10 STEPS TO SUCCESS

By: Rick Pitino



1. THRIVE ON PRESSURE

Stress robs us of our focus and inhibits our performance. Pressure is negative only when we are ill-prepared. In fact, pressure can bring out extraordinary accomplishments.

To borrow and old adage: Beware of the wounded tiger. Especially if that tiger is highly motivated.



2. ESTABLISH GOOD HABITS

A bad habit is any habit that doesn’t serve you in a positive way.

Get Organized. Don’t put things off. Do the unpleasant things early, freeing

Yourself for what you enjoy.



3. MASTER THE ART OF COMMUNICATION

In four words: Listen more, talk less.



4. BUILD SELF ESTEEM

You have to feel good about yourself to succeed. The way to do that is to

deserve success, to establish a great work ethic and the discipline inherent in

that.



5. ALWAYS BE POSITIVE

The rule is simple: The more trying the times, the more positive you have to

be. Look at change as a chance to be more successful.



6. LEARN FROM ADVERSITY

We must force ourselves to appreciate the good around us; otherwise the bad will ruin our lives.



7. LEARN FROM ROLE MODELS

The keys: Emulate traits you admire, and learn from others’ mistakes



8. BE FEROCIOUSLY PERSISTENT

Persistence, more than anything else, keeps us great. The people who ultimately succeed are the ones who understand that success is a long-term goal.



9. SET DEMANDING GOALS

We need goals that will help us overcome our weaknesses. It takes hard work to be successful.



10. SURVIVE SUCCESS

Today’s success is often tomorrow’s failure. A failure to maintain discipline causes it to evaporate immediately. It’s that fragile. So never forget what you did right. Write down your own secrets to success. Study them. If nothing else, they’ll remind you it wasn’t good fortune that caused your success, but an entire lifestyle of achievement

"Be careful how you live.... You may be the only Bible some people will ever read!"







This is such a great example of The Living Bible.

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.

He is brilliant. Kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.

Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it.

One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat.

The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything.

Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet.

By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill.

Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to
themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do.

How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?

It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy.

The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing. The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.

And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won't be alone.

Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, "What I'm about to preach, you
will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget."

"Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read!"

I asked the Lord to bless you
as I prayed for you today.
To guide you and protect you
as you go along your way....
His love is always with you,
His promises are true,
And when we give Him all our cares,
You know He will see us through.

When you have nothing left but God,

you become aware that God is enough.

-Guideposts





Written by a sportswriter.......

On the 21st of the month, the best man I know will do what he always
does on the 21st of the month. He'll sit down and pen a love letter to
his best girl. He'll say how much he misses her and loves her and can't
wait to see her again.

Then he'll fold it once, slide it in a little envelope and walk into
his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her
pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the
ribbon again. The stack will be 180 letters high then, because the 21st
will be 15 years to the day since Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years,
died.

In her memory, he sleeps only on his half of the bed, only on his
pillow, only on top of the sheets, never between; with just the old
bedspread they shared to keep him warm.

There's never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or
a finer coach. He won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA, the last in 1975. Nobody has ever come within six of him.

He won 88 straight games between January 30, 1971, and January 17,
1974. Nobody has come within 42 since.

So, sometimes, when the Basketball Madness gets to be too much -- too
many players trying to make Sports Center, too few players trying to
make assists, too few coaches willing to be mentors, too many freshmen
with out-of-wedlock kids, too few freshmen who will stay in school long
enough to become men -- I like to go see Coach Wooden.

I visit him in his little condo in Encino, 20 minutes northwest of Los
Angeles, and hear him say things like "Gracious sakes alive!" and tell
stories about teaching "Lewis" the hook shot. Lewis Alcindor, that
is...who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

There has never been another coach like Wooden, quiet as an April snow
and square as a game of checkers; loyal to one woman, one school, one way; walking around campus in his sensible shoes and Jimmy Stewart morals.

He'd spend a half hour the first day of practice teaching his men how
to put on a sock. "Wrinkles can lead to blisters," he'd warn. These
huge players would sneak looks at one another and roll their eyes.
Eventually, they'd do it right. "Good," he'd say. "And now for the
other foot."

Of the 180 players who played for him, Wooden knows the whereabouts of
172. Of course, it's not hard when most of them call, checking on his
health, secretly hoping to hear some of his simple life lessons so that
they can write them on the lunch bags of their kids, who will roll
their eyes.

"Discipline yourself, and others won't need to," Coach would say.
"Never lie, never cheat, never steal," and "Earn the right to be proud
and confident."

If you played for him, you played by his rules: Never score without
acknowledging a teammate. One word of profanity and you're done for the day. Treat your opponent with respect.

He believed in hopelessly out-of-date stuff that never did anything but
win championships. No dribbling behind the back or through the legs.
"There's no need," he'd say.

No UCLA basketball number was retired under his watch. "What about the
fellows who wore that number before? Didn't they contribute to the
team?" he'd say.

No long hair, no facial hair. "They take too long to dry, and you could
catch cold leaving the gym," he'd say. That one drove his players
bonkers.

One day, All-America center Bill Walton showed up with a full beard.
"It's my right," he insisted.. Wooden asked if he believed that
strongly. Walton said he did. "That's good, Bill," Coach said. "I
admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them, I really do.
We're going to miss you." Walton shaved it right then and there. Now
Walton calls once a week to tell Coach he loves him.

It's always too soon when you have to leave the condo and go back out into the real world, where the rules are so much grayer and the teams so much worse.

As Wooden shows you to the door, you take one last look around. The
framed report cards of his great-grandkids, the boxes of jellybeans
peeking out from under the favorite wooden chair, the dozens of
pictures of Nellie.

He's almost 90 now. You think a little more hunched over than last
time. Steps a little smaller. You hope it's not the last time you see
him. He smiles. "I'm not afraid to die," he says. "Death is my only
chance to be with her again."

Problem is we still need him here.

"There is only one kind of a life that truly wins, and that is the one
that places faith in the hands of the Savior. Until that is done, we
are on an aimless course that runs in circles and goes nowhere.
Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are
meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we
really are and that is all that matters." - John Wooden

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Jesus is urging his disciples and the others to crave a relationship with God, to be focused on the things that are on God’s heart rather than on the simply the things of the world. Those who do will find countless blessings.

The scriptures are filled with references about diligently seeking God, hungering for him, searching for him, and longing for his fellowship. Christianity is all about relationship with the Lord, an intimate relationship that produces a changed and fruitful life.

This kind of life doesn’t just happen. We must train ourselves in godliness not simply just try to be good people. One who seeks after God, fills his mind with God’s thoughts, talks with God throughout the day, involves God in his thinking and emotions, and learns to listen for and detect God’s guidance. It’s not a casual journey but a very intentional one.

Lord, please grow my hunger for you and help me not get side-tracked by religiosity.

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dave@youronedegree.com

Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."


There’s a pattern here—poor in spirit, mourning our spiritual condition, and now being “meek.” None of these are conditions or attitudes that we’d immediately connect with happiness or being blessed. In this amazing sermon, Jesus is trying to change people’s paradigm from one of worldly values to one of eternal perspective

True rewards, blessings, and happiness come from true relationship with the Lord. This relationship produces someone with the inner strength to be meek. A meek person is one who recognizes that he or she is a joint heir with Christ, a child of the King and truly accepted by the Father.

This same person isn’t defensive when criticized, doesn’t think too highly of himself, isn’t quarrelsome, doesn’t threaten or revile those who have hurt them, and will trust God to protect their reputation and their well-being.

An intimate walk with Christ will produce this in us, This trait will help us build strong relationships, lead effectively, and impact others to follow Christ. When we understand the strength of meekness, we are drawn to it in others. Meekness in us will draw people to Him.

Lord, please produce this attitude in my heart as I learn to walk more closely to you each day.

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dave@youronedegree.com