Steve Nash shares the truth about the journey to greatness.
"You don't have to be the chosen one."
"The secret is to build the resolve and spirit to enjoy the plateaus - the times when it doesn't feel like you're improving and you question why you're doing this."
Most people quit during the plateau. Learn to embrace it.
"If you're patient, the plateaus will become springboards."
Progress isn't linear. The flat moments aren't wasted - they're building.
"Never stop striving, reaching for your goals until you get there."
"But the truth is, even when you get there - even when you get here, standing on this stage - it's the striving, fighting, pushing yourself to the limit every day that you'll miss and you'll long for."
"You'll never be more alive than when you give something everything you have."
The destination isn't the reward - the journey is.
Enjoy the process and fall in love with the climb because that's where life happens.
Phil Jackson shares a lesson from Zen Buddhism that changed how he coached and how he managed his own mind.
"One of the books that means a lot to me is Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki."
"When we try to control our mind, when we try to control our personalities - it's like trying to control a farm animal, a sheep, a cow, in a pasture that's too small for it. It'll break through the fences."
The tighter you grip, the more it resists.
"You need to have a lot of space to move."
"When you meditate, if you get obsessed with something, you'll break through your meditative state - unless you just let it go."
And here's the insight:
"In letting it go, you let it go through. It's like a cloud passing through the sky. It's like a log floating down the river. It's there in your sight, it comes in your mind and then it passes right through."
You don't fight the thought or force it away. You watch it pass.
"It's the same way with a player. He has some aberrant behavior going on. If you sit back and just allow—it's happening, it's happening. Okay, now he's through. Now he's centered again. Now we're okay."
The goal isn't control - it's acceptance and space.
You need to be centered and let it pass. Master that next-play mindset.
This applies to leadership and presence.
(🎥Oprah Winfrey )
Tom Izzo shares why the best thing a leader can do is hold people accountable to their own dreams and how he does this with his teams.
"I always ask them: What do you think my job is for you?"
Most players don't know how to answer. So Izzo tells them:
"The best thing I could do for you is to hold you accountable to your dreams and goals - not mine."
"Sometimes as leaders, we look at what we want instead of what they want."
Izzo has each player write down their goals on a card. Then he uses that card when they push back.
"When he's mad at me because I'm on his butt about academics, I say: You told me you wanted to be an academic All-American. That's not my goal. That was your goal. My job - if I do my job right - is to hold you accountable to your goals."
Leadership isn't about pushing your agenda. It's about helping people become who they said they wanted to be.
Hold them to their dreams - not yours.
(🎥 Michigan Association of Counties 2020)