Achieving True Confidence

When I competed in track and field, I was a sprinter…. so anything over 400 meters is “distance” to me.

But this post isn’t about my exploits in track… it is about training, and confidence, and habits, and quitting, and success… all of these are related.

About two years ago I had hip replacement surgery. After the surgery, I began walking, then walking/ running, and then running … distance… 1-3 miles… three to four times a week.

Three months after my hip was replaced, I entered (along with my wife who was new to distance running, too) my first 5K race. It was in downtown Kansas City, and involved a long hill during the second half of the race. It was in the summer and the temperature was over 90 degrees. My goal was to survive… finish… and if possible run (no walking) the entire race.

Well I did survive, and was able to finish the race without walking. My wife and I began to do 5K’s monthly… and I kept my training up, running 2-3 times a week. Over the next couple of years I ran, and completed each race (nearly 20)… from steaming hot KC summers, to a Mardi Gras 5K this year when the wind chill was 10 degrees… all without walking… and generally improving my times as well.

But this post isn’t about my exploits in 5K’s… it is about training, and confidence, and habits, and quitting, and success… all of these are related.

Heading into this past winter my training started to ebb… I was nursing a sore Achilles, the weather was bad, busy schedule… all the excuses our athletes sometimes use. At the start of the spring, my wife and I entered a 5K in downtown Kansas City… pretty much the same course that I ran my first ever 5K on two years ago…. the one involving a long hill during the second half of the race.

This race was different. I had not been training. The first half of the race was OK… I got to the hill and began to struggle. No matter how much I told myself  “I Could Do More, I knew in my gut that I had not done the training to back it up… the mantra was shallow… the internal pep talk was merely bluster.

I started walking… in fact I walked most of the hill, then finished the last part of the race running.

My time was actually much faster than the first time, two years ago, that I had run the course, but that was hollow… I had walked.

There is a link between hard work… training… and true confidence.

I had already entered another 5K a couple of weeks later…. I still had not been training like I previously had. It was a relatively easy course on a pleasant day.   The first hill… the first time things got a little tough this race… I walked again…. and it was easier to do… no huge internal struggle… I just took the easy way and walked a little… I could justify it… I was 57 years old with an artificial hip!

The reality of it was that quitting was becoming a habit… it was much easier to quit … to walk… the second time than it was the first.

Vince Lombardi said Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” and “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.

There is no substitute for hard work.

Hard work=Real Confidence= Success

It all is interrelated … connected.

dont quit

Related Posts:

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

In the Spotlight – Alexis Hart

Truman sophomore athlete Lexi Hart has continued her dominating play in all three sports this year.

At the district track meet this past weekend, Lexi set the school record in both the long and triple jumps by posting a state best 18’ 4” in the long jump and 39’ 3” in the triple jump. Going into the state meet this weekend, her marks are nearly a foot farther than her nearest competitors.

In addition, Lexi made the first team All Conference Volleyball squad, and made the Missouri HM All State list. A starter in basketball as well, Lexi started on the Truman team that went 25-2 this season, and was named HM All Conference.

The following post was from last spring, at the end of Lexi’s freshman year.

Paying it Forward

I was recently asked a question that has been put to me several times over the last year….

“Why are you doing this … just giving away your stuff on game planning (or strength training… or strength and conditioning)? You know people pay for stuff that isn’t as good as this.”

Here are some reasons.

Pretty much everything that I know, or do, or have done as a coach, was given to me by other members of this fraternity we call coaching. I have had some great mentors and colleagues:

Fred Merrell, Buddy Young, Bill Warner, Terry Noland, Mike Foster, Roy Wittke, Mark Thomas, Mark Hulet, Scott Baumgartner… to name just a few.

And, I have learned from some great ones via clinics or spring break visits:

Billy Miller, John Smith, Boyd Epley, Dave Wannstedt.

None of these coaches ever asked for, or expected payment for sharing their information and knowledge.

I always thought that I did a good job of mentoring young coaches… many people who I had a chance to work with over the years went on to become successful coaches, teacher and administrators.

I thought that until some recent reflection regarding my last high school stop… Truman High School, in Independence, Missouri. In retrospect, I had some young coaches on my staff there that I did not do a good job of mentoring or teaching… I got too caught up with trying to find a way to cobble a few wins together.

I was not following my own credo… You Can Do More…. I actually was doing less.

It was not fair to those coaches, and the decision to write this blog was, in part, a result of that reflection… a penance… an attempt to make it up… to them and any other young coach that might stumble on this blog and take away a kernel or two that might help them along their way.

And, the tipping point was when I read Seth Godin’s book, The Icarus Deception… How high will you fly?… which gave me the push… the impetus to start.

So, thanks to all of the people that have helped me along the way… and thanks to all who read and respond to this blog.

A couple of requests:

  1. Pay it (your knowledge and expertise) forward
  2. Share this blog (YouCanDoMore.net) with anyone who might find it useful or entertaining.

pay it forwardYou Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Larger than Life

Yesterday, a couple of 8th grade students who played football for me this past fall were in the gym talking prior to PE class. I could see them eyeing me and discussing something as I walked by. They stopped me and asked,

“Coach Floyd, are you getting shorter?”

I answered, “No, I am the same height that I have been since my freshman year in high school… why?”

They said “Well, you just seemed a lot bigger at the beginning of the year during football”

My reply was “Maybe you guys have just grown this year”

A couple of things that are going on here…

The students HAVE grown this (and every) year… in many ways… physically, mentally, and emotionally.   I am sure that at the beginning of the year that I was, and did seem bigger in relation to their size.

The second, more important thing to keep in mind is that as a teacher and a coach, you… we… are larger than life figures to these young men and women that we teach and coach. This perceived “giant” stature is not limited to middle school students and athletes…. it happens at all levels… from Pop Warner to the NFL.

To this day I remember how ecstatic I was when Roy Stillwagon, my football coach at Ervin Jr. High, told me “good job” after running a drill.

Bart Starr of the Packers said of his coach Vince Lombardi, “this short, squat man filled every room he entered”

Being a teacher and a coach is an awesome career… with awesome responsibility.

Related Posts:

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Getting Rich

godintedtalkSeth Godin  (Twitter  @ThisIsSethsBlog  Blog – sethgodin.typepad.com ) is a business and marketing guru.  I read his blog daily.  It is always interesting, usually thought provoking, and often is a concept that I can apply as a teacher and coach.   His post earlier this week, Get Rich (Quick) exemplifies this.  I was going to add my commentary about how applicable these things are to teaching and coaching, but it really is unnecessary … it is perfect in its simplicity:

Get Rich (Quick)

Enrich your world by creating value for others.

Enrich your health by walking twenty minutes a day.

Enrich your community by contributing to someone, without keeping score.

Enrich your relationships by saying what needs to be said.

Enrich your standing by trusting someone else.

Enrich your organization by doing more than you’re asked.

Enrich your skills by learning something new, something scary.

Enrich your productivity by rejecting false shortcuts.

Enrich your peace of mind by being trusted.

The connection economy pays dividends in ways that the industrial one rarely did.

Now…. go get richer … and remember…

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

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Information Society

Information…

Great information…. at your fingertips…

I live in Kansas City, Missouri. I have met many, MANY great coaches, innovators and teachers via the Internet that live all over the country. I wrote about our connected fraternity in these posts, Following Social Media and “Passing” and “Catching” Information in a Connected Society

courvilleOne of these, Coach Tony Courville, from Teurlings Catholic high school in Lafayyete, Louisiana recently sent me a message via Twitter about a Fuel Magazine interview that he was featured in. In this article, Courville, a 25 year veteran, shared some of his philosophy regarding Strength and Conditioning.  You can see a digital version of the article here: Fuel Magazine – Tony Courville

I wrote about Coach Courville and a really good tool he uses in an earlier post of mine, Evaluation of Performance Chart.

Without the internet, without Twitter

  • I would not know Coach Courville…
  • I would not have known about (or read) the Fuel Magazine article
  • I would not have been able to share this information to the readers and followers of this blog…
  • I would not have been able to “steal” his Evaluation of Performance Chart
  • I would not have been able to share his chart with my readers…
  • His Evaluation of Performance Chart has been downloaded over 200 times from my site alone!

This is just one example from one day.

There is a lot of garbage floating around in the ether… but there is also a lot more out there than cute cat videos… If you know where to look.

Related posts:

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com