Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee pitched an amazing game 1 in the 2009 World Series. After the game, a reporter caught him for an interview. The interviewer asked Cliff if he was nervous at all out there. Cliff had a brilliant answer. The next day, a local reporter followed up asking the same question. Here is the exchange.

Q. You talked about how you've done all the work so there's no need to be nervous. But really not nervous at all going into Game 1, World Series, Yankee Stadium?

CLIFF LEE: Not nervous at all. It's been a long time since I've been nervous playing this game. It's what I've been doing my whole life. Like I said, I put all the work in. You do everything you need to do to prepare, and I try not to leave anything to chance. So what's the point in being nervous? I've already done the work. It's game time; time to go out there and have fun and execute and let your skills take over. [LINK TO ARTICLE]

Awesome.

Have you put in all the work so that you can go out there and have fun?

One Idea is all it Takes

From a Catalyst PodCast #71 with Andy Andrews:

"When people or organizations hit a wall, there are usually three things they blame: A lack of money, a lack of time, or a lack of leadership. The truth is, the only thing they are really lacking is an idea. It only takes one big idea to change the game and change the world." -Andy Andrews.

I work in an industry that has been shrinking for almost a year. Technological developments and a slow economy have shaken the auto industry to its foundation to the point where we almost lost 2/3 of The United State's players.

From the inside, it seems that everyone is tweaking the little things and trying to get more money for the same tired advertisements and promotions. 'New' leadership brought in to 'shake things up.'

I believe it will all fall short. What the industry needs is a new 'big idea'. CARMAX had a new 'big idea' and proceeded to crush the competition in every market they moved into.

If you want to make an impact in your lagging industry, try rethinking your processes from the ground up. It's not money, time or leadership you're missing: It's the big idea.

Great = Hard

From the Catalyst PodCast with Andy Andrews.

"If you're going to do something great it's going to be hard. If it wasn't hard, it would be easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it. And if everyone did it, then it wouldn't be very great, would it?"

Excellence

A questions was posed: "How do you define excellence?"

My Answer: To perform or exist without perceived flaws or defects.

Happy?

Victim

Someone told me that he knew a lady who was the victim of the bad economy.

My first instinct was to cringe. I don't like the word victim. I started to think...why don't I like that word?

I think to be a victim means that you've given up and you aren't even going to try to fix the situation. When you're a victim, you can sulk and get pity and you don't have to do anything else. Wear your Scarlet V with pride.

Most situations shouldn't be judged in haste.

Can we really judge the net result of any actions in our lives? I think that our lives are too interconnected to make such bold statements.

Our culture really likes to label things. We call things good or bad.

Are situations that clear, or do we first need hindsight?

Being the victim of the economy and losing your job might lead you to starting a successful business that you always dreamed of.

On the other hand, many people that win large sums of money in lotteries end up broke and miserable.

Let's just acknowledge our situation, what ever it is, and try to use it for whatever we can.

What it Takes to be #1 - Vince Lombardi

"Winning is not a sometimes thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.

Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. you've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules - but to win.

And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

I don't say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."

Vince Lombardi