Posts Tagged ‘personal development’

Automobile University and Success Magazine

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

I am in my car all the time.  Throughout the year I put about 30,000 miles on my car traveling for basketball events and until recently it was a decision between music and phone conversations.

I’ve been doing workouts 30 minutes away from home at which start at 6AM so I’m up at 5 and there is no one awake to speak to.

So one day I decided to download a couple of Kevin Eastman’s free podcasts available on his website.  It was short, but it was so much better than listening to morning talk shows or music.  This led me to download an audio book featuring 15 hours Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn.  I can’t remember which one of them it was, but they mentioned how much time you spend wasting in your car.  He said everyday he gets in his car and attends automobile university on his way to work, meetings, etc.

The real reason that inspired this blog is that I recently came across a new magazine that I never knew existed.  I have been a subscriber to Entrepreneur for about 4 years now, but the other day was walking past Barnes and Noble where I caught Jim Collins on a cover of a magazine called Success. If you want to read more about the magazine just click through to their website, but the best thing about the subscription is that every magazine comes with a CD with audio interviews. Each month features about an hour with John Maxwell, Jim Rohn and usually 2 to 3 other business leaders who focus on one topic.  So far the 2 topics have been Leadership and Innovation.  If you don’t have time to read books Success magazine is a great resource with short articles, book summaries and of course, the leadership interviews.

If you have an average drive of 30 minutes a day, that’s 150 minutes a week or 2.5 hours that you spend in the car.  That’s 125 hours per year that you can be filling up your mental factory. How are you supposed to face each day with a positive attitude if you are reading the news about the wars, economy and crime?  The way you think is affected by what you put into your mind.  What you read, watch and listen to drastically affects your thinking.

“Our lives are most affected by the way we think they are – not the way they are,” Jim Rohn.

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 Vol. I & 2. and Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting.  Since 2006 Mike Lee Basketball has trained over 5,600 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.

mike@mikeleebasketball.com

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Comfort Zone, by Alan Stein

Friday, May 7th, 2010

I wanted to share something I just read as a follow up on last week’s blog, Brand You 2.0. Hip hop superstar 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) is having a majority of his tattoos removed in an attempt to help land more movie roles and give off a more professional appearance.

He is making a distinct change to his brand’s image to achieve an even higher level of success.  He is reinventing himself, which in my opinion, is a brilliant move on his part. He has conquered the music industry (sold millions of albums). He has conquered the business world (sold his stock in Vitamin Water for $400+ million).  Now he is going to conquer Hollywood!

One of the most significant ingredients to success is your ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Your comfort zone is your enemy. It makes you soft. It leads to complacency.

You have to constantly and consistently step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.  There is no reward for always playing it safe. The player who can push themselves further once the situation gets uncomfortable is the one who will win.  That is what makes Kobe so lethal.  He thrives in adversity.

In addition to helping players get stronger, quicker, and in great shape, it is my job to push players out of their comfort zone on a regular basis.  It is my job to help them increase their tolerance for discomfort (mental and physical). I want them to train hard so the game becomes easy.

I tell my players of the time during our workouts, “Temporary discomfort leads to permanent improvement.”

I also tell them, “You can have the pain of discipline or the pain of regret… take your choice.”

Both of those quotes exemplify the same point – if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone now… you will reap the benefits ten times over in the future.  But you have to have the courage to sacrifice your immediate personal contentment.

When you are lifting weights, do you stop as soon as there is a slight “burn”… or do you push through and do a few more reps?

When you are running sprints, do you stop as soon as you are a little “winded”… or do you suck it up and run a few more?

When you are working on your ball handling, do you spend extra time on your off hand even though you make more mistakes?  Or do you just keep doing the drills you are already good at?

When you are getting up shots, are you a “casual shooter” or do you run through every rep at game speed? Do you come off of imaginary screens and make hard cuts… or do you simply do spot shooting?

The answers to these questions will determine how successful you will be next season.

Remember, you have to deserve success. And to do that you have to leave your comfort zone now.

If you want to see some of the exercises (and equipment) we use to make our players step out of their comfort zone, check out: http://tinyurl.com/MetabolicWorkout.

I want to clarify two things about this video.  One, these exercises and “toys” are not the foundation of our training program, but rather a way for us to add variety and make things mentally and physically challenging.  Two, I don’t sell equipment nor do I get paid to endorse any equipment.  I merely share the stuff I like!  I realize most players and coaches are on a very limited budget, so any time I can offer insight into which products I like the best… I feel compelled to do so.

A colleague of mine turned me on to www.HyperWear.com a few months ago and I immediately gravitated towards their HyperVests and Sandbells. And I love using them! Why wouldn’t I want to share that? If people like my stuff, I hope they share it with others!

Our 12-Week Basketball Off-Season Agility & Conditioning Program will available soon. It was designed to be done in conjunction with the strength & power portion (currently for sale). You will be able to purchase it at http://Shop.StrongerTeam.com.

As always, if I can ever be a resource to you for your program, please let me know. I would be honored to help. You can email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.

Train hard.  Train smart.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

Advice For a Young Coach, by Mike Lee

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

I have received a couple emails lately from people looking to get into skill development training and coaching, looking for advice “for a young coach”.  I laugh every time I see one of these because by them stating they are young it makes me feel like I am old.    While I never think of myself as someone who has made it – my road is always under construction – I looked back on what I have done and have received some pretty good advice from others over the past 8 years.

1.  Second to None Work Ethic: Forrest Larson, “Be the hardest worker at every camp you are at.”  Sweat with the kids, play defense and be exhausted at the end of the day.  There would have been no way I could have slept in the bunks at Honesdale with some crazy kids from Jersey and New York when I was at Five-Star if I wasn’t absolutely beat.  I learned my work ethic from parents and grandfather, but being around Forrest Larson and Dave MacArthur took this to a completely different level.  Sometimes you never know what you are capable of or what hard work really means until someone pushes you until you almost blackout – multiple times!

2.  Be an Energy Guy: It might not be your personality.  It’s not really mine, until I get on the floor – it is what I LOVE.  Whether it is or not, choose to be energetic and enthusiastic.

3.  Work Different Types of Camps: Do some that you get to do a lot of game coaching, but also where you get a chance to teach.  I worked at Five-Star, which was 50-60% game coaching and 40% station work where you get to teach. If you want to learn HOW to teach the game try to work at one of our camps or check out Forrest Larson,  Ganon Baker, Micah Lancaster, and Kyle Manary. I do think you need a mixture of what you learn, but if you are able to coach a team in the winter and get experience that way – learn how to TEACH in the off-season.  If you want to come up and work some of our camps let me know.  We don’t play any games except 1 on 1 and drill almost the entire time.

4.  Sacrifice: If you want to be a manager or student assistant at a college I’d highly suggest working as many of their camps this summer as possible.  Even if it’s on a volunteer basis.  You will have to prove to them that you want to be and deserve to be a part of their program.

5.  Study the game and yourself: In the fall or spring try to go watch individual instruction at a college near you. DVR or record games to see how to attack ball screens, how a player changes his speeds, how to read screens or angles defenders take to recover on dribble penetration.
Play>Pause>Rewind>Play>Rewind>Play>Rewind!

Make a goal of reading at least 1 book per month on personal development and putting the relevant thoughts and ideas into action.  I try to read 2-3 books a month, almost all on personal development or developing our business.  You have to be a first-class learner.  There are a lot of great books out there, but here are some of my favorites:

6.  Undivided Attention to your Players: Individual Instruction – Ganon Baker, “Treat each player you work with as if they are the only player you train”.  At a camp – Forrest Larson, “Are you doing everything you possibly can do help these kids get better?”

7.  Spend Your Own Money: When in college  I was on the road all summer and worked for pennies at most camps.    I’ve spent my own money to go watch Syracuse workout, see the Knicks practice and also watch the Nike Lebron James Skills Academy.  You have to make sacrifices.  Both physically and financially.

8.  Networking Advice: My freshman year in college when I realized I wanted to coach college basketball, I was always asking other coaches what I needed to do to get a job.  The answer I always heard was,” you need to network.”  I remember sitting down at the Syracuse Men’s basketball office with Associate Head Coach Bernie Fine and he asked, “ If you were a head coach looking for assistants would you go through a stack of resumes or just get in touch with people you already know.”  To me, the answer was obvious.  I’m going to just start talking to people I already know and know what they are good at to start building my staff.

Even after everyone told me I needed to keep in touch with everyone I met, I didn’t really know how.  I always felt I would be bothering them or they would know I was calling or emailing for the sake of staying in touch.  Last summer at the Lebron James Skills Academy there was a coaches chalk talk and ESPN analyst and former DI coach, Fran Fraschilla, brought up probably the best technique for networking I have heard.  Maybe it’s a no brainer to everyone else, but I wish I would have heard it 10 years ago.  He suggested that we ask for advice.  Call someone up and ask them for advice in a certain area that you know they are good at. People always love to give advice and you won’t look like you are “staying in touch” just in case you need them to recommend you for something.  You can never have enough friends!

9.  Build Your Brand: Everything about you, your email, your voicemail greeting, your work ethic, how you treat your parents, coaches and teachers tells everyone else who you are as a person – what you value and what you represent.  For a more in-depth look at this read Alan Stein’s latest blog, Brand You 2.0 or pick up Dan Schwabel’s book, Me 2.0.  It might be some of the most important advice you ever read.

After quite a bit of thought these are the 9 things I came up with that I think have helped me get where I am.  Like I said before, I know I have not arrived – and if I feel that way it will be time for me to do something else, but hopefully you can take something from this post.   No matter what level you are coaching at.  Some of it only applies to basketball, but you can use your imagination and you’ll see how most of these things are needed to be successful in anything that you do.

As always, if I can do anything for you please let me know!

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.  Titles out right now include 25 Killer Scoring Moves, Secrets of Unstoppable Guard Play Vol I & II, Developing the Complete Player, Breakdown and Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting.  Since 2006 Mike Lee Basketball has trained over 5,000 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, he 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.

mike@mikeleebasketball.com

Check Out More Videos, Add me as a friend on Facebook or Get Updates on Twitter!

www.mikeleebasketball.com

http://www.youtube.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.facebook.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.twitter.com/mikeleehoops

No Guarantee, by Alan Stein

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The word on the street is Mark McGuire read the second half of my blog post from last week (“Random Thoughts”) and finally decided to admit he took steroids.  Thanks Big Red, it only took you 10 years.  And it wasn’t the slightest bit obvious (insert sarcasm). All joking aside, the year he broke the home run record, the measured circumference of his right forearm was an inch and half bigger than my neck! How in the hell could that be natural?!

OK, back on topic.

One of the toughest things to deal with as an adult is the concept that nothing in life is guaranteed.  Except for death and taxes.  And while I certainly despise paying taxes, my gut feeling is I would like death even less.

This concept of “nothing being guaranteed” is so evident in sports. Jim Valvano, the late coach of NC State and one of my favorite motivational speakers, once said something to the effect of:

“Just because you work hard doesn’t guarantee you will be successful.  But not working hard guarantees you won’t be.”

Reigning NCAA National Champion coach Roy Williams said something similar:

“Working hard doesn’t guarantee success, but without it, you have no chance.”

Have you ever spent hours upon hours studying for a test… and still gotten a poor grade? Has your team ever spent hours upon hours practicing all week… and still lost the big game?

Of course you have; it happens to the best of us. Working hard and not achieving success is a tough pill to swallow.  It is hard in basketball and it is hard in life. But it is fact.  And it is something every player and coach needs to come to terms with… because no one is immune.  And when a minor setback (or failure) occurs, you have to learn from it, move past it, and get back to working hard again!

A young lady I had been working with for over a year, and who is a very accomplished high school player, tore her ACL a few weeks ago in a holiday tournament.  She was having a phenomenal season (team was 7-2) and a stellar game (had already hit five 3’s) up to that point. Then, early in the second half on a drive to the basket, she landed awkwardly while being fouled.  BAM! Just like that, she tore her ACL and her season was over.

Her father called me to tell me the bad news and told me she was devastated. As a senior, she was being recruited by several Division I schools, but unfortunately was waiting until the spring to sign… and she was distraught with thoughts that “no one would want her now.”

Personally, I was crushed by the news.  I couldn’t sleep for two days.  I really care about all the kids I work with and I felt terrible she was going through this.  She is such an impressive young lady, both on and off the court.

Unable to sleep, all I kept thinking was, how could this have happened?  She worked so hard this pre-season.  She did everything I asked of her and did it to best of her ability. After a couple hours of staring at the ceiling, I went down to my office and reviewed my notes from our sessions. I took solace in knowing we did everything possible to try to reduce the occurrence of this happening.  We incorporated numerous exercises and drills, every single workout, to reduce the likelihood of an ACL injury. We worked on proper landing. We worked on proper cutting.  We properly strengthened every muscle and joint in her lower body.  Honestly, I wouldn’t have done anything different. So thankfully, I don’t have to live with the woulda, coulda, shoulda’s.  We worked hard all pre-season and literally did everything we could have done to prevent this. Yet unfortunately, it still occurred.

I went to one of her team’s games last week to say hello, offer my support, and to speak to her father.  We had a wonderful conversation and I promised him I would help her with every step of her recovery. I also told him I was confident she would still play college basketball. The road will be tough, and it is (obviously) not guaranteed, but my advice to her was to stay positive, get ready to get back to work… and things will work out for the best.

Now, I am a strength & conditioning coach… not a psychologist by any means.  But I really believe after her short grieving period is over, she will need to re-focus and get back to working as hard as possible. I understand she is entitled to a period of time of feeling disappointed and depressed… but what’s done is done.  She tore her ACL; it’s a fact. Nothing can be done to undo that now.  Just like an errant pass or a missed shot, it is time to move on to the next play!

The most influential factor in her future success on the court will be how she responds to this setback.  This will be a real test of her character. I have full confidence she will come back better than ever because she has a tremendous attitude, relentless work ethic, and the mindset of a champion.

I am proud and thankful to claim an exemplary record over the past 10 years, with a particularly high rate of success for both injury prevention and performance enhancement.  And even though I can say, with full confidence, we did everything “right” in regards to her pre-season preparation… an injury still occurred.  We worked hard… and as we learned… success was not guaranteed (at least success in this particular instance). Fortunately, this is not the final chapter in her playing career.

It is imperative you understand you can’t second guess the importance of working hard and of doing what is right just because things don’t turn out the way you want. You still need to make the conscious choice to consistently work hard in every aspect of your life (especially in your training).  While the possibility of not achieving success is always looming, it is nothing to be feared, and certainly nothing to give in too.  If you make a daily commitment to excellence… you will absolutely “win” more than you “lose.” And I am not talking about the scoreboard.

If you read my recent blog post, “What We Do”, you can see the lengths the Montrose Christian basketball program goes to in order to be successful.  And yet we still (occasionally) lose games.  Do you think losing a game causes us to second guess “What We Do?”  No way!  And when you have a setback it shouldn’t cause you to second guess yourself either.

If you have any questions about ACL injury prevention (or recovery), or if I can ever be of service to you or your team, please don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

If you haven’t done so, please check out (and subscribe) to www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom.  I just posted two videos of the Montrose Basketball Pre-Game Warm-up (one before we take the court and one on-court).  Next week, I will post clips from a recent in-season strength training workout.

Also, for those of you who follow me at www.Twitter.com/AlanStein, or are my “friend” at www.Facebook.com/AlanSteinJr, I will be holding weekly trivia questions for folks to win some HOT prizes – like Nike and Jordan gear!  All of the questions will come from my blog archive… so make sure you read past posts and study up.

Play hard. Have fun.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

Marquette Speech, Part II: Be A First Class Learner, by Mike Lee

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

For me, learning inspires and motivates me.  I try to read a couple books a month on personal and professional development.  A great way to bypass a lot of potential mistakes is to “seek wisdom of those who came before you”.

In 2006 I was at the Coach K Leadership Conference at Duke University and was talking with a guy twice my age that owned an investment firm.  I said, a lot of the things these people are talking about I have already read or know.  He said, I think a lot of us are in the same boat, but the difficulty is actually implementing and practicing them.  Always be willing to learn and absorb new information, but stick to your core philosophy.

There is a rumor that Kobe refers to his workout regimen as the “Devil Workout” because he does it 6 hours a day, 6 days a week and 6 months out of the year.  Have the confidence to know that you deserve success, but the understanding and humbleness that you have not yet arrived.

Book Review: Training Camp, by Mike Lee

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

I just finished up reading Training Camp, by Jon Gordon last night and recommend it for anyone looking for a good read.  The story follows an undrafted rookie, Martin, through NFL training camp where he gets injured and develops a relationship with the athletic trainer and assistant coach, Ken.  When injured Coach Ken takes Martin under his wing and shares with him his playbook.  The playbook however does not focus on their offensive plays, rather it is a playbook for life, focusing on what the “best do better than everyone else”.  The playbook features 11 characteristics that successful people implement throughout their lives.

Gordon does a great job of making this an easy read using third person point of view.  I read it in 2 days, but could be broken up into several short chapters to assign your team to read during the season or possibly read to them before practice.  As a player the biggest thing I overlooked was the mental aspects of the game and have really made an effort to get the players I workout to understand them.  I highly recommend this book, as well as, The Energy Bus, by Gordon as well.

For more information on Jon Gordon please visit http://www.jongordon.com.  Thanks for all you do!

Congratulations to Paul Jesperson who was recently named Preseason DI First Team All-State by the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook.  Paul is the lone junior named to the team.

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.

mike@mikeleebasketball.com

Check Out More Videos, Add me as a friend on Facebook or Get Updates on Twitter!

www.mikeleebasketball.com

http://www.youtube.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.facebook.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.twitter.com/mikeleehoops