Category: Challenges

Do you have a Winning Attitude?

Building a Winning Attitude with Coach Dave WheelerWhat does it take to become a winner?  Many people talk about a “Winning Attitude” but how many actually practice it?  How many of us even know what goes into a winning attitude?

Today I will look at what goes into a winning attitude, using basketball as the example, and how we can cultivate a winning attitude in ourselves and our teams.

Quick Summary of a Winning Attitude:
  • A Winner sets high standards
  • A Winner expects to win
  • A Winner learns from losses
  • A Winner prepares to win
  • A Winner embraces challenges
  • A Winner enjoys the process
“How you do anything is how you do everything”

Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person”?  The thinking is that someone who is already busy will already have the habits in place to get things done where someone who finds ways to NOT be busy is simply avoiding getting things done.  Winning is a habit and like the saying goes, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”  If you have a winning attitude, you will apply it to all aspects of your life.  It doesn’t mean you have to be competitive with everyone in your life (that’s called “a jerk”) but you can recognize what your goals are and do whatever is needed to meet those goals.

How do I apply this as part of a Winning Attitude?

There are opportunities every day to “let it slide” or settle for less than the best that you can do.  Winners know that if you will give up on the small things you will give up on the big things too.  Small actions prepare you for big successes.  A Winning Attitude means holding yourself to a higher standard than other people.  Most people are not winners.  It is a fact of life, but winning is a choice and you can make that choice … every single day.,

“In it to Win it”

If you are going to play, you are going to win.  A Winning Attitude is about committing to being a winner.  Are you going to win every single time?  Not necessarily… but winners start with their goal in mind and focus on what it takes to win.

“Win or Learn”

Even if you are committed to winning, there will be times when you encounter someone who is better prepared or has better strategies or tactics and you come out on the short end of the competition.  Does this mean you Lose?  Not necessarily… You have a choice.  You can either Lose or Learn.  If you quit after you are beaten, then you Lose.  If you Learn from the experience and apply it to make you and your team better, then you are better prepared to win the next time.  As motivational speaker Les Brown says, “It’s not over until I win.”

The Will to Win vs. The Will to Prepare to Win

Winning is a result of preparation.  Games are won based on what you do in practice and HOW you practice always shows up in how you play.  Winners are always looking for ways to improve, whether it is physically, mentally or by developing their skills.

Embrace The Challenge

Someone with a Winning Attitude is not intimidated by challenges.  They are seen as opportunities to test your abilities and develop confidence.  Winning means that you find ways to win, even when there are obstacles or strong competition.

In fact, winners enjoy the challenge.  They recognize that without challenges and obstacles, they can never find out how good they really are. That’s why going undefeated by playing poor competition can be a curse in disguise.  Certainly you want to win when the stakes are the highest, but if you don’t face any competition before the championship game then how do you know if you are ready?  Have you faced strong competition that could bring out the best that you have?  A winner looks for strong competition because they know that it will make them better.

How do I develop my Winning Attitude?

Practice, Practice, Practice…
Challenge.  Learn. Repeat.

A winning attitude is all about
1) Embracing Preparation & Competition,
2) Learning and Growing, and
3) Enjoying the process.

You can change your attitude immediately… if you recognize where it needs to change.  This article has given you some ideas but it is up to you to catch yourself when you are not in a “winning attitude” and make the necessary changes.

This sounds hard.  Is it realistic?

Like I’ve said before, not everyone is a winner even though anyone can become a winner.  Will it take extra effort?  Absolutely.  Will you have to give up some things that might have been “nice to have”?  Sure.  Will it be worth it?  Certainly.

An excellent book for anyone lookiGood to Great by Jim Collinsng to develop a winning attitude is “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.  One of the key ideas that Jim Collins writes about is the reason there are so few “Greats”.

“Good is the enemy of Great” – Jim Collins

Most people settle for “good” or “good enough” while winners are the ones that go for “Great”.  The funny thing Jim Collins found as part of his research for the book was that it takes no more effort to be great.  Different effort and concerted, focused effort but not necessarily “more effort”.  That begs the question… If you can see yourself as good, why not go for great?

Coach’s Obstacle of the Week (COW) #1 – Slow Start

Coaches Obstacle of the Week (COW)
cow image courtesy of ModernFarmer.com!

What obstacle have you encountered this week?  What obstacles or challenging situations have you overcome (or not) and how did you tackle it?

I have always said that problems at the individual level are always easier to solve at the group level.  Why? Because the odds go up in a group that someone has already solved the problem or challenge or “obstacle” that is causing you trouble.  Is there more than one way to solve a particular problem? Of course, but wouldn’t it save you time to at least consider what someone else has already tried?

Our goal with the weekly “COW’s” is to leverage the experience of our fellow coaches so that when you encounter one of the situations we describe here you are armed with some ideas for a solution.  As the coach of your team, you always get the choice of what you think will work best for your team in that situation.  Need an example?  Here is one from my own history…

COW # 1 – The Slow Start / Poor Shooting

This example of a COW might be something that a lot of coaches have encountered…

My team started out the game very slow and fell behind 7-0 before we knew what hit us.  To compound the situation, it was against our toughest rival who had beaten us multiple times the year before.  If things kept going this way, it was not going to be a pretty picture by the end of the game.  What would you do?Need more information about the situation?

We were taking good, high percentage open shots that just were not going in.  They were shots that we typically make.  We also did not get as many offensive rebounds as we had against other teams.  (That could be because of the competition or our own effort… hard to say.)  Our full court press, which was one of our strongest weapons, had yet to be applied since we had not scored.  I called a timeout.  What would you say to your team?

Here is what I said in the timeout.
Do you agree? Or would you have done something different?

“OK, we are taking good shots and we got the misses out of the way.  Keep moving the ball and shooting those open shots.  Do you know why we were missing?  We were TOO open.  We had time to think about the shot before we shot it.  We don’t have to think… just pull the trigger and put it in.

What we do need to do is hustle after those offensive rebounds and get more shots. Keep playing hard, especially on defense and we will wear them down.  They can’t keep up with us!”

What do you think happened?

Leave your comments and ideas below.  Once I get a comment or two, I will let you know how this challenge turned out and break down the psychology of it as well.

Be sure to add your own COWs to the comments as well.  It might be chosen for next week’s COW discussion!