Copyright � 2006 Kent Jacobson a.k.a. Mr. Success
Shortcut 2 Success
http://www.Shortcut2Success.com
Everyone in some form or fashion is exposed to sports on a very
regular basis either through participation, watching an event on
television, reading an article about a team or athlete. Even if
you are not an avid sports fan, you will inevitably come across a
sports related situation on a daily basis. Due to the popularity
of sports and increased media exposure, I think sports are a
great teaching tool for all of us; young and old, if put in
proper perspective. Proper perspective from my standpoint is
categorized in three general groups.
* Win humbly and lose graciously: Easy to put into words, very
difficult to implement especially when you are on the losing end
of a sporting event. Look at the NBA Finals and how Dallas
reacted after game 5; these are professional people that let
losing take each of them in some way out of character for a
moment. Ok, so what is the lesson here? Look introspectively at
yourself and children, talk about the reaction of the team,
owner, management, fans and with how you might have felt in a
similar situation. Point out the power of emotion, both positive
and negative; discuss the need to let emotions out but, in a
controllable manner. Review the way almost every person stood up
and was accountable for their reaction *PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY*,
understand what drove them to that level and frustration and yet
got past it. The great thing about most sporting events is at
the end of the game, there are only two possible outcomes; a
winner and loser. How you mange the outcome and perspective can
go a long way in building personal character and teaching our
children correct values.
* Teamwork: For a team to be successful, all of the members must
work together and accept different roles and responsibilities.
Not everyone can be a quarterback, someone has to block. When you
participate in a team sport, you recognize the different talents
and personalities very quickly. Pretty soon the dynamics of a
team focuses people to different roles, sometimes reluctantly.
When a person is exposed to the team environment for the first,
their behavior is interesting to observe. This is simply due to
the fact they have a predetermined role defined in their mind
prior to going into the team situation. What tells a lot about
the team dynamics is how people adjust to the personalities,
values, leader and attempt to focus on what the collective
efforts are trying to achieve. There are books on the dynamics
if teams and their effectiveness, if you want more team
information the resources are endless. I just wanted to briefly
point out, participation on a team is an important part of
personal development, learning to cooperate, and teaching the
favorite clich�; there is no *I* in the word team.
* Can a sports person be a Role Model? Not as a stand alone
Role Model. Why, the reason is simply because on a daily basis we
do not observe all of the aspects of that persons daily life, we
see only the person in one aspect, a sporting event. The Role
Model you choose, in my opinion needs to be someone that can be
observed frequently, approachable to the point of engaging in
conversations, observed in different social and professional
situations and consistent in the application of their values.
This may sound a little strange, but I developed a morphed Role
Model with multiple traits of people close to me. I took from my
parent's patience and teaching skill, my grandparent's
unconditional expressive love, the power of family and faith from
all my relatives. Can a sports person be the example for a
specific achievement or trait that forms part of a person's
character, you bet. Pick a sport, choose your Role Model and try
to play the game that way. An example of this would be John
Elway, why because he a great example of perseverance and a never
give up attitude. Have open conversations about Role Models with
your family and friends, the conversations can get very
entertaining.
In many ways, sports participation and involvement opens up
learning experiences for the body as well as the mind at a young
age. As we get older, a sport gives us opportunity to relive
moments of successes and failures that we can share with our
friends and family. **Go out and enjoy a sporting event soon, be
careful you are not as young as you were last time you played
football with your children and the grandchildren**
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Kent Jacobson, a.k.a. "Mr. Success" is a trusted authority in the
success field and provides valuable success information for free
through his website at: http://www.Shortcut2Success.com . You can
also read Kent's Success Blog to find more success secrets at:
http://www.Shortcut2Success.com/blog
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