Playing for a Winning Team

I have played for coaches I loved, hated and simply enough just respected. Here is a story of a coach who will go down in history as one of the most dominant basketball coaches in Canada (CIS):

Dave Smart is the coach at the Carleton University in Ottawa. I was unlucky (then) and lucky (now) that I had the opportunity to play against his teams for 3 years (when I attended Ottawa University). To put it simply, Coach Smart is a hard to take, tell you like it is, my way or the highway kind of coach. Most other players and coaches disliked him every which way to Sunday. He always stuck to his guns and preached his systems. The best players would never go and play there because to Dave, basketball was a team game and the best team won. He believed the good teams won with Defence.

By his 3rd season his job was on the line, as the team had an OK record for his first 3 season, but he was such a hard guy to play for players were quiting half way through the season. They were transferring to other schools and complaining to the Athletic Director.

In that 3rd season they ended up winning a CIS National Championship by following Dave Smart's systems. What follow was this:

• 4 more National Titles in a row (losing this year in the final, which would have made 6)
• A new gym
• Asst. Coaching job for Canada's National Team
• All his players with National Championship experience/memories (and rings)
• 3 years hosting Nationals at their school

The take away here is this...what are you willing to go through to play on the winning team?

Matt & Jeff had people leave and try and run them out of business because others felt they demanded too much. They stuck with their systems and trusted themselves enough to keep pushing forward despite obvious negativity. Look at what they have accomplished over the last 12yrs:

• Top 40 under 40
• Publishing Company
• MPL
• 2 training facilities + 1 franchise
• People "chomping at the bit" to franchise into their company
• and the list goes on...

I will do what it takes to play on this team, because I want to win...

did you WOW someone today?

I was looking through a book called the Little Black Book of Connections when I came across a chapter titled WOW!

The first thing that came to mine was little things! It's when we do the little things that we get a WOW out of people. The power of  wow is unbelievable. We see it with little things such as going up and shake someone's hand that comes in the facility. First reaction is WOW!

An example of how the little things work that I really liked is when one of our customer goes to a meat shop and sees the kid at the back with a white shirt full of sauce. She first think My God this kid could of washed his shirt last night before coming to work but then decides to ask him what happened. He said the sauce machine broke and his white shirt got the most of it. She asked if his mom was going to be able to wash that shirt tonight and he said he leaved on his own. Well, she got her meat and left. She came back 15 mins later and had bought him the soap he needed to get the stain out and left instructions with him.

When she told me the story she said it was because of us and what we do, the little things we take the time to do for her and how we made her say wow! so many times.

The WOW moments are a great form of word of mouth advertising. People hear the stories and they want to be a part of it to see if a WOW moment will happen to them. It's also a great way to promote yourself.  Like Jeffery Gitomer, The author of the book I talked about earlier,. He was at the airport one day and was looking at a guy kicking the bank machine that had taken his card. HE could of easily say this guy is crazy I hope I don't have to sit beside him! He instead nicely went over and introduced himself and give the guy the 100$ in needed so he could have cash to get home. Gave his address not knowing if he would see his 100$ again. 2 days later, he received a check for 100$ and a job offer for 1.6 millions dollars, just because he had made the  decision he wanted to have a life of "helping other people".

When we take the time to do these things we are really changing our lives for the better and the life of the people that are around us.

Did you take the time to remember who gave you a WOW moment?

Did you take the time to WOW anyone today?

Quotes To Spark Thinking

This week we all shared our own personal favorite quotes. Some were motivational, some inspiring, some insightful, and all getting us to think on a higher level. On top of the quote I submitted there are a few more that have highly influenced me like the psoas does on the pelvis. I want to share them with you because over the past 6months I truly believe they have changed the way I think and have made me a better person. I take them from a book I got from my mother called ‘The Gift of Peace’ a collection of thoughts for a peaceful world. I hope you enjoy these and can take them into your personal considerations of how you view life.

-The theatre of life has its own script. Each instant is unique. Live each moment as if it were the most important of all. You will enjoy and feel peace.

-Leave worries aside and you will be surprised by the beauty of the sky, the color of flowers, of the freshness of the breeze and the generosity of the sun. You will feel you are part of creation, and life will start to make sense. The greatest wealth is to appreciate what we have and what we are.

-All individuals are also different and have their own role. Think about what we have in common and you will appreciate every human being.

-A sensible person knows that it is a waste of time and energy to get angry. Effort will then have to be made to reconstruct that relationship. It is much mire useful to breathe deeply, pay attention to your attitude and answer without rushing.

-With your mind think what you have to learn from others, with your eyes look into the good qualities of others, with your words recognize, value and appreciate their accomplishments and with your actions cooperate and do something for others.

-If you think you can do something alone, either because you don’t trust others to do it or because you feel you are the most qualified…. You will always be busy doing everything, you will be unhappy with others because they are not doing what you want and you will be dissatisfied. It is more effective to invest your time in training and developing others. There is greater success in cooperation.

-When you make a mistake, learn from it and resolve not to repeat it and then forget about it. You will feel better again. Do the same with others, Instead of making their mistakes bigger, dissolve them in your mind and help them to also forget about them.
A sensible person does not criticize the mistakes of others. Instead, he learns from them for the future.

-In order to work peacefully within a group do the following. Give your idea as an expert, with authority and enthusiasm, then let go of it, but listen carefully and with interest to the ideas of others.

-Never forget you are a human being who can decide the attitude to take in life.


And there you have it, a list of quotes that have changed my perception of life as well as how I work with others. In this life, you must appreciate what you have and in our work we must be able to work well with others. Thanks for reading.

Business Partnerships 101

From the moment that Guy and I agreed to form a business partnership last year I've had to learn what exactly it means to be somebody's business partner. Now, by no means do I think that I've even scratched the surface in regards to the lessons that I'm going to learn but I thought that I'd share some of the basic things that I've learned so far:

• Fight vs Flight - Sometimes when I know that Guy is upset or venting his frustrations I will just let him go off and get everything off of his chest, because at that moment that's all he needs to do. Other times, I've learned that engaging him in a discussion and then telling him straight up to either get over it or take some action to resolve it is the answer as well. Although my approach might not always be correct I think that I'm continuing to learn and gain a better understanding of what is required through things like the exercises that we do at the leadership forum and obviously through his inventory.
  
• Agree to disagree - One of the first things that I identified about our working dynamic was that Guy and I could disagree on something, and even argue about it, but at the end of the day we would understand that a solution had to be reached. Whether that means that one of us compromises our opinion or that we find an alternative solution altogether we understand that focusing on the big picture is the most important thing, not on padding our ego or having it our own way.
  
• Find the time - With both of our schedules being quite full and often requiring us to be at the facility at different times it's been important for us to find the time to meet and catch up. Sometimes this happens over lunch, while walking to get a coffee or even briefly while rolling towels and although it may only happen for a few minutes I can't stress how beneficial it is.
  
• Divide and conquer - There are times when both of us can't be present at a meeting or when it just makes more sense for one of us to take on a task. Being able to trust that Guy will make the right decision or that he will keep me completely updated as to what happened or what was said is absolutely necessary as long as there's a high level of communication that follows. This is obviously one of the strengths of forming a partnership in that there can be times when one person can take things on without the other person being present, otherwise it's almost the same as running it by yourself.

As I said, these are only a few of the lessons that I've learned so far and I know that there will be many more to come. What's funny is that as I am writing this blog I can see that the traits of a business partnership are not all that different than the ones that are necessary between us and our teammates.

The Flip Side of Single-Mindedness

Take a moment, if you will, and think back on some of the great accomplishments you’ve seen achieved in the past. Now consider the people who achieved them, and what it took them to do so.

Oftentimes, what is required is a single-minded focus and determination, a force of will that will allow nothing to stop them. They pick their goal, and then they work at making it happen without anything slowing progress or dissuading them – one hundred percent. Quite honestly, it is what will separate them from all others, and a characteristic that all of us should, if we don’t already, aspire to. However (and this is important), do not confuse “focus and determination” with putting on blinders… because this comes with its own inherent risks.

Now, to be clear – this is not an essay recommending that everything should be done at a slower pace, or that anything less than one hundred percent is acceptable. No, it is more of a precautionary note – choose your focus, give it everything you’ve got, but do so with your eyes wide open and blinders off… because sometimes the path you’ve chosen will have an obstacle that will force you to go over, under, or around it.

An example: someone very close to me was diagnosed with the early stages of type II diabetes a few years back (since this is a public post, I’m not naming names). To his credit, he was determined not to be forced to use insulin to treat it, and began to research and implement nutritional methods to control his blood-sugar. At first, everything was fantastic – his blood-sugar dropped, his weight came down and he returned to “normal” blood-sugar levels. The amount of self-control and adherence that he needed to achieve this was unbelievable, and my respect for his determination grew. BUT: his nutritional choices began to move further and further to a much more extreme level. As it continued, I grew concerned with some of the choices being made – essentially, it got to a point where as long as it wasn’t a carbohydrate (and this includes fresh fruit and vegetables), it was okay. He would sit down and eat a fully loaded burger, just no bun; in order to get enough calories, he began drinking full cream in his coffee; and fats (both saturated and unsaturated) were fine – because they weren’t carbohydrates.

Well, this continued for about three years, and in this time I watched his energy levels drop and saw him begin to battle gout. I suggested numerous times that this was too extreme, that although he’s lost weight and his blood-sugar’s under control, that this was only ONE PART of a much larger puzzle and he should consider his cholesterol and sodium levels as well. He refused to even look at these elements – in fact, I quit saying anything because when I did, I was usually emailed an article found on some website that refuted any of my comments.

The other day, he was at the doctor getting tested for something else, and in the process it was revealed that he had a high degree of plaque build-up in his arteries – if he kept going the direction he was going, he was almost certainly a candidate for heart disease, artherosclerosis or myocardial infarction. The result? He’s going in for all of the tests (MRI, stress tests, etc.), he’s started medication to control his cholesterol, and he’s had to adjust his diet.

The point, quite simply, was not that his focus and drive were wrong – but that if he had taken a moment along the way, and considered other perspectives, he may have been able to do exactly what he’s done, without it taking longer, but without putting himself in the position of risk that he’s in now.

Truly – when you’re driving the highway, you can’t be distracted by everything around you … but you still need to glance in the rearview once in a while and get your bearings.

Why… for myself and because it’s hard

This weekend I went to cheer on athletes as they were going to do a 
1/2 Ironman. After everyone that we knew had finished we left to go have a hot tub.  A woman was just starting the second loop of the ½ 
marathon.  I wanted to stop the van and give her a huge hug. Not because I knew her but because I knew what she was going through. We didn’t stop but seeing her made me think.

Why?…

Why would a woman who has 11km left during her ½ Ironman run with only 1hr left before the cut off, still turn around 200m from the finish line and go out for the second loop and try to finish it knowing that she does not have the speed to do so? It was obvious she was in pain but she knew she had a few choices

a- I’m not going to make it so I’ll stop here with my friends and this  sucks

Or

b- Fuck them if they think I’ll just give up! I trained for hours and 
hours so if they want me to stop, they will first have to catch 
me and second the will have to drag my ass off the course.

I can't answer for this woman why she kept going or what kept her 
going but it made me realize how much it has been as asked of me..

why…

Do I run for 100miles at one time without stopping? When I have heard most people say "I don't even like to drive that far, you're crazy!"

or

I have even heard comics make fun of Ironman participants: http://ironman.com/columns/gruenfeld/i-know-a-lot-about-ironman.-after-all-ive-watched-more-of-them-than-most-people-have-done
.

Sure it's very cool that according to the TrailRunnig magazine only a 
little over 25 000 people finished an ultra last year in North America 
(31miles and over is considered an ultra so the number of 100miler 
finishers is even smaller). Or that only 30 000 people out of 6 billion 
do Ironmans. For me it's about more than just covering the distance, 
it's about the entire journey as you go from extreme highs to extreme 
lows. It's knowing that you can achieve anything you set your mind to 
and that when things get hard, you can handle whatever comes your way, during a race, and in your everyday life because you are mentally strong enough to know you will get out of this stage. Like Kris said before, “it’s is an important part of racing to of having a community there with you.” That’s how I met some of my best friends, however mythe main two reasons for doing these races are:

 

1- for myself!!

I like one of Edmond Hillary's comments about finally scaling 
Everest: "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

It’s not the course I beat at the end of the day, but my mind that told 
me so many times to stop. That’s a very rewarding feeling.

2- because it’s hard.

 

In the early 1960s President Kennedy set a national goal of landing a man on the Moon. He said that we choose to do this not because it is easy but because it is hard.

It shows who wants it and how bad you want it. Let me tell you, when 
you have been running for 21hours straight, it's dark, your ipod is 
dead, you're trying to figure out every way possible not to lift your legs over that 15cm log,(that looks like Everest at this point of the game), it’s raining, you now have to pee leaning on your poles because your legs are in so much pain you can’t squat anymore, you seem to have been going uphill for the last 22hrs of this 21 hr race!  You seriously think what the hell??!!! But this is why I do it. I feel strong enough mentally to know I’ll get out of it eventually. People quit because they have not found the strength in themselves to push through their thoughts of being in their hellhole for the rest of the race.

I believe we all need these challenges that will give us the sense of excitement and happiness from overcoming them. Running a mile, a marathon, 100miles, an Ironman, a ride across Canada, a 10 day or 36 hour adventure race, are all difficult goals that ordinary people can achieve and could test themselves to see what they are truly made of and how bad they want it.

People can keep telling me I’m crazy, but at the end of the day it’s 
being in these situation that have made me who I am today.

What are you going to test yourself with next? And how bad do you want it? 

Team Work and Leadership

A group of people, contributing their individual knowledge and skills but working together to achieve a common goal/task.

My initial choice of topic was to write about the Oliver experience – the support, leadership, community, preparation, etc. But after thinking about it for awhile (and reading the ‘other’ blog.. awesome community post Kris!) I decided to write instead about TEAM. Besides the victories, accomplishments, and incredible stories this weekend (and there were many!) another thing that stood out to me was what a great all around team we have at Innovative Fitness. From the owners to the training coaches, and everyone in between.

So when did the creation of this team start? Anyone can call themselves a team, but not necessary act like one. It has not always been like this (I’m sure several of the vets can attest to this) but I believe we are at a point right now where it has never been better in terms of everyone getting it, trusting, supporting, and following systems. It’s no wonder we are all coming out to events to support each other and our customers.

The easy answer that it all starts with self – and that would be 100% correct. We, as leaders, have all taken the time to improve ourselves with us much support as possible (from blogs, to books, to forums, to improved communication) that now we are able to reap the benefits by being able to effectively lead our teammates to success. So in essence by being ‘selfish’ and dealing with our individual strengths and weaknesses we are able to become incredibly unselfish and give back a lot more.

Then it came time to get all the right people on board with us. After over a year of people departing and better people coming to join us (in WVan), we now have a bus full of the right people. This is not an easy process, as team members have to be carefully selected. The full range of knowledge and skills required must be present. Team members need to be committed to the task and if you have the right team composition and approach, team synergy can take over. But it has to be set up correctly. The team members have to be willing and ready to participate. And these are the teams that win championships! By acknowledging and continuing this we will only continue to go up.

Realizing that everyone has something different to contribute to the whole of the team is another aspect. A balanced team composition is essential. We are not all the same and this is what makes us so strong - when are individual strong traits are unified together. We all play a very integral role in the success.

It was very evident this weekend what a great job we’ve done. To see our teammates (after months of training, AND leading customers to the same event) come out and totally rock it was incredible! Those of us that came up to watch were proud of all of them – just as much as we were proud for our customers who raced. To spend time bonding with teammates and realizing that I not only get come to work and not really ‘work’ but that I get to spend time with a facility full of people I care about and would call a true friend – support, trust, loyalty, and collective betterment of each other. This makes for an awesome work environment.

So why was this destination so successful. For many reasons, but one of them was because of Team. We are all supporting each other at the highest level. We would all be there for each other in a second. This in turn will directly be reflected on how well we can lead our customers. There’s a reason that ‘customers’ are on the final wheel turn. If we did not take the time to figure out ourselves there is no way we would be able to give back to our team (or any relationship) and we would not build the same trust, and follow the same systems (operations). Self – Team – Operations – Customers. It’s a win – win situation. Our customers kicked ass this weekend – but so did we as a team!