address” -JFK. Key inspirational line: “United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do — for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.”
These may not be presentations that make your juices flow. However, I encourage the exploration of powerful men and women who may elevate your state and inspire you to take action. Listening to messages that resonate with you can encourage you to push forward through fatigue and drown out the discomfort signals from your body.
Speeches that provoke an emotional response activate neural circuitry in your brain closely linked to movement. The speakers who make you want to jump out of your chair when you listen to them are ideal for getting you into the gym. Next time you’re struggling to get up and go, try putting on a speech instead of your standard playlist.
If you’re trying to quit dipping (chewing tobacco) and you dig a little caffeine buzz, replace your Copenhagen with high quality, organic coffee grounds.
Today, I sat with a former teammate and close friend in a really awful minor league clubhouse. “Kap,” my friend said, “I need a cup of coffee.” I, of course, eagerly shared the virtues of travelling with a French press and producing high quality coffee on the road. He shared with me his creative way of quitting his dipping habit. Instead of packing his bottom lip full of tobacco, he stuffed it with coffee. “It really helped,” he noted. Turns out, he’s not the only one. From techtimes.com:
Similarly to how nicotine gets absorbed into the blood when using dip, caffeine is absorbed through the blood vessels on the surface of the gums where the coffee grounds are placed. Each pouch of grounds has the same amount of caffeine as a quarter cup of coffee, which give users a slight buzz.
Go ahead and call me out here. I never dipped and have no idea what it’s like to have to quit. Plenty of ballplayers are struggling with this issue right now. Having smoked cigarettes for a time as a teenager, I do know what the nicotine hitting one’s bloodstream feels like. The jolt from the caffeine is not particularly similar. However, you do so with a lot less risk.
The user gets a burst of energy from the coffee ground without the harmful outcomes that come from chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products can cause cancer of the mouth, tongue, cheek, gum, esophagus, stomach and pancreatic cancer. Those who use smokeless tobacco also have an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and heart attacks.
We speak often about value at the margins. By replacing your additive filled tobacco product with coffee, not only are you eliminating the increased risk for cancer and cardiovascular events, you’re also reaping the benefits of the nutrients found in the beans themselves. You’ve added in doses of riboflavian, panthothenic acid, manganese, potassium, magnesium, niacin…perhaps you can throw out a couple of bottles of supplements in addition to the dip you’re getting rid of.
Look, I’m not suggesting opting for dipping coffee over brewing it in the abstract. I would never endorse missing the sensory experience of a morning mug of the world’s greatest drug. But I played with thousands of dipping baseball players, many of whom are trying to quit. Many of them noted that kicking the nicotine wasn’t the only hurdle they faced, but swore that having something between their teeth and their lip is part of the allure. From cancer.org:
In many ways, quitting smokeless tobacco is a lot like quitting smoking. Both involve tobacco products that contain nicotine, and both involve the physical, mental, and emotional parts of addiction. Many of the ways to handle the mental hurdles of quitting are the same…There is often a stronger need to have something in the mouth (an oral substitute) to take the place of the chew, snuff, or pouch.
Addiction is a complicated issue, and people often miss the rituals that go along with their particular vice. If you’re looking to replace the fixation of carrying around a can of dip, there are even products on the market designed to replicate the experience from start to finish. Any step is worth taking, though I would recommend upgrading to high quality beans that you grind yourself for optimal flavor.
Guilt trips damage relationships and should never work.
You may have noticed that the NLCS just ended, and the World Series is set to begin. As an analyst for FOX Sports, this is perhaps my busiest time of the year. I’m not only in studio for a large part of the day, but I spend additional hours buried in a computer prepping to make sure I’m ready to talk numbers. It is a critical time for me, and I wish to excel.
The other day, I was knee deep in that prep when I received a message from a friend.
“You never have time for me anymore, hope you’re doing well.”
Adding in those well wishes at the end of the text was clever. I find these guilt trips unattractive and uncomfortable. In this case, my immediate feeling was one of some resentment. I had a hard time believing that this person cared about my current state. From globalpost.com:
Guilt trips of both kinds heavily exaggerate the situation and present a one-sided view rife with blame and simplistic judgment. Guilt trips may commonly rely on “always” and “never” statements with accusations of intentional cruelty or a total lack of caring on your part.
At their heart, guilt trips are simply emotional manipulation. They play on our existing emotions and demand we alter our behavior. From manipulative-people.com:
Skilled manipulators know the vulnerabilities of their opponents. If vanity is someone’s weakness, a seduction tactic might be the best manipulation tactic. If over-conscientiousness is their weakness, perhaps guilt-tripping would be the most effective way to gain the upper hand.
My friend may believe that by pointing out my lack of availability, I’ll magically have moments to devote to them. Even were I not under such time pressures, the guilt trip leaves me less likely to desire their company, despite my love for my friend. All I feel is the negative tones they have struck with me, their lack of patience and acceptance. This is the complete inverse of their intended result.
I always respond to these situations with firm kindness. I make no excuses, no justifications and do no explaining.
“Thanks, hope you’re well too.”
There is nothing to be gained in arguing or defending my position. However, it is important to keep in mind where our guilt tripping friends may be coming from. From academia.edu:
Individuals lack awareness into whether they consciously chose to guilt trip. The majority of participants did not think their actions were wrong or were willing to take accountability for the guilt trip. A guilt trip may mark a discrepancy between two varying internal standards. Individuals may feel the aversive feeling of being guilt tripped is justified in helping shape the way people should treat each other.
I lose nothing by extending the benefit of the doubt. They may not be consciously aware of their actions, and there is no downside to responding with warmth. I protect myself by identifying manipulation, but always reply with politeness. Keeping my side of the street clean in terms of my behavior produces a sense of pride.
Now, if they escalate the conversation, I may have to change my number.
Hey, I noticed you haven’t commented much recently. What kind of reader are you?
If you don’t know our superstar editor and my partner at Kaplifestyle, Stephanie, this guest post is a great way to learn her style. She’s beyond driven and inspires me (and our readers) daily with her leadership and grit. She sent me photos of the plates she purchased today which she intends to add to the bar. The pics prompted me to ask her to muse on her weight training experience. Her lifts are getting stronger and stronger. So is her mind. I have an opportunity to learn from Steph daily. Here’s your chance.
What if the problem with our fitness and nutrition regiments is that we have goals? Stick with me here.
Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organised their energies around a goal. – Elbert Hubbard
When I sat down to write this post, I didn’t have a clear structure in mind. I had a story I wanted to tell, but it was amorphous even as I started getting words down on the page, a series of loosely tied together anecdotes without much of a takeaway. I don’t enjoy writing thoughts that can’t be used by someone else (at least in theory, whether anyone does is another question). I wrestled with questions – why is this important? Why will anyone care?
In the process, I began considering my weight lifting. Like most women, and probably most people in general (never having been a man, I can’t speak to it personally), I have had various moments of wanting to lose weight, get in better shape, fit into a smaller pair of pants, whatever. We’re often told to make our goals “SMART” – Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. I’ve been better or worse about that at times, but as I discussed in my motivation post, nearly every lifestyle change I’ve embarked on has been defined by an external goal.
Most of these, I abandoned within weeks or months. I suspect I’m not alone – we’re all familiar with the great intentions of the New Year’s resolution or the push for swimsuit season. Those are punchlines to a joke for a reason; very few people stick with their envisioned changes. I wasn’t having success, and I wasn’t enjoying the process, so all my great intentions, even when mapped out to SMART goals, fell by the wayside.
The impetus for this post, however, came from the picture at the top of this post. I achieved the 100 pound mark on my bench presses and, by the time you’re reading this, will have done the same for my squats. I needed to go out and pick up those 25 lb. plates so that I can continue my ever increasing progression under the bar. I was excited enough that I immediately texted the picture to Gabe. It was a feeling of confidence, strength and pride suffusing me as I walked up to the checkout counter.
More than anything, I feel my self-conception changing. I am reaping the benefits of being able to better lift objects, to move better, to fit into my clothes (or not fit into them and needing to buy smaller sizes, as the case may be). But in the moment with the weight of the bar, moving it successfully is a step I take entirely on my own. I can rely on nothing but myself to complete the movement, and when I do, I’m reminded that I can stare down obstacles and succeed in the face of challenges. It’s an exciting feeling.
I believe that a big part of my getting to this point was not having those well-defined goals when I went back to lifting weights. Sure, I wanted to be stronger and fitter, to lean out and tone up, but I had no plan. My only focus was “I’m going to move these objects in this way today.” I don’t know what my maximum lift will be, beyond the fact that it will be less than Gabe’s, so there is no pressure to get there. I’m adding weight, so I’m moving in the right direction, but if there was a day where I needed to take a little bit off, I could do that without feeling like I was falling short of some sort of finish line.
Meeting a goal, to me, signifies some sort of completion, an ending. In the case of my weight lifting, I don’t see an ending looming on the horizon, merely a continuation and a long road of progression. I doubt this mentality would work for everything, but perhaps I’m working towards my own version of embodying the other Kaplifestyle motto – “no rules.”
My editor and partner at Kaplifestyle, Stephanie, comes on. Take it away, Steph.
A few weeks ago, Gabe posted about the benefits of galangal, a rhizome I used in my Thai soup. Several requests came in for the recipe. The soup is my version of Tom Kha Gai (chicken galangal soup).
As we’ve spoken about before, all my soups begin with a stock. I usually start out with a selection of chicken parts – whole is good, but thighs will also work. I use a cleaver to hack them into rough chunks to better extract the flavours from the bones. I roast them off first so that I don’t have to skim the stock (if you want to skip roasting, put the chicken into a pot, bring it up to a boil, then dump out the liquid and rinse the chicken in cold water).
To the stock liquid, I add garlic (smashed), galangal, Thai bird chiles, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass and let it simmer for about an hour and a half. More is even better.
After the stock is flavourful and the water level has reduced down some (there should be a thicker texture to the liquid, now that the collagen and other proteins have leeched from the bones), I strain it and return to the stove. Coconut milk and palm sugar are stirred into the stock. I add in fish sauce, diced chicken and straw mushrooms, simmering so that the chicken poaches but doesn’t become tough.
Right before serving, the soup is finished with lime juice (add this at the end, after you take it off the heat, because lime juice rapidly loses its flavour), cilantro, and diced chilies to taste.
Ideally, the soup comes out with a balance of saltiness, sweetness, sourness, and spiciness, and the intersection of those four flavours are the hallmark of Thai food. Whenever I’m preparing the soup, it requires a lot of tasting to ensure that nothing is overpowering the other flavours. Use the recipe below as a general guideline, not a series of hard and fast rules.
Stock:
1 chicken or approximately 8 chicken thighs, roughly chopped with a cleaver
1 4 inch piece of galangal, roughly sliced and pounded with flat of chef’s knife
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
2-4 Thai bird chiles
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk lemongrass, pounded with flat of chef’s knife
Roast chicken (see above note) at 450 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, add to stock pot with juices from roasting sheet. Cover with water. Add additional ingredients, bring to boil, and reduce immediately to bare simmer. Allow to simmer for 1.5-2 hours.
Soup:
Stock from above, strained
2 cans straw mushrooms
¾ lb chicken, diced into bite size pieces
2 cans coconut milk
1 tbsp palm sugar
3 tbsp lime juice
Combine the coconut milk, palm sugar, and stock. Bring to boil and reduce down to a simmer. Add chicken and mushrooms, simmering until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat and add lime juice. Stir to combine.
Serve with cilantro, additional lime wedges, and diced Thai bird chiles at the table.
Coconut oil is always present in my pantry. It’s a great partner for your culinary endeavors, and the health benefits of coconut oil make it a worthy addition to your next shopping list.
If being able to withstand the heat makes you tough, consider coconut oil an absolute badass. It’s known for its high smoke point (about 350F for unrefined virgin coconut oil). It maintains its consistency and can be used at high heats without breaking down chemically, which would render it unsuitable for cooking. Unlike many other oils and fats, coconut oil can be kept for more than a year without going rancid. Throwing away nourishment sucks.
Why, then, is coconut oil not as universally loved as it should be? Coconut oil is high in saturated fats. During the 1970s and 80s, saturated fats were held up as the cause of obesity and were phased out, to be replaced by trans fats. Talk about your all time backfires! Saturated fats aren’t harmful, meaning we can finally fully enjoy coconut oil without that voice in our head whispering “danger.”
Dr. Stephen Sinatra says:
We’ve long been told that foods high in saturated fat are bad. But the fact is saturated fats are the good guys. They help to raise beneficial HDL cholesterol, improving your triglyceride/HDL ratio—a key marker of cardiovascular health.
Put simply, consumption of fat (even saturated fat) has never been shown to be linked to heart disease.
Consumption of coconut oil may also help keep you satisfied if you’re trying to curb your appetite and cut calories.
The saturated fat in coconut oil is comprised of medium chain triglycerides (not long chain), fatty acids of a medium length. Medium chain triglycerides go straight from the digestive tract to the liver and don’t require additional processing (via bile salts) to break them down. The body is able to use them as a quick and efficient energy source. From Authoritynutrition.com:
One interesting feature of coconut oil is that it can reduce your hunger. This may be related to the way the fatty acids in it are metabolized, because ketone bodies can have an appetite reducing effect (11). In one study, varying amounts of medium and long chain triglycerides were fed to 6 healthy men. The men eating the most MCTs ate 256 fewer calories per day, on average (12). Another study in 14 healthy men discovered that those who ate the most MCTs at breakfast ate significantly fewer calories at lunch (13). These studies were small and only done for a short period of time. If this effect were to persist over the long term, it could have a dramatic influence on body weight over a period of several years.
Remember: fat doesn’t make you fat.
There are seemingly endless, well-documented health benefits of consuming coconut oil, including:
Increased metabolism. This benefit provides an ideal environment for fat burning.
Keeping infection away and fighting it when it arrives. The lauric acid found in coconut oil can kill viruses and bacteria.
Ketones, the bodies coconut oil is broken down into, can reduce seizures.
Reduce belly fat. Studies have demonstrated that an ounce of coconut oil a day can lead to improved BMI and waist circumference measurements.
Thank goodness we don’t have stop at eating the stuff.
I use coconut oil in place of sunscreen because Coppertone is made up of Avobenzone 3%, Homosalate 10%, Octisalate 5%, Octocrylene 4%, Oxybenzone 5%….huh?
From authoritynutrition.com:
Coconut oil can also be very protective against hair damage and one study shows effectiveness as sunscreen, blocking about 20% of the sun’s ultraviolet rays
If you’ve never purchased coconut oil before, it doesn’t come in a pourable, drizzle-able form. It comes in a jar, solidified. It needs to be scooped out with a spoon. The moment it comes into contact with heat, it morphs into our recognized oil, liquid form. This is the point at which you can whisk the elixir in a bowl with a fork and start a fire without a match. Okay, okay, you can’t start a fire with coconut oil. Its uses had to end somewhere.
So now that we’ve got that squared away, we can appreciate the flavorful oil drizzled onto our meats during preparation, in baked goods and for pan-frying. So how about it? You down to grab a jar during your next shopping excursion and fill me in on how you use it?
Fat does not make you fat!I just hung up the phone with my teammate from 2006, Mike Lowell. Mikey was musing about how he buys low fat ground beef for his chili, sometimes even turkey. He can’t help it; he’s simply doing what society told him to do. By the time we hung up the phone, he was amped to add a splash of real mayonnaise made with farm fresh whole eggs to his tuna … [Read more…]
If you’ve been reading my blog for a bit, you know my mantra: fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar makes you fat. However, the health benefits of dark chocolate make it a worthwhile indulgence.
Valentine’s Day is my least favorite holiday. Do we really need an appointment on the calendar to express love to another human being? C’mon, that should be our daily practice. Now, there is a competitor for most ridiculous day of the year – February 15, “Half Price Chocolate Day.”
I don’t need an excuse to indulge in the occasional delicacy of high quality chocolate. The sweetness is a distant second to the buttery consistency that gets me every time. I take mine like I take my coffee – dark, minimally processed, organic and free trade.
Most of you reading this probably don’t need an excuse to indulge in chocolate either. Why should you feel good about this choice? In appropriate quantities, dark chocolate is a mood elevating wonder-bar that helps to keep your body and heart healthy.
Dark chocolate, unlike milk or white chocolate, is less processed. Dark chocolate is rich with antioxidant compounds known as flavonoids – approximately 8 times more than an equivalent amount of strawberries. From WebMD:
A new study shows that eating dark chocolate decreases blood pressure and improves insulin sensitivity in healthy people. Impaired insulin sensitivity is a major risk factor for diabetes and reduces the body’s ability to process blood sugar (glucose) effectively.
The fats in dark chocolate also help to increase blood flow and reduce cholesterol levels. From Discovery Fit and Health:
According to a study published in the European Heart Journal and reported on CBS News, German researchers found people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day (one square of a chocolate bar) had a 39 percent lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke.
Now, before you go racing to the grocery store clearance aisle, I’m not giving you permission to go scarf a Hershey’s dark chocolate bar a day. Compare the two ingredient lists below and see which resonates as healthier:
Dagoba Dark Chocolate Bar: Organic Cacao Beans, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Cacao Butter, 0.5% Non GMO Soy Lechitin)
Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar: Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Milk Fat, Soy Lecithin and Vanillin (An Artificial Flavoring).
When you’re indulging, quality is everything. You will enjoy a single square of high quality chocolate much more than a cheap candy bar filled with artificial flavors and processed sugars. Your body will be happier and healthier too.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another important part of purchasing chocolate. I only buy fair trade. I care about the way folks are treated when producing a product that I consume. From Fairtradeusa.org:
Cocoa farmers are often forced to sell their harvest to middlemen who rig scales or misrepresent prices, and media reports of child slavery show the stark contrast between the delicious treat and the difficult conditions of the people who produce it. Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers receive a fair price, allows farmers to invest in techniques that bring out the flavors of the region, and strictly prohibits slave and child labor.
I want kids to enjoy chocolate, not be forced into the manufacturing of it.
This is all pretty simple stuff. Enjoy high quality chocolate in moderation and be rewarded with improved health, a happy palate and great vibes.
Fast food is evil. The goal of the entire industry is to sell the lowest quality food possible in massive quantities. That’s their model in a nutshell. I hate fast food and everything it stands for.
That being said, fast food is inarguably convenient and inevitably part of some lifestyles. I can’t recommend it, but if you have to continue to patronize these businesses, here are some tips to prevent it from completely disrupting your fitness goals.
Pick options in the Chipotle mold. If you can choose ingredients, you have a better chance of finding food less processed and sneaking in a healthy whole food choice or two. For example, at Chipotle, you can grab a bowl with hormone free chicken, pinto beans, salsa, onions, guacamole, lettuce and brown rice. You walk away with a pretty balanced meal. Even a salad from Subway with all the veggies and tuna or chicken breast can turn out to be above average.
Avoid making decisions while hungry. If you’re ravenous, you’re less able to be sensible. The ease of that Whopper with onion rings will be alluring. Plan ahead and arrive at your joint of choice in a state capable of rational thought.
Bring a piece of fruit. If you know McDonalds is on your route home and you may make a stop, throw an apple and some carrots in a bag. Eat those on your way. You’ll consume less of the fries and be more satisfied driving away.
Pack H2O in your car. If you have a bottle of water in your cup holder, maybe you opt out of the 44 ounce pink lemonade, saving your body the shock of 480 calories from sugar.
At the burger joints, ask for the patty and the veggies. The bun has absolutely zero nutritional value. None. Its net result is sugar. Fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar does.
Familiarize yourself with sites like this. Now more than ever, information is at our fingertips. Fast food chains hiding nutritional content data is a thing of the past, particularly if the investigator is savvy. You can find caloric information for just about any fast food menu item. Search key words like Big Mac + calories + nutrition and voila.
Know the most detrimental menu items. Soda, buns, fries, the desserts – these have minimal nutritional density. They are the items most responsible for contributions to obesity, wild blood sugar fluctuation, and generally leading you away from your goals of being fit in the mind, body and spirit.
Finally, use these foods as a holdover until you get home. Grab the smallest portion you can handle, reluctantly ingest it, and eat again when you get home. Hopefully, you have some detoxifying foods like greens and berries to balance yourself out. You’re not going to die from the cheeseburger coupled with the healthier choices at home, but there will be inevitable fallout from the supersized meal and large blizzard with M & Ms.
The general idea with fast food is to go from an F to a C. A passing grade will get you to the next test with less of a crater to fill.
Building better teammates and creating a winning culture are intertwined. In order to build a long-term, winning culture, it takes months and years of continuous, dedicated, deliberate effort. It’s a never-ending commitment to sharpening each other at every turn.
The New Zealand All Blacks, the national men’s rugby team, were smacked in the face with this undertaking. They were the best team in professional sports history measured by winning percentage (north of 75% all time). Yet in 2003, the team was dysfunctional and coming off a poor showing in the World Cup. Senior members of the team wanted to quit, and a culture of drunken violence was dominating.
Following that off-season, Graham Henry the (now former) head coach developed a mantra. “Better People Make Better All Blacks.” No matter how talented, if someone cannot positively contribute to their culture, the All Blacks are not interested.
The All Blacks won the World Cup the following year, with an 86% winning percentage over the season – unheard of in modern sports. But even more critically, the culture the team developed blanketed a strong sense of unity and purpose through the organization.
Teammates and winning culture aren’t just relevant in athletics. Our society is nothing but a series of teams. Our families, our colleagues, even the loose structures surfers develop while catching waves in the Pacific Ocean are all our teams. The opportunity to build and foster winning culture is everywhere.
Unfortunately, in sports and in life, we don’t always have the luxury of choosing our ideal teammates. Our responsibility, as leaders, becomes to guide and develop the individuals we are surrounded by. Not all teammates are created equal, and, because we are acutely aware that a powerful culture is a sum of its parts, we must be constantly and relentlessly seeking out ways to build individuals capable of contributing to that endgame.
What a dilemma. What do we do when we are faced with talented individuals who may contribute with their skill or intellect but who poison our atmosphere? We’ve all been privy when selecting people with whom we work. We shouldn’t ask, “Is this guy a punk?” That’s the wrong way to approach it and potentially leaves too much upside on the table. The more appropriate question is, “can we help this human become an average or better teammate?” If, through the vetting process, we decide that the answer is no, we simply don’t bring toxicity into our space. More often, however, the answer is that we can, with the right determination, help someone to grow into a brother or sister you are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with.
Think of building a house. We begin with a strong foundation and the capability to withstand ugly weather. But even the most powerfully framed home is merely a shelter without constant and continual attention. If we constantly think about making our homes comfortable places to live, we will be guided by optimal principles. We will never disrespect our own space.
We’ve spoken before about clutter and the impact it has on our well-being. No one sets out to live in a cluttered mess; it results from inattention and lack of care. A few papers left out, some objects not put away, and the sense of “I’ll get to it later” begins to take over. Likewise, inattention to the little aspects of poor teammate behavior rapidly results in a snowball effect. If we don’t prioritize the small considerations, we won’t be able to dig ourselves out when the big problems occur.
This isn’t an easy task. Promoting a long term, winning culture requires constant maintenance. We cannot allow ourselves to become frustrated or deterred from this task. Like our house analogy, gutters will need cleaning and gardens need tending. Sometimes, a fresh coat of paint is in order. We do not get angry at the garden for growing weeds or question the purpose of gutters if they’re just going to get clogged again. We understand that a harmonious living space requires this regular upkeep, and our teams do as well.
We do this by talking about our goals continually. As a team, we are pulling on the same end of the rope. Ensuring that everyone, from the most junior members to the grizzled veterans, understands and believes in the same vision leads to confidence and cohesiveness. When one person slips, we look to grab them by the shirt, pick them up and point them back on course.
One of the All Blacks’ most famous (and successful) players, Brad Thorn, developed his own motto. “Champions do extra.” Certainly, we comprehend that the athletes willing to put in the consistent reps in the gym or deliberate swings in the cage will likely improve at their sport. But a champion culture means doing the extra wherever the effort is needed. It requires constant dedication to improving not only yourself, but your teammates, continually learning more and hunting value at the margins.
The All Blacks seek to create this culture to “leave the jersey in a better place.” The team is stronger as a group, and their identity is one of brothers, not simply individuals dressed similarly. We should be looking to ensure not that we get credit as individuals, but that we put our team and our teammates first. We are at our strongest when we look for ways to help others shine.
When we’re participating in our teams, whether at home or at the office, we will succeed by focusing and making the perpetual effort to develop a culture that fosters positive teammate behavior and stresses development for all.
half. More is even better.
