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Secret of Championship Teams: How to develop a winning culture

What is the most potent ingredient of championship teams?

• Athleticism???
• Talent???
• What is it???

Today, we are going to talk about a lesson I learned from the college football championship game that will help you in your journey as an athlete and coach for Christ.

My Lesson from the CFP Championship Game

This past Monday was the College Football Championship game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The announcer made a comment that really struck me.

He said the coaches of both teams went into the transfer portal during the offseason to get new quarterbacks. However, they didn’t pick up players that would likely be first round draft picks.

Instead they picked players that had the ability to transform the teams’ cultures.

AND IT SHOWED!!!

Both teams made it to the championship and Will Howard carried himself in a way that any teammate would want to play with him during his post-game press conference after being awarded the game’s offensive MVP.

Lesson for Sports

May this be a reminder that although we can get lured by next-level talent and out-of-this-world athleticism in sports …

Culture is probably a more important ingredient for championships.

Athletes and coaches …

What is your culture like on an internal, individual level?

• Is it one of greed or love?
• Is it one of short-term gain or long-term prosperity?
• Is it one of vanity, deception, and entitlement or heart, resilience, and devoted passion?

What is the culture like of your teams?

• Is it one of individual exposure or collective greatness?
• Is it one of laziness or precision?
• Is it one of pride, arrogance, and toxicity or communication, hustle, and unwavering determination?

What is the culture you are contributing to this world?

• Is it one of selfishness or service?
• Is it one of division or community?
• Is it one of degradation, destruction, and toxicity or inspiration, upliftment, and impact?

You have the power to choose the culture you are bringing to yourself, your team, and the world.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of creating a winning culture, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

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MLK, Christ, and Sports: How to Live from Your Heart

How do you perceive others?

• By superficial external appearances?
• Or by deep internal qualities that lie underneath?

How do you perceive yourself?

• By your results and performance?
• Or by the values of your character and your heart?

In the spirit of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow, today we are going to talk about how to focus not on the superficial external qualities, but on the deep internal qualities of the heart.

“I Have A Dream”

Tomorrow is MLK Day, and I am reminded of the speech Martin Luther King gave where he said he had a dream where one day people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character …

Not by superficial external appearances …

But by deep internal qualities.

Judgments in Today’s Society

In our society today, people are often judged by superficial external appearances:

• Race
• Gender
• Jobs
• Social status
• And so on …

As athletes and coaches, we are often judged by even more superficial external appearances:

• Wins/Losses
• Stats
• How big of a bench press we have
• And so on …

GOD’s Promise to Us

In the Bible, we are told that GOD doesn’t see what man sees.

We may see these superficial external appearances …

But GOD sees the heart, what lies underneath.

May this be a reminder unto us!

To not focus on the external appearances …

But to focus on what lies underneath:

• Your heart
• Your character
• Your values

Focusing on Internal Qualities as an Athlete/Coach

When I look back on my athletic and coaching career, I was often focusing on my external appearances.

As an athlete:

• How many points I scored
• What my shooting percentage was
• How I performed in sprints at the end of practice

As a coach:

• How many wins/losses my team had
• What my plays looked like coming out of time-outs
• Even how animated I looked on the sidelines for crying out loud!!!

But when I reflect on it, what others admired in me most, were not these external appearances …

Rather, they admired me for the internal qualities I embodied:

• My heart
• My character
• My love, passion, and enthusiasm for all my teammates and players

On this Martin Luther King Day, may you be reminded to focus on your internal qualities of your heart, and allow the light of Christ to shine through you in all you do.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of focusing on the deep internal qualities of the heart, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you!

May GOD inspire YOU every step of your way,

Kyle

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A New Way to Set Goals: A step-by-step process to align yourself with GOD's Will for you

What goals do you have for this new year???

Today, we are going to talk about some methods for setting goals …

That are perhaps counter-cultural …

To help you on your journey as an athlete and a coach for Christ.

Setting Goals

It’s that time of year when many people set goals, such as:

• Losing weight
• Making money
• Whatever else they want to achieve

Throughout my life, I have set many goals, and most of my goals were SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Action-Oriented
• Realistic
• Timely

Or whatever that acronym stood for.

Then I would take that large, overarching goal, reverse engineer it into tiny micro goals and action steps that would lead to that overarching goal.

(Just like the self-help and personal development crowd tells you to do 🙂 !)

The Problem

However, the more I followed this rigid structure, the worse I felt and the more GOD threw me curveballs that would foil my plans.

Then, one day, I heard someone say this:

Man plans … and GOD laughs!”

This was evident in my life.

The more I made these detailed, structured plans, the more GOD would provide me with uncontrollable events that would derail those plans.

My Realization

Eventually, I realized if GOD’s ways and plans are so much higher than my ways and plans …

Who am I to force my own agenda when GOD is designing something so much greater for me.

Since then, I have perceived that the process of setting goals is less about getting a desired outcome, but …

More about aligning yourself with GOD’s Will for your life.

An Exercise for This

Below, I will provide you with a 3-step process to help you practice aligning with GOD’s Will for you. Then, I will provide a link to guide you through the process.

1. Stillness- Remove yourself from the outside world and tune into your heart, into the Holy Spirit inside you
2. Dream- Ask the Holy Spirit to show you GOD’s overarching Will for your life … let the Holy Spirit guide you without restrictions as you do this
3. Integration- Once you see what the Holy Spirit is showing you, commit to one action step in the next 24 hours to generate momentum in fulfilling this Will

As you continue to take these action steps, GOD will use that momentum to guide you to the experiences, opportunities, and people to carry out that will.

Here is a guided audio to this exercise: 

Click Here for Exercise 

You can use this a few times, but then I encourage you to transition to doing it yourself without guidance.

Athletes and coaches for Christ, I wish you well on your journey of aligning your will with GOD’s overarching Will for you, and I send love, gratitude, peace, and blessings to you.

Inspiring YOU every step of your way,

Kyle