Every day, we're faced with all sorts of issues, choices, and decisions that affect our lives to varying degrees. Some decisions will change our lives forever. In some cases, just a few critical decisions can make a world of difference in a person's life. Other decisions are less profound, but still have an important impact on whether we eventually achieve our large and small goals. The act of making constructive decisions and doing positive things for ourselves makes us feel good about ourselves. This good feeling, in turn, propels and catalyzes us to do more and more enhancing things for ourselves. Conversely, destructive and self-sabotaging decision-making and behavior diminish the quality of our lives and - in our Heart-of-Hearts - make us feel bad about ourselves. Therefore, it behooves you to strive to rid yourself of unhealthy decision-making strategies and to develop, modify, and keep the enhancing ones, in order to become the wisest decision-maker you can be and thereby fulfill your positive potential.
You are the result of your decisions! The state of your life and your inner happiness, in large part, are reflections of your decisions. Your decisions are your very precious opportunities - each and every one of them - to either raise the quality of your life and the lives of those around you, or to lower the quality. They are your wonderful chances - your everyday gifts - all there for the taking, to seize your "gold-ring" (forget the brass stuff!) dreams.
There is no question in my mind that what separates those individuals who achieve their goals and realize their most cherished dreams from those who don't is the process by which the achievers reach their decisions.
During my twenty years as a career counselor and choreographer, I've worked with scores of individuals who have learned to think through and deal with things constructively. Not surprisingly, a great majority of them have achieved the highest pinnacles of success. Interestingly, a number of these successful people have achieved even more than their natural talent might indicate that they could. (I am one of them.) Their constructive mind-sets and strategies enabled and empowered them to become super- or overachievers. For instance, I would argue that tennis great Chris Evert didn't possess some of the physical strength or natural athletic gifts that some of her competitors enjoyed. She didn't have anything resembling a powerful serve and she rarely came to the net to volley, yet she dominated women's tennis for years. Why? Because she was so mentally and emotionally strong and constructive. On the other hand, I know far too many people who have undermined themselves through their destructive decision-making and thought processes. As a result, time after time, they experience crushing defeats, because without constructive and effective decision-making skills and strategies, even the most brilliant talent can be wasted. Not only do these often supremely gifted individuals never come close to fulfilling their potential, and therefore fail to taste the sweet, high-self-esteem fruits of well-made decisions, but in many instances, they also destroy significant portions of their own lives and the lives of those around them.
Let's take a moment to compare the following words:
How do you want to describe yourself, your decisions, and your decision-making processes?
I'm sure that if you're reading this book, you'd probably choose the left-hand column. Yet as sure as death follows life, we all engage in some amount of diminishing, destructive, and toxic decision-making.
No one in this world is perfect. The key is to become the very best decision-maker you can. My mom once shared the following thought with me: "I'd rather strive for perfection and fall short, then strive for mediocrity and attain it." Smart person, my mom!
Let's strive to be the best we can be. Constructive decision-making can be simple. You just have to want to learn, want to grow, and want to lift the quality of your life.
Ever since I became a career counselor, I've been stunned by how often bright and talented individuals make self-destructive and self-sabotaging decisions. It's absolutely amazing, and a profoundly sad reality.
I see examples of poisonous decision-making throughout my day. Witness the fact that so many people: stay in relationships that are diminishing and emotionally and/or psychologically toxic; smoke cigarettes, even though there is clear evidence that smoking is deadly to themselves and to others in the vicinity; take recreational drugs, such as heroin, crack, cocaine, etc., when they know that they are risking their health; overeat to an unhealthy extent or to the point of obesity; consume alcohol in dangerous amounts and/or drink and drive; have unprotected sex in this era of AIDS; and, most of all, engage in activities that they, in their Heart-of-Hearts, know are destructive and dangerous to the emotional, psychological, and physical well-being of themselves and valued others.
Destructive decision-making and self-sabotage are all around us. For example, is there a more blatant illustration of self-destructive behavior than the Kobe Bryant case? Kobe seemed to have everything going for him. He is a top professional basketball player; he earns millions of dollars a year in salary and more than ten times that in product endorsements; he has a beautiful young wife and a new child; and he was one of the most respected and beloved athletes of our time. For some reason, however, he made a decision that put all this at risk, for what appears to be an hour or so of physical pleasure. To the general observer, Kobe was "crazy" to have sex with the woman, regardless of consent. But I must tell you, Kobe Bryant is no different from any of us. At times, we all make flawed and self-destructive decisions - especially when our emotions come into play. The difference between Kobe and almost everyone else is that Kobe's destructive decision-making is front and center in the public spotlight, and his humiliation, potential losses, and fall from grace have been, and will be, far more dramatic than most.
What is especially interesting about Kobe is that in some areas of his life, such as his basketball endeavors, he has learned through focused practice and well-thought-out preparation to make excellent reflexive decisions. He knows when and how to dribble the ball past defenders and drive to the basket for a dunk or a layup, when to stop and shoot a jump shot, etc. Through focused practice and preparation, he has attained almost thorough mastery and control of his mental, emotional, and physical skills on the basketball court. However, when certain personal emotions, emotional weaknesses, needs, and/or temptations were involved or triggered - which he had not taken the requisite time to prepare to deal with constructively - Kobe, like all of us at one time or another, seemingly reacted thoughtlessly and reflexively by making a devastatingly destructive and self-sabotaging decision. Part of the problem is that when we're faced with important decisions, we often have little or no time to think things through objectively, in order to reach the most constructive short- and long-term decisions.
It has been my experience that the primary key to self-enhancing decision-making is to be mentally, emotionally, and psychologically prepared when decisions are required. This is especially true when the situation is triggered by particular emotions, needs, or cravings. Very often, we make bad decisions because we do not prepare ourselves, in advance, to deal with the possible, or probable, opportunities, issues, temptations, etc., that are likely to come our way.
Crunch Time provides you with the thought processes, the skills, and the Crunch Time Steps and Strategies that will prepare and empower you to make great personal and professional decisions. Equipped with this material, you can change and lift the quality of your life in the most wonderful and self-enhancing way, by making decisions that will enable you to fulfill your positive potential, achieve your dreams, and allow you to feel good - and often great - about yourself. These positive feelings, in turn, will motivate and fuel you to make more and more self-enhancing decisions. Why? Because you'll feel that you're worth it. And you most certainly are.
Just start making some self-enhancing decisions, and see how good you feel about yourself and your ability and power to constructively change and improve the quality of your life.
Before We Begin
At the beginning of our journey together, it's important to recognize and remember that should some of the ensuing material seem familiar or repetitious, don't fret. Many of us have at some time in our lives been to places where for some reason, we've not seen all there was to see or learned all there was to learn. Then again, sometimes seeing familiar things, situations, or individuals from another vantage point, in another context, or at a later time, can often be quite different and illuminating. Actually, it might not be until perhaps the second or third time around that we are truly ready and able to more fully appreciate someone or something for their previously overlooked real qualities and virtues. Therefore, throughout our trip together, we will utilize some familiar material as a reminder - in essence a refresher course - to help you get on, or back on, the right decision-making track.
Throughout my career, I have been exposed to many formulas for personal change and growth that rely upon the Band-Aid approach of simply changing our attitudes and our facades. In today's world of quick fixes and superficial solutions, these theories can appear very attractive. And they may work - when things are going well. But when crises hit, deep conflicts occur, and tough choices need to be made, these matchstick foundations often fall apart, our positive facades fade or crumble, and we tend to revert back to our old, reflexive, ineffective decision-making processes and strategies for dealing with problems. All of our resolve and resolutions go - as Paul Simon sang - "slip sliding away." The reason is: Formulas that change only facades basically focus upon changing the symptoms of our problems; they don't deal with and eradicate or alleviate their causes. We can't cure cancer with a spray of Bactine and a nice bandage. Deeper explorations and more intricate procedures and remedies are required.
Additionally, there are many self-help theories that deal exclusively and/or primarily with cerebral/cognitive solutions to behavioral problems. Therefore, they don't sufficiently deal with the all-important emotional aspects of the decision-making equation. As a result, these theories often fall short, because, as we all know, our emotions often override our better judgment. Crunch Time focuses on both the cerebral and the emotional components of decision-making and behavior. The material presented herein acknowledges the awesome influence that our emotions can have on our decision-making. However, through various anticipatory, preparatory, and destructive-emotion nullifying steps, the powerful force of negative emotions that often lead us to reach self-destructive decisions can be counteracted or vitiated.
If we are to lead healthier, more constructively productive lives, and make them great; if we are to come close to fulfilling our true potential; and if we are to achieve our most cherished and precious goals, we must go to the heart of our problems, and understand them and deal with them. We must reevaluate and rebuild our decision-making foundations and processes, and solidly reinforce them with the "internal goods" that will actually allow us to attain our goals and fulfill our dreams, and continue to enjoy them over time.
The means by which we can take constructive ownership of our lives lies in how we reach our decisions.
Daniel Goleman, in his popular book Emotional Intelligence, writes that individuals with a high intelligence quotient (IQ), aren't always the most successful navigators of real-life situations, because some of them seemingly lack the emotional intelligence of other more emotionally developed and streetwise individuals. Crunch Time takes Mr. Goleman's book a step or two further, explaining and illustrating how you can become more emotionally intelligent (and, as a result, more self-fulfilled), by learning to make wiser, more constructive, and more self-enhancing decisions. In essence, the material in this book will equip you with the decision-making skills and Strategies that will help you to fulfill your great potential. The explanation is simple: If you can make constructive and self-enhancing decisions time after time, you put yourself in the best position to achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams.
Crunch Time is divided into three sections. The first identifies and discusses decision-making terms and concepts. These are the essential mental, psychological, and emotional building blocks that form the foundation for making constructive and self-enhancing decisions.
Section two is an in-depth study of "The Eight Crunch Time Steps" for making constructive decisions. This section also presents the "Crunch Time Decision-Making Strategies" (hereafter referred to as either "Crunch Time Strategies" or "Strategies"), as well as Strategy bullet-points called "Strata-Gems." These Strategies and Strata-Gems have, with great consistency and efficacy, led me and my clients to make enhancing and success-evoking decisions.
Throughout Crunch Time, there are stories involving my clients to help you more fully visualize and absorb the points presented in each chapter.
Ready to begin feeling great about yourself and your decisions?
The Concept of Crunch Time
One of the great benefits that I derived from being an athlete and studying different sports is that I learned to identify Crunch Time, and thereafter developed the ability to, in many instances, respond constructively when a Crunch Time challenge is presented to me. The other day, the news manager of a television station called me about my client, Terry. He said that he would be giving Terry a plum assignment that afternoon that would showcase Terry's broadcasting strengths. This manager told me that Terry was one of three people who were being considered for a coveted national position, and that if my client was on his game and really showed his stuff, he would likely get the position. The manager finished our conversation by saying, "Kenny, I can't be any clearer than this: If Terry gets it right, his career is changed for the better from here on out. It's up to him. Starting this afternoon, it's Crunch Time!"
The last few minutes of a close game are sometimes referred to as Crunch Time - a critical point during a sports contest in which the outcome of the game can go either way. Crunch Times are those pivotal points and defining moments when individuals are faced with significant choices. They are our opportunities to either make wise decisions and enhance ourselves and others, or to make poor and diminishing decisions, which often result in our being destructive to ourselves and to others.
As someone who counsels individuals every day regarding their making the most positive and healthy career and life decisions possible, I have found the concept of Crunch Time to be a particularly useful, effective, and visual one.
I believe that not enough attention is paid to the fact that each of us faces Crunch Times - or moments of decision - many times each day throughout our lives. For example, we often must decide whether or not we will eat or drink something that will cause us to gain weight or affect us negatively in some other way; whether or not we will light up a cigarette or cigar; whether or not we will remain in a personal or professional relationship that we know isn't healthy for us, etc.
Crunch Times are those instances when individuals who are committed to excellence (star performers) often step up to positively and effectively meet the challenges before them. They combine presence of mind with knowledge, understanding, and educated and prepared instinct to correctly analyze the situation of the moment. These individuals then adapt their performances to make the maximum use of their analyses (by making the right and/or best choices), thereby raising the level of their games to attain a successful outcome. They turn great potential into positive reality.
This ability isn't acquired overnight. It requires focused thought, analysis, preparation, and practice, along with great desire, enthusiasm, and tenacious persistence to achieve the sought-after goals. A proactive approach and appropriate discipline are also critical components of optimal performance at Crunch Time. One Crunch Time quality that makes all of the others viable and effective is an accurate understanding of the situation at hand and of the elements and individuals involved. True understanding of the pivotal elements that comprise a constructive decision is the foundation upon which all Crunch Time qualities are based.
"Behaviorism" - A Quick Look Back
It was during my first college psychology class that I was introduced to the works of Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner, and other behavioral theorists. Do you remember the dog in Pavlov's stimulus/response experiment? During the initial stage of that experiment, a bell would sound and a dog would immediately be fed some meat. With the repetition of this ringing and feeding scenario, as soon as the dog heard the bell, it would salivate, expecting that it would be fed. With further repetition, the dog began to reflexively salivate upon hearing the bell - even without the meat being present, which had been the initial stimulus for the salivation. In essence, when presented with a familiar situation - hearing the bell - Pavlov's pooch reflexively and non-discerningly reacted with a behavioral pattern of response - and strategy - that it perceived had worked in the past. Other scientists took Pavlov's findings further, by theorizing that individuals seek out pleasurable experiences and avoid painful ones. Based upon those premises, they asserted that individuals' actions can be conditioned and reinforced, based upon the introduction of positive and negative stimuli.
While maximizing the importance of positive and negative reinforcement and their impact upon molding behavior, these theorists often minimized some of the most valuable qualities of a human being: The abilities to consciously think, analyze, reason, reflect, prepare, and choose to make value-based decisions.
Popular authors such as M. Scott Peck and Stephen Covey have pointed out that there can and should be a step between the introduction of a stimulus or event and a person's response to it. Dr. Peck writes that this period separating stimulus from response is a time to "bracket," or hold in abeyance, our old responses and/or behavioral patterns, and to decide whether the situation at hand calls for a new behavioral pattern, a modification of the old one, or the usual response.
It is the intervening step - or period of time - between when a stimulus or situation is presented to us and when we choose to act (constructively or destructively) that we will refer to as Crunch Time.
Crunch Times are those precious moments when we can act (as opposed to reflexively react), and consciously decide to raise the quality of our personal and professional lives, or we can compulsively react, often non-discerningly reenacting our old, inappropriate behavioral strategies, and thus diminish the quality of our lives in one way or another. It's your goal on our journey together and throughout the rest of your life to become the best Crunch Time performer and decision-maker you can be.
The "Crunch Time Continuum"
In your quest to understand and master decision-making, it is important that you picture in your mind's eye the three times when you most often make your decisions. These times are reflected in The Crunch Time Continuum.
Throughout the rest of this book, we will examine decisions and the times at which we make them. Let's define them:
· Crunch Time Decisions: These occur when a situation is presented to you, and within a short period thereafter, you must decide what to do. Some examples are:
A. The Situation: You are offered a piece of birthday cake at a party.
The Issue: Do you eat it?
B. The Situation: Someone says something to you that you interpret as being critical of you.
The Issue: How do you respond to the criticism?
C. The Situation: You find that your fourteen-year-old son/daughter has been hiding something from you that greatly disturbs you (he/she has been smoking, skipping class, etc.).
The Issue: What do you do about it?
· Pre-Crunch Time Decisions: These decisions are made minutes, hours, days, or months before you are presented with the actual stimulus or situation that will trigger your decision. These decisions are reached in anticipation of choices that will or may have to be made at a later time. Some examples of Pre-Crunch Time Decisions are:
A. When you're offered a piece of birthday cake tonight at the party, no matter how tempted you are, you decide that you won't eat it.
B. When Sheila/Sam brings up the same complaint that you're not attentive enough to her/him anymore, you're going to tell her/him how you truly feel about her/his demands on your time.
C. From now on, when your mom/dad/boss/client drives you crazy or pushes one of your buttons, you're not going to react in anger. Instead, you decide that you're going to calmly and coolly step away from the situation, think about it, and choose an appropriate response. It's your New Year's resolution.
· Post-Crunch Time Decisions: These decisions are made moments, hours, days, or months after you have made your original decision. They are decisions that reflect whether you want to (a) continue the behavior that resulted from your prior decision, (b) do the opposite of it, or (c) modify it. Some examples are:
A. Prior to Thanksgiving, you decided that you would stick to your new diet throughout the holiday season; and indeed, you did it. As a result, you look and feel great! You assess the situation and decide that you're going to continue to practice discipline and intelligent judgment from now on when it comes to eating.
In this instance, you choose to stay the course.
B. You decided to give it all up and move to Los Angeles to become an actress/actor. After months of trying to find a reputable agent to represent you, you settled for anyone who will send you out on auditions. During the next six months, you went on three cattle-call auditions and didn't get call-backs for any of them. You feel empty, disoriented, and demoralized by show business and a city that seems to lack roots, a soul, and humanity. You assess your prior decision, and conclude that this lifestyle is unhealthy. You decide: "I've done it. I've had it. I'm going back to my friends, my family, and my advertising job in Chicago."
In this case, you choose to change the course of your original decision and your behavior.
C. For the past fifteen years, you've worked six days a week and about sixteen hours a day. You assess this decision and conclude that there must be more to life than just working. You're now a partner in your firm and you're more than comfortable financially, but you're not happy - enough. You decide to adjust your behavior by: working five days a week - and sometimes four; taking all of your vacation time; leaving work at reasonable hours; and making your leisure time and your enjoyment of life higher priorities.
In this instance, you decide to modify your old decision. As we continue our journey, it's important to keep The Crunch Time Continuum and the timing of your decisions in mind.
The Concept of Mastery
An essential element of your emotional health and the fulfillment of your goals and dreams is your development of the mind-set and skill of mastery. That is, the attempted performance of an act, followed by its successful completion. The mastering of an act may require you to perform some or all of the following functions:
1) Identifying a goal that you want to attain;
2) Thinking about the goal and a preferred means of attaining it;
3) Devising a plan of action;
4) Visualizing the overall sequence of events involved in goal attainment;
5) Preparing to effectuate the plan;
6) Effectuating the plan of action;
7) Satisfactorily completing the plan and attaining the goal;
8) Acknowledging and cognitively celebrating the successful completion of the plan of action and goal attainment.
Exploring Mastery
There are few goals that appear unattainable to someone who has had positive mastery experiences. For example, golf phenomenon Tiger Woods made history by winning his third U.S. Junior Amateur golf title. As he reflected upon his victorious final round, which began with him trailing his opponent by five strokes, he was quoted as saying: "I knew what I had to do. I'd done it [come back and won after trailing by many strokes] before."
Conversely, through my experiences, I have found that you never truly know that you can do something until you've actually done it. For instance, I had a friend, years ago, whose parents were extremely wealthy. They gave him everything, and everything was done for him. Nothing was done by him. We were both eighteen at the time, when I noticed that he had no core confidence, as he never truly knew what he could accomplish. He could guess. He could hope. But in his Heart-of-Hearts, he didn't know. He began to stutter. He didn't get along with other kids. He had an inner anger.
My friend was monetarily wealthy - yet he was one of the most deprived and impoverished individuals I had ever met. His parents crippled him by not allowing him to take steps on his own, to occasionally stumble and fall, and to eventually accomplish the goals of walking and running by himself. To this day, he is foundering. He has no core confidence in his ability to meet a challenge. This is because he has never developed the skill of mastering his decisions or his actions.
A similar story was recently told to me. A forty-five-year-old woman had been born into a very wealthy family. She never held a job in her life. Her daughter confided that for years her mother had longed to have some kind of job, just so that she could know and feel that she could actually accomplish something. Then, about three years ago, a restaurateur was visiting the mother's house, and like many others before him, he noted how beautifully she had decorated it. At the end of the afternoon, he inquired as to whether her mother would be interested (for a fee, of course) in decorating his restaurant for its grand opening. She replied that she would be thrilled to do it. They agreed that work would begin three days later.
During the intervening days, the woman, at different times, appeared scared, distraught, and distant. She showed no signs of excitement or anticipation about beginning her first real job.
Ultimately, the woman never showed up to work on the restaurant and never returned any of the restaurateur's calls. According to her daughter, her mother was so deathly afraid to fail that she never attempted to do the job. And to this day, the woman has never worked. She just goes flitting and partying through life.
You may have heard the proverb: "Give me a fish, and I can eat for a day. Teach me to fish, and I can eat for a lifetime." My spin on this proverb is: "If you do tasks for me, or if I passively let fate decide what will happen to me, I will just rely on others and/or other forces to determine my life. But if I learn to proactively master and take control of my decisions and my acts, and I consistently do these things, I become self-reliant. I put myself in the best position to positively determine my own fate. I thus take ownership of my life."
Time and time again, I have seen individuals accomplish their goals and rise above their backgrounds and the pack, because in their Heart-of-Hearts they believe, "If I have any talent in an area, I have the cerebral and emotional mastery strategies to accomplish my goals. Since I've done it before, I know I can do it again."
When individuals know and feel that they have the capability to identify a desired goal, to visualize, implement, and complete a plan of action, and to ultimately attain that goal, the feeling of empowerment is huge. The positive self-esteem that is generated is clearly earned and thus valid. This inner knowledge and feeling are basic and enduring major elements of a rock-solid foundation of great decision-making and high self-esteem.
Years ago, a story was told to me about a reporter who was assigned by his TV station to cover a serious accident. The story allegedly unfolded this way:
Upon arriving at the scene of the accident, the reporter quickly and without great care scanned the area. He then went on to do some other things - such as watch a baseball playoff game on TV - until it was time to deliver his report. As the reporter began his presentation, he did his trademark "walk and talk" routine, walking around the accident scene and directing the camera to various points of interest while he flawlessly delivered the facts that he had memorized earlier.
When the reporter finished, the studio anchor advised both the reporter and the viewers that an unexpected development had just occurred. The anchor shared the development with the reporter and the viewers, and then asked the reporter to "analyze how the information might affect the situation." Upon hearing the question, the reporter immediately panicked. His brain apparently locked, and he couldn't speak for what seemed like an excruciatingly endless amount of time. As the reporter had only surveyed the surface facts about the story, he didn't understand its essentials, and therefore, he had no clue as to how to intelligently respond to the ever-changing situation. A moment or so later, the anchor nervously asked the question again. The reporter continued to stand there, speechless, staring blankly into the camera. Finally, the reporter began to speak. However, to everyone's embarrassment, he began to simply regurgitate the memorized facts, word for word, that he had given moments earlier - while never attempting to answer the anchor's question. As he did this, a near-hysterical producer implored the anchor to segue, as soon as possible, out of the report and back to the studio.
The reporter was fired soon thereafter.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are reporters who pride themselves on attaining a thorough understanding of their material. They can deliver their stories during torrential downpours, amidst gunfire, in the face of gale-force winds, and with curve after unexpected curve being thrown at them. And through it all, they don't lose their presence of mind or their ability to creatively and effectively deal with and thrive when major changes or delicate nuances are presented. By familiarizing themselves with and understanding the elements of their story, they can see everything in the insightful context of the "Big Picture." These individuals are said to have taken ownership of their work. They've mastered the material and made it their own.
Having been in the representation business for twenty years and a Student of Life for even longer, I see examples of both ends of the spectrum every day. Some individuals take responsibility for, and master their actions and decisions in a healthy and proactive manner. Others, passively and/or destructively, do not.
We are all performers in life in that day in and day out we perform hundreds of functions. The reporter who froze was a performer who didn't understand the why and the how of the story that he was reporting on. He only knew the superficial facts, and he didn't care enough to have a deeper understanding of the situation. Therefore, during a crisis period, when others with a more thorough knowledge and understanding might well have insightfully and adeptly processed and then appropriately responded to the anchor's question, this reporter was unprepared. He froze. He didn't know what to do or say, and he eventually ran for cover to his old (behavioral) script - literally!
In life, many of us act as this reporter did, by taking the path of least resistance. We perform the familiar scripts of our lives, without any thoughtful preparation, exploration, evaluation, understanding, or ownership. And in crises, we reflexively revert back to, run under the seemingly protective umbrella of, and act out our old behavioral patterns and strategies, even if they are crippling and diminishing and are truly hurting us and preventing our constructive growth.
The day that my life changed immeasurably for the better was the day that I began to take ownership of my decisions and my actions. This ownership required, first and foremost, that I seek to attain a truer and more comprehensive view and understanding of myself and of my behavior, as well as a fuller understanding of others and of the events around me.
Similarly, if you are to make constructive and enhancing decisions that will lead to the attainment of your most cherished goals and your truest inner happiness, you, too, must begin to take ownership of your decisions, of your actions, and of your life.
Strategy and its Execution
As soon as I took up paddle tennis, I learned how important it is to have various effective strategies available to me. A strategy to make time to practice and play. A strategy to keep improving. A strategy for playing a particular opponent. A strategy to get better players to want to include me in their games. A strategy as to how to lose weight, become more agile, gain speed, etc.
Athletics have taught me to anticipate and to make plans, in advance, that will help me effectively pursue and attain my goals. When strategies worked for me, I learned to integrate them into my decision-making and behavioral repertoires. When they didn't work, I learned to modify or discard them. As I became more mature, I learned that some strategies work in some circumstances but not in others, which means their effectiveness is context-related. As I continued to grow, I discovered that you can transfer a strategy from one facet of your life and apply it to another. For example, I used all of my Strategies regarding discipline, delayed gratification, mastering each step, Big-Picture thinking, etc., that I had successfully employed in my athletic endeavors, to doing my college course-work, starting my businesses, and writing my books.
Athletics have taught me that you must have short-term strategies and long-term strategies, and that you must keep creating, acquiring and adjusting your strategies with each new experience.
Being constructively strategy-minded has enabled me and many of my clients to achieve our most cherished dreams.
However, it is crucial to keep in mind that you can be the best strategist, but if you can't effectively execute and implement your strategies at the appropriate time, or in the appropriate place, it can all be for nothing.
The key is to be both a constructive and wise strategist, and to prepare thoroughly, so that you will have the ability to correctly and effectively execute your strategies at Crunch Time.
The Concept of Carpe Diem!
Carpe Diem (car-pay dee-um) is Latin for "seize the day" - that is, to make the very most of the moment at hand. The concept of carpe diem is infused with positive and constructive spirit and emotion. Throughout our journey, carpe diem will represent your great potential for proactively taking constructive and enhancing ownership of your decisions and your life. The high value we place on this passionate spirit and your precious potential is the foundation upon which every step of our journey is based.
All right! We've just laid the basis of our decision-making foundation. On to the fun stuff ....
