Darrin Donnelly
May 17, 2018
The more I study successful coaches, the more I recognize the one common philosophy shared by so many of history’s greatest winners: they made a conscious effort to NOT talk about winning.
From John Wooden to Nick Saban, these great coaches concluded that because their players couldn’t always control the final score, talking too much about winning and losing could have a negative effect on their team’s performance.
Instead, these coaches recognized that their players could always control things like effort, attitude, discipline, and focus.
By focusing only on the things one can control, success naturally follow.
Dean Smith, North Carolina’s legendary basketball coach, is another leader who racked up the wins while promoting this success philosophy… [continue reading…]
Darrin Donnelly
May 10, 2018
I write a lot about the positive emotions of optimism, grit, courage, and faith—essential factors that drive any person, team, or organization to success and happiness.
One powerful emotion that isn’t often thought of as “positive” is anger. I think this is because we tend to associate “positive thinking” with happy-go-lucky people who are smiling all the time as they skip their way through life. As you know from my books and articles about positive thinking, such a stereotype is based on a misunderstanding of what positive thinking actually is.
The truth is, anger is a powerful emotion that can be used as the fuel to achieve positive things in life. We see this all the time in sports, business, and society at large. [continue reading…]
Darrin Donnelly
May 3, 2018
When things aren’t going well and we experience a losing streak in life, it can be very difficult to shift our mindset from negative to positive. During tough times, it’s easy to find ourselves focusing on all the things that are going wrong, and never on the things that are going right.
Oddly, it can almost feel “good” to be negative.
It’s as though we don’t want to let go of the negativity. We don’t want to admit that things aren’t as bad as we’ve made them out to be. We refuse to look for solutions and we instead choose to dwell on problems.
Why do we do this? Why is there an almost addictive nature to being negative sometimes? [continue reading…]
Darrin Donnelly
Apr 26, 2018
Joe Torre knows how to win.
As a player, he won a spot on the National League All-Star team nine times. As a manager, Joe Torre won 13 division titles, four World Series championships, and the fifth-most games in the history of Major League Baseball.
Throughout his career, Torre identified several key qualities shared by winners, but there was one single quality that rose above the rest… [continue reading…]
Darrin Donnelly
Apr 19, 2018
When one thinks of an “old school” baseball manager, Jack McKeon quickly comes to mind.
McKeon’s approach to managing was about as old school as it gets in the era of Sabermetrics. He relied on gut instinct, using pride as a motivator, letting his players learn on the fly, and doing things his own way.
His approach to faith follows in the footsteps of famous old school coaches like Vince Lombardi and Don Shula. He’s a devout Catholic who attends Mass every day and he believes unapologetically in the power of prayer and the intercession of saints.
His approach to exercise is certainly more “old school” than any doctor would ever recommend these days. McKeon walks a couple miles each morning…while puffing on a cigar.
Though Jack McKeon personifies many endearing “old school” qualities, he’ll tell you that the secret to his success comes down to good old-fashioned persistence. Or, what I like to call, Old School GRIT… [continue reading…]
