Thoughts On Oppurtunity

Some noteworthy quotes from the book "Thoughts on Oppurtunity" from the Forbes Leadership Library:

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years. - Bertrand Russel

One of the illusions of life is the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him. - Aldous Huxley

Life is the greatest bargain: we get it for nothing. -Yiddish Proverb

God sells us all things at the price of labor. -Leonardo Da Vinci

Make it a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. -Mark Twain

God will provide the victuals but He will not cook the dinner. -Anonymous

He is not fit for riches who is afraid to use them. -Thomas Fuller

There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can't do any business from there. -Colonel Sanders

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere. -Henry Kissinger

A wise man will make more oppurtunities than he finds. -Francis Bacon

Quotes of Note

“An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass” - George Washington

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. Michael Jordan

Coach Riley's Disease of Me

Michael Lombardi over at the National Football Post has phenomenal quotes and material that canvasses all sports and life for that matter. Now that the offseason (there is no real offseason) is here, I hope to collect the stacks of notes from the past couple months and start feeding the site again. Anyway here's Lombardi's material from Pat Riley:

QUOTE: “The most difficult thing for individuals to do when they become part of a team is to sacrifice; it is much easier to be selfish.” — Coach Pat Riley

Here is his list that he deamed "the disease of me" from his Laker days:

SIX DANGER SIGNALS OF THE DISEASE OF ME:

1. CHRONIC FEELINGS OF UNDER-APPRECIATION – FOCUS ON ONESELF.
2. PARANOIA OVER BEING CHEATED OUT OF ONE’S RIGHTFUL SHARE.
3. LEADERSHIP VACUUM RESULTING FROM FORMATION OF CLIQUES AND RIVALRIES.
4. FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATION EVEN WHEN THE TEAM PERFORMS SUCCESSFULLY.
5. PERSONAL EFFORT MUSTERED SOLELY TO OUTSHINE ONE’S TEAMMATE.
6. RESENTMENT OF THE COMPETENCE OF ANOTHER – REFUSE TO ADMIT HIS CONTRIBUTION.

The Foxhole Test

I think this is in some notes created or passed through legendary Don Meyer.

The Foxhole Test

Have your players take the foxhole test. Draw a circle to represent their foxhole. Write their name at the front of the foxhole. Draw a line at their rear, their left, and their right. On each of those lines they write the names of teammates they would want in their foxhole if they were fighting a life and death battle.

The position to their rear is worth three points and is awarded to their most trusted, courageous, and tough teammate. The position to their left is worth two points and is awarded to the second most trusted, etc. teammate, and the position to their right is awarded to the third teammate they would pick and is given a value of one point.

This test cuts through all the friendships, cliques, and is the truest measure of what players really think of their teammates. It might be a good idea for each coach on the staff to do this with his/her coaching staff, administrators, teach associates, and of course your team.