In the book, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, an amazing quote by Mahatma Gandhi stopped me in my tracks…

This quote hit close to home, as I know those steps well. I too was ignored in my youth, laughed at by my out of the box ideas in business, and had to fight jealous bullies as I climbed the corporate ladder. A trailblazer is someone who even when obstacles, naysayers and bullies try to stop them, they endure… and win!

Are you a trailblazer?

Trailblazers survive the odds, live to make a difference, and leave an indelible imprint on the earth. When your beliefs, passions, purpose and integrity become a beacon of light, the strength to keep going is beyond measure. When you know what your purpose is, you go after it. Conviction will INDEED get you to the goal line, while making it a better world for others.

Are you up to the task?

In the Athletic Mindset, we ask, “What is your life story?” (or what is the legacy you plan to leave behind?) Everyone has the ability to achieve great things, but like Gandhi, you must be willing to endure the ridicule and challenges that come with it. Sometimes you feel the world is against you, and other times you’re coasting downhill. You may even have to risk it all, especially if you believe it is the right thing to do. Some of the most successful (and wealthiest) people had to “risk-it-all”. Are you willing to take the risk, knowing it will all be worth it when you can look in the mirror and say, “I win!”

Believing in what you want is one of the tools for success in the Athletic Mindset. We Believe in you! We would love to hear your story. Leave your comments below.

~ Linda Webb (aka The Fraud Dog), Co-Author of The Athletic Mindset

We love being Social!

He’d been trying to take a bottle of milk out of the refrigerator, when he lost his grip and spilled the entire contents on the kitchen floor. His mother, instead of scolding him, said, “What a wonderful mess you’ve made! I’ve rarely seen such a huge puddle of milk. Well, the damage is already done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk before we clean it up?”

Indeed, he did. And, after a few minutes, his mother continued, “You know, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up. So, how would you like to do that? We could use a towel, sponge or mop. Which do you prefer?”

After they were finished cleaning up the milk, she said, “What we have here is a failed experiment in how to carry a big bottle of milk with two tiny hands. Let’s go out in the backyard, fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it.” And they did.

What a wonderful lesson! The scientist then remarked it was at that moment he knew he didn’t have to be afraid to make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning something new — which after all, is what scientific experiments are all about. That bottle of spilled milk led to a lifetime of learning experiences — experiences that were the building blocks of a lifetime of world renowned successes and medical breakthroughs!

Opportunities are all around us!

What “spilled milk” opportunities have come into your life that have made you who you are today? Share your story, inspire others! We hope this insightful story will open your mind to the many ways you can observe and perceive a situation, and make it work for you.

Could this motivate employees to love their job more, athletes to believe in themselves more, and students to become more aware of others? The answer is Yes!

Have you ever heard of RAOK or random acts of kindness? It states just what it is… a random action that is performed as an act of kindness to someone else. It could be as simple as holding the door open for a someone behind you, helping someone load their packages into their car, or even giving someone that needed one dollar.

Keeping the RAOK in mind, let’s take it one step further. What if we were to make it a conscious act rather than a random act out of the blue? Here lies the “perfect motivation” for that multiplicity of people.

Employers love motivated employees

Now is the time for employers to show they care about their employees. A simple way for employees to look forward to getting up in the morning and even get to work early, is give them a reason beyond their day to day work to be motivated. Give them a way to help others. Like Cuba Gooding says in the movie Jerry McGuire, “Help me, help you!” Give employees a way to help others through mentoring programs inside and outside the company. When employees feel good about “giving” they’ll want to give even more to their job. Giving back is powerful motivation of Gratitude!

Athletes motivated from the heart

How often do we hear of an athlete that just played their sport at the highest level because they were “in the zone”? A great way to get in the zone is by training hard, physically and mentally, so during competition the thought of “doing” becomes subconscious. Part of getting into the zone is teaching others how you do what you do. When you give back helping others get the athletic mindset you learned from a mentor, it comes back to you. Mentorship motivates athletes as what you pass on from the heart (gratitude), comes back to the heart. Giving back is a powerful motivator filled with Love!

Students aware of others

“I wish my child thought more of others, and not only about themselves!” A parent’s greatest wish is for their child to succeed while at the same time being kind to others. When a child becomes aware of others and lends a hand when not even being asked to, they become internally motivated. Since “thank you” generally follows the helping of others, the student is motivated to do more and will look for Opportunities to help others. The awareness and positive energy of helping others becomes a great motivator for their own success, and can carry throughout their lives, as students and as adults. Giving back is the perfect motivation!

Lesson to be learned

Whether you’re at a fortune 500 or a start-up company, an amateur of professional athlete, a teen or college student, everyone can benefit from the motivation born out of giving back. As taught in the Your Inner Swing and The Athletic Mindset, find your GLO every morning to start your best day.

Every morning before your feet hit the floor say, “What a glorious day to feel Gratitude, Love and Opportunity!” This will help start your day feeling great and looking for good things to happen, as well as people to help.

Question: How did D.A. Points, win the 2013 Shell Houston Open? Answer: One shot at a time, sinking putts with his 30 year old Ping “Anser” putter!

Typically when asked “What’s in the Bag?” we see this: Points’ bag:

• TaylorMade R11S driver
• TaylorMade Burner 3-wood
• TaylorMade R11 Rescue
• Ping G10 hybrid
• Ping i5 irons
• Ping Tour wedges with Gorge Grooves
• Ping Anser putter
• Titleist Pro V1x ball

Here’s the reason D.A. won last week; he was mentally committed to everything in his BAG physically and especially mentally! His inner swing was saying all the right things that kept him focused on the end result… “get the ball in hole in the least amount of strokes.” You could say, what was in his BAG, was definitely helping him along the way.

What’s in the mental BAG?

• His Beliefs inspired him… “I know the tools I’m playing with this week, will work for me!”

Does it really matter what clubs you are playing with? Yes, it really does matter that what ever is in your hand, old or new, two things are happening. 1) These clubs are fit for you, your body type, strength, etc. and 2) You’ve got to Believe what is in your hand is going to work. Working with many Tour Pro’s on their mental game, the first thing we do is check out their equipment. It’s important they know every wood, iron, hybrid and putter is specked out for them. Trackman is one of the best ways to check your tools.

• His Awareness helped him… “I belong out here and I am playing great!”

Some believe, “When it’s my time to win, I will.” Others say, “Be like Hogan, dig it out of the ground.” Both thoughts are correct. To do anything really well, you’ve got to put your work in. Whether it’s golf, climbing the corporate ladder, or being the best Mom. But that “lightbulb” has to shine brightly that tells you to keep working at it, your belong here.

• His Gratitude empowered him… “I love these woods, I love these irons, I love this putter!”

Ah, the almighty Gratitude! Those words are so empowering. Think about the words, Love, Gratitude and Joy. Imagine playing an entire round of golf thinking those words before, during and after each shot. Now imagine your best round ever because that’s just what you may get when you stay at the top of your ladder! I would imagine that’s kind of how D.A. won in Houston.

What’s in your mental golf bag and how have you improved it?

“You’ve got to take risk!”

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, made similar references in her book called Lean In.

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto. (Amazon)

The “big break” moment

When an opportunity of a lifetime comes along, do you take it, or are you too busy complaining about what everyone is getting or doing to even see it? This is that “big break” that could be there for you, if you are looking. Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. Other times you just become “noticed.”

It’s time to become Aware of these moments when that perfect pitch is thrown to you, and you swing for the fence! It’s time to open your eyes, because when they happen, seize that moment, or Carpe Diem! Athletic Mindset Awareness is one of the 3 tools for success we teach in The Athletic Mindset. It is when you are handed the ball, and for first time you can see the end-zone. This is your moment to run with that ball as fast as you can… and score your goal! 

Practice, practice, practice!

Question, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer, “Practice, practice, practice.” You must prepare for YOUR moment or you may not be ready when the ball is thrown to you. Be like the great athlete going for the gold in their sport. Put your time in so you are ready when the opportunity arises. Start with a simple “elevator pitch” of what you do and the benefits of helping others. You never know when you are riding up in the elevator with the CEO for the first time, and he says, “What do you do here?” You were just thrown the ball… what are you going to do with it?

Elevator pitch tips

1. Describe your job (or your desired position) in three sentences or less.
2. Identify in your pitch what makes you and your ideas different.
3. Be confident (but not cocky).
4. Don’t let others take you off of your path. Steer clear of the “crab buckets.”
5. Look for opportunities… take the shot when they throw you the ball!
6. Practice your elevator pitch in front of the mirror. Stand tall, shoulders back and smile!

You can achieve whatever it is you want when you have the Awareness to see the opportunity in front of you, and have the confidence to seize it.

“A successful society is, by necessity, a literate society. Reading is the first skill among all others, and the Broward Public Library Foundation plays an essential role in the civic, cultural and commercial well-being of our community,” said long-time event supporter Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation Inc.

Please click here to get more information on this great event! We hope to see you there.

Randy & Linda

A conversation was started on LinkedIn’s group, Club and Resort Business on “How does your club use social media?” Not only did I comment on it, but that is what sparked me to write a blog about it.

We see this icons in email signatures, in websites, on business cards. Did you know over 700,000 business are now on facebook? Folks, social media is not going away, it’s going to continue to grow. Being active in at least Facebook and LinkedIn is important to not only keep clients, customers and members engaged, but to bring in the younger crowd, the Millennial generation. Since there are approximately 80 million Millennials, think of them when you are thinking “not” to engage in social media! Here are some interesting Facebook stats…

Facebook Statistics – from Huffington Post

1. Barack Obama’s victory Facebook post was the most liked photo on Facebook with over 4 million likes. (source: The Huffington Post)

2. 25 percent of users on Facebook don’t bother with any kind of privacy control. (source: AllTwitter)

3. An average Facebook users has 130 friends. (source: AllTwitter)

4. Monthly active users now total nearly 850 million. (source: Jeff Bullas)

5. 21 percent of Facebook users are from Asia, which is only less than 4 percent of Asia’s population. (source: Uberly)

6. 488 million users regularly use Facebook mobile. (source: All Facebook)

7. Brazil publishes the most number of posts out of all Facebook countries. More than 800 Pages kept their Facebook walls busy with almost 86 thousand posts per month. (source: Socialbakers)

8. 23 percent of Facebook’s users check their account 5 or more times daily. (source: Socialnomics)

9. Facebook hosts 42 million “Pages” with 10 or more likes. (source: Jeff Bullas)

10. More than 1 million websites have integrated with Facebook in various ways. (source: Uberly)

11. 85 percent of women are annoyed by their friends on Facebook. (source: AllTwitter)

12. Facebook has seen a 41 percent growth in active users from Russia, South Korea, Japan, India and Brazil during 2012. (source: DreamGrow)

13. 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day. (source: Jeff Bullas)

14. As of 2012, 210,000 years of music have been played on Facebook. (source: Gizmodo)

15. Links about sex are shared 90 percent more than any other link. (source: AllTwitter)

16. As of 2012, 17 billion location-tagged posts and check-ins were logged. (source: Gizmodo)

17. 80 percent of social media users prefer to connect with brands through Facebook. (source:Business2Community)

18. 43 percent of Facebook users are male, while 57 percent of Facebook users are female. (source: Uberly)

19. As of April, Zygna’s games revenue was 12 percent of Facebook’s total income. (source: Jeff Bullas)

20. A whopping 77 percent of B2C companies and 43 percent of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook. (source: Business2Community) 

Maximize the use of social media by including video

Video is the most powerful medium to get your message out cleanly and quickly. And since Google owns YouTube, they love to push it out when optimized correctly. Who doesn’t like to click on a “play” button to see something new happening, someone being wacky, or kids having fun. Video also brings the “realism” to life, vs just reading black ink. Keep your videos short to keep their attention, 2-3 minutes at max. While at Six Points Media Group, we used video extensively for corporate branding, CEO messages and even a music video to show employees letting their hair down.

Some video ideas for Golf and Country Clubs social media: 

• Shoot the Golf Pro giving a lesson or tip of the week/month
• Video the Chef preparing a special dish
• Get video testimonials from members that LOVE the club to engage new members.

Remember, this is not rocket science, but spend some time creating good content people will want to connect with, Like, Follow and Retweet! Be creative, have fun, but most of all… Be Social!

     Connect with us!

Superbowl has become one of the annual all-American favorite past times. What we have learned as part of The Athletic Mindset teaching from this celebrated annual event is that, believe it or not… everyone is potentially a winner. The players, half time performers, stadium workers, and the millions of people who watch the game become part of the excitement that makes this event so extraordinary.

Why do businesses spend millions of dollars on outrageous ads in hopes of winning over the consumer? Because some businesses, like GoDaddy know you have to spend it to make it… you have to take the shot before you can score.

In this larger than life television event we love to participate in the festivities. For some people it also creates some memorable moments with their family. Superbowl is truly a winning event.

The athletes in the event must believe they will win as a team, and they must play to win as a team. And the team that has the Athletic mindset of “last play” will surely take home that prestigious trophy.

Celebrate your Win

Do you celebrate those “winning moments”? You don’t have to actually participate in the super bowl to feel the exhilaration of the game. However, when you have a great winning moment, celebrate that win.

So this year, celebrate your winning moments and have fun watching Superbowl.

 Crabs in a bucket are referred to as the crab mentality. It is best described by the phrase, “If I can’t make it, neither can you”.  Working together as a team, the crabs could easily escape from the bucket. Instead, the crabs grab one another and pull the other one down. As each crab races to the “king of the hill” competition, ultimately it prevents any of the other crabs from escaping the bucket. Ultimately these crabs faced their demise like so many employees experience in their careers. When you pull down others, you also keep yourself down on the bottom of the ladder.

While mentoring a young employee, I suggested two options that they would experience while climbing the corporate ladder. The first choice was to help people all along the way, and the other choice was not help others, thereby getting caught up in “the crab bucket.” The crab mentality theory broadly associates with being shortsighted, non-constructive thinking, rather than a unified, team-approach and long-term constructive mentality.

In the Athletic Mindset we encourage everyone to help one another, and incorporate teamwork whenever you can. It is a lot easier to climb up and out of the bucket or carry the football down the field when all of your teammates are working together towards the same goal.

If you find yourself in the ole crab bucket, look around for those that might be pulling you down. Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, “misery loves company.” Co-workers and colleges, who might be insecure, jealous or selfish, will indeed ride on the crab that seems to be getting to the top of the corporate bucket. Don’t let other employees pull you down. If you find someone pulling you down, reach down and see what you can do to help pull them up.

Having the Athletic Mindset is when every crab is free to climb up out of the bucket!