Success and Failure: Both used as tools for teaching

Saw another post on Coach Starkey's blog that I really enjoyed. It is from Chris Widener at Success.com. It is about both Failure and Success. I have also added some quotes at the end of this post.

Most people think that failure is bad and success is good. I want to help you change your thinking about that if you fall into that category. I will give you that failure isn’t fun and success is, but I think the following is true:

Both failure and success are good... if you know what their specific purposes are.Of course we know that success is good, but why? Success is good because it confirms things for us.

Success confirms our plans.

Success confirms our decisions.
Success confirms our resources.
Success confirms our strategies.
Success confirms our hunches.
Success confirms our teamwork.
Success confirms our risks.
Success confirms a lot of things!

So when you are successful, ask yourself the following question: What does this success confirm in my mind?

Now, what about failure? What is the role of failure and how in the world can it be GOOD?

Failure’s role is to teach us. We learn from failure.

Failure teaches us that we need to change our plans.
Failure teaches us that we need to change our decisions.
Failure teaches us that we need to change our resources.
Failure teaches us that we need to change our strategies.
Failure teaches us that we need to change our hunches.
Failure teaches us that we need to change our teamwork.
Failure teaches us that we need to change our risks.
Failure teaches us that we need to change a lot of things!

But at least now we know one more thing that won’t work! With every failure, we learn one more way we can abandon and focus in on what may be the correct way in the future! When we look at it that way, we set ourselves up for a powerfully successful future! So when you fail, ask yourself this question: What does this failure teach me? Remember, Success and Failure are both good. They can both be your friend... if you know what role they are to play in your life.

Learn From Failure and Confirm with Success.

"The biggest mistake and athlete can make is to be afraid of making one." -L. Ron Hubbard (author)

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part; the important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle." -Baron Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the modern Olympic movement)

"Experience is the name we give our mistakes." -Fred Shero (Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers)

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it." -Lou Holtz

Best receiver you haven't heard of: Houston's Andre Johnson

Great Article in today's "USA Today" about Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson. Written by Gary Mihoces

HOUSTON — Andre Johnson, who had more catches for more yards than anybody in the NFL last season, shuns sideshows and showboating. That is something 10-year-old Brant Walker admires about his football hero.

"I haven't ever seen him jump into the stands or do anything like that. He just gives the ball to the ref," says the youngster, who got to meet Johnson recently at the Houston Texans' camp after making the 635-mile drive here from Plainview, Texas, with his mom.

Johnson also is not inclined to engage in verbal sparring on the field or in the media.

"I've been here going on seven years now. You've never seen me talking any trash. That's not part of my game," he says.

But surely, as a star wide receiver in the NFL, he must do some give-me-the-ball lobbying?

"He doesn't have to say it because that's who we're looking for anyway," says Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.

"I'm always in tune with where he is and who is covering him and what defenses are doing. We're always trying to get him the ball."

Houston selected the 6-3, 228-pound Johnson No. 3 overall in the 2003 draft out of the University of Miami, where he also was a Big East sprint champion in track.

He had 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2004 and 2006. In 2007, he missed seven games with a knee injury and slipped to 851 yards.

Last season, it all came together with 115 receptions for 1,575 yards and eight touchdowns. Of his receptions, 79 produced first downs, also No. 1 in the league.

The message he draws from last season is to stay grounded.

"Just as you can be one of the top guys in the league, you could easily be one of the bottom guys. So I don't take that for granted," he says.

"I want people to keep saying that Andre Johnson goes out and plays the game right. And he plays as one of the top guys in the league. I'm going to continue to carry myself that way on the field and work hard as I can every time I come out here and not take it for granted because you never know."

Johnson's goal this season is to help the young Houston franchise to its first playoff berth after consecutive 8-8 seasons.

"He's been the constant, and he has stayed the course," says Texans coach Gary Kubiak. "A lot of guys could get frustrated, but he's committed to this team and this organization taking the next step. … He's as good a worker as I've ever been around, and I've been around some good ones, Jerry Rice, Rod Smith, those guys. And believe me this guy is as good a worker as I've ever seen."

While Johnson worked last week in camp, his 10-year-old fan got to watch his every move from the sideline.

Before coming here, Walker had written a letter to Kubiak and Texans' president Jamey Rootes detailing his admiration for Johnson and saying he would be visiting camp.

When Walker and his mother, Linda Gail Walker, arrived to sit in the stands, they were contacted by phone by a member of Rootes' staff and given passes to watch from the field.

Johnson was told about their visit. He spent time with the youngster on the field.

"I've got your letter. I'll stay in touch," Johnson told Walker after they posed for photos.

Johnson says the experience was a reminder to him that young fans watch how he conducts himself.

"It definitely keeps me on my Ps & Qs," says Johnson. " … I can appreciate him following me and looking up to me as his role model."

Coach Brown's Keys Thoughts For Success

I recently read a post from coach Greg Brown (the woman's basketball coach at the University of Central Florida) and saw something that I really liked. From what I can tell he wrote it himself, but I could be wrong. The post is entitled "Key Thoughts For Success."

1. There is no happiness when what you believe is not what you are. It's impossible for people to heed your advice and ignore your example.
2. You have to study the game. When two coaches are together and one is talking and one is listening, you know the one listening is the better coach.
3. Each week evaluate your players in manners, courage and language.
4. Do you have servant goals or selfish ones?
5. Build your own army wherever you are. You can't do this by taking from people, you must give. Daily acts of kindness build an army.
6. You are the sum total of your experiences.
7. Don't make decisions because they are convenient, inexpensive or popular. Make them because they are right.
8. Have the mentality of, "Count on me."
9. It's better to be content with a little rather than discontent with a lot.
10. Take nothing for granted.

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

Great post on Coach Bob Starkey's blog entitled: Perservering: Falling Hard, Bouncing High. An excert from “Think Like A Champion,” by Mike Shanahan.

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." -General George Patton

Success