Don't Reward The Small Things

This past Christmas I got the book "No Limits" by Michael Phelps(with Alan Abrahamson). Finally, after 7 months, I have picked it up an begun to read it. I have already found a small passage that I really enjoyed. Here is the excerpt:

"We got home from Federal Way on a school day. My mom, who was at work, had put a large banner saying, 'Congratulations,' on the lawn and had trimmed it in red, white, and blue. Bob, who had brought me back to house, took down the entire display. When she got home, Mom was furious. Bob was unmoved. It was a matter, Bob said, of tempering expectations. Best to keep everything in perspective. Bob asked my mom, 'What are you going to do when he wins nationals? He got third. If he wins, are you going to but him a car? If he sets a world record, what, a house? You can't get excited about every step. There are so many steps. We're on, like, step 200 of 3,000. How are we going to keep going?'"

I think I really enjoyed this excerpt because that is the way that I grew up. When I was in elementary school I saw that many of my friends got an allowance. They explained to me that their parents let them have an allowance so that they could learn to manage money at a young age. I thought this to be a great concept so I decided to take this idea to my dad. His response was a simple, flat out NO. He went on to explain that he didn't think I should get paid for doing something I should be doing in the first place(like my chores). This is the same reason me and my brothers never got any money for good grades on our report cards like some kids did. He told us we were suppose to make good grades and again, shouldn't be rewarded for something we are suppose to do. I think this concept is lost in the world today. As Michael Phelps mother did, people want to give rewards for every small step. By doing this it keeps kids from really being pushed to new levels. If they receive a reward for every little thing that they do then what will be there to make them strive for the next level of success. They already got a reward for something so why press on? On the other hand when you do not reward every step you push them to new limits. They know and understand that rewards are only given for doing something truly great or for reaching a serious goal. By doing this it shows people that you already knew they were good enough to accomplish the small things. Therefore you didn't reward them for something that they should be doing or should have been able to do. A good lesson that I think needs to be spread around more in the world of athletics today. It pushed people to the next level and lets them tap into their full potential as an athlete and as a person.

Dreams vs Visions

I must admit that I did not come up with the idea for this post on my own. I saw a quote on a post on Eric Musselman's blog and I had to use it. Eric Musselman is a former NBA basketball coach and his blog is http://www.emuss.blogspot.com/. If you are aren't already looking at his blog everyday you need to start. I make it a point to at least give it a quick look once a day. He always has some great posts that I always find very insightful and intriguing. I wouldn't have even known what a blog was if not for his blog. Of the ones I've read its the best one out there. But anyway, on with the topic.

San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary had a quote recently that went like this:

"When I look around the NFL, I'm amazed by how many people have a dream and how few have a vision. The difference is that a dream ends up being passive, accommodating disappointment. A vision captures the imagination. A vision is something that consumes you like a fire, won't let you eat, won't let you sleep until that vision comes to pass."

I found this quote to be absolutely true. Too many people like to lay in bed at night and dream about how great they can be. Why not instead, make something out of your dreams. Turn them into a vision or a goal and act upon them. Anyone can dream, but it takes a different bread of people to take their dreams and turn them into something more. Something to work for. Something that drives them. It is those people who become the successful ones. They turn their dreams into visions and then make them into goals. Goals that they will stop at nothing to accomplish. A .300 hitter doesn't simply dream about being successful and then leave it at that. No, he goes to the park every day with an agenda. He knows what he needs to work on and he is never satisfied until his goal is reached. The Hall of Famers and the world record holders today are the ones that had a vision...not just a dream. We hear the term "dream big" a lot today in our society. That's a great attitude to have, but if we simply leave it at that we are doing nothing but dreaming. It should be "dream big and then act upon it." So lets turn our dreams in visions and make something out of them. Don't simply be a dreamer, but be a doer as well. There is no question that you will find yourself more successful.