A few years a go when I was at the Duke Leadership Conference I had a conversation with an owner of an independent investment company. We began talking about some of the keynote speakers and I said to him, “A lot of this stuff is great, but I feel like I’ve heard most of it before.” He replied, “I think many of us have. The problem is that hardly anyone puts it into practice.” With Alan’s completion of his 50 book goal for 2009 I thought it was a good time for me to address this. I actually have been meaning to write this for about 6 months or so now, but I can’t think of a better time than now.
I have read several books over the past 3 years regarding the “plan for success”, “ultimate guide to personal development”, “overcoming obstacles”, etc. (see my book list here) Almost all of these books address similar topics such as:
1. You Need to Have A Work Ethic
2. Remain Positive
3. You Must be Persistent
Are all these crucial traits of successful people? Absolutely! Without a doubt! The problem is that they are easy to point out, but difficult to put into action. This is similar to the parent or co-worker who can point out everything wrong with your team, but doesn’t have any solutions or points out the obvious, but isn’t willing to put in the time to correct the problem.
Don’t get me wrong. In no way, shape or form downplaying Alan’s accomplishment of reading 54 books in the past year. Like he said, he learned more in 2009 than any one year span in his life and he ENJOYED it! My point is that, yes, you need to learn, yes, you need to grow, but most importantly you need to put what you learn into action. The hard part is to implement the techniques and practices, to make them part of who you are as a person and what you do as a leader. Check out Alan’s video on taking action here. He obviously agrees with what I am saying!
So where do you go from here? No matter how old you are I think you need to come up with a list of actions or traits, relevant to your life, that you think are going to help you accomplish your goals. Maybe it’s a list of 5-10, but no more than that because the more you have the less you will be able to focus on being great a few of them.
Last week I spoke to the Go Getters, Marquette University’s student business group, where I shared part of my list (the other part of the speech focused on entrepreneurship and marketing). I will start posting different parts of the list on here to give you an idea of where to start. Be sure to subscribe to blog to be notified when we publish new posts! You can subscribe by visiting here and entering your email address.
Until then, if I can do anything for you please give me a call or drop me an email!
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The founder of Mike Lee Basketball Services (formerly Playmakers Basketball), Mike is known throughout the country for individual player skill development. He has been a speaker at several events and has also recently authored several instructional workout DVDs, which will be released over the next year. Titles out right now include, 25 Killer Scoring Moves, Secrets of Unstoppable Guard Play and Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting. Since 2006 Mike Lee Basketball has trained over 3,600 boys and girls through their skill development programs. Dozens of players that Mike has worked with have gone on to play collegiate basketball, some at the NCAA DI level. In addition to his own basketball services, Mike is a Nike Girls Skills Trainer and a member of the Nike sponsored, Ganon Baker Basketball.
From 2001-2006, Mike participated as a player and assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. During the fall of 2006 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Coach K and Duke University Leadership Conference in Durham, NC. In December of 2006 he graduated from the University of Wiconsin-Stout with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a self-planned concentration in Basketball Entrepreneurship.
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