Questions with John Saintignon regarding China

So yesterday I was listening to a podcast and there was a guest named, Tony Ronzone, who was talking about some of the stories of basketball within the world.  There was a lot of questions that were about China and we had some very similar experiences.

I first got invited to China when I was at Oregon State University as Coach Jim Rosborough from the University of Arizona called me to say that he was going to invite me to be one of the coaches that was selected to be a part of a Nike Factory event which was a huge project to try to find the top 24 players within the country to play against NBA players in an outdoor exhibition.  We had to go to cities all over the country, and hold tryouts, like in a camp setting, then discover the best and then bring them all together and you know, eventually get it down to 2 teams of 12.  Crazy. 

My city was Shanghai that I was responsible for.  We had so many players, we lost count, over 2000 showed up, oh man, I had to make a quick friend of a coaching legend who was on the sideline watching that I had heard was there to observe.  I respectfully asked him to help me.  He graciously accepted my offer and I had a set of eyes that were there to help me, we eventually got down to that short list of 12 players, with whom we were able to send to Beijing to play and compete and represent not only themselves but their city against NBA players with Nike. It taught me that I was not the most important person there to select, that it was being humble and knowing that someone who was well respected could help me in an incredible way if I showed him respect and honor.

Moving on, dinners were something to behold.  I was taught by my parents to be respectful and try anything that I was ever offered, to never offend anyone.  That was seriously put to the test as we had some exotic food and it was difficult but I wanted to be a guest that was humble and respectful for being in their country and home.  The palate was challenged as everything was on display for one of the dinners including, duck feet, duck bill, scorpion, snake, etc.  I tried a few, wanting to be respectful. 

Later, my interpreter asked if I would meet with his parents as they wanted to have dinner with me.  Of course, I said yes, and it was spectacular.  I was honored and felt a sense of duty to meet with them since their son was working round the clock having to stay with me until I went to my hotel room.  For anyone that speaks another language, it is taxing on your mind to have to hear one language, then translate it to another and then back, much less a coach who is doing this all over the place and moving and shouting instructions.  Martin, was so incredible so when he said would I visit with his parents, well of course, was my response! 

We met at a restaurant outside of Shanghai, in a large private room.  Just Martin's parents, myself and Martin.  They didn't speak English and it was their first time meeting anyone outside of China.  The father was a General in the Chinese People's Liberation Army, so this was quite the honor and yet a bit intimidating.  I noticed that it was very formal at the onset, quiet at times and a bottle of clear liquid in front of us.  Now each time that there was a quiet moment, he would pour us this drink of strong alcohol.  Now I do what they do in other countries, so here I was drinking with him and we got to asking questions about family, ideals, morals and came to find out that we had similar ideas of raising our sons and how we approached life without having to discuss the advantages or disadvantages of Communism vs Capitalism.  I learned that I also had to trust my host as we had over 40 plates of incredible cuisine that it was a test to sample all of them, including this particular fish that I just loved.  I came to discover at the end of the dinner, that it was puffer fish and that if not properly cooked, well I could have died from it.  That brought out laughs and made me feel ok as I had to trust that evening.

We had such a wonderful and memorable dinner that I was so surprised by the outpouring of gifts that were bestowed upon me:  2 incredible hand woven paintings in their frames, 2 pearl necklaces.  We recently discovered the them when we went to Turlock to go through storage items for my son, Vicente's apartment at USC.  The boys both took the paintings and one sits proudly at USC and the other in Sebastian's room.  But more of a gift, was that I was honored to be the first person that this General got to meet who he could sit with, laugh, enjoy and know that the world view was similar in many respects.  Do you know that later, he would ask if I could help his son, enter a USA University, which I was delighted to write a letter of recommendation for and as he was accepted and got his Masters Degree from.

Basketball is a tool to get an education.  This game as provided me so many wonderful memories as I listened to that podcast in which Coach Ronzone shared some that were similar.  I hope to one day meet Coach Ronzone in person and share this with him.  Until then, make it a great day and remember that we are all alike when we get past our differences. 

Respectfully,
Coach John Saintignon
www.johnsaintignon.com

Volunteering

I had the honor of being able to volunteer at my son's high school, Mater Dei High School to assist in a wonderful program that they offered which was called Senior Interviews.  It is a huge undertaking requiring parents to come and volunteer to sit and listen to a senior who is in professional dress and must come to the table to personally interview with you.

Each senior would have 6 minutes to answer questions, then move into the next 4 minutes to have dialogue, tell them how they did, or have the student ask questions.

These students came prepared, resumes to hand in, professional dress.  The firm handshake, the eye contact, the appearance all provided a great first impression.  I have always told our athletes that you only have 7 seconds to make a great first impression.

I wanted to not just ask questions of the students, I wanted them to share with me their story.  I wanted to convey to them that upon interviewing that when they left the interview that I wanted them to have felt that they at least were able to share their story and walk out of the interview satisfied with that.

Fantastic sharing of their stories came out, each of them had a Hero's Journey to share at some point during the interview.

Yesterday was my turn to be interviewed on the Fireside Chat with the special invitation of Bryce Brown who I had the honor and privilege of recruiting as a student athlete.  I have said as a coach, you never know what impact you have as a coach until 10 years later when you see those that were under your supervision and seeing what they are doing with their life.  Did they use basketball as a tool to get an education?  Are they using those skills now in their professional lives.  He most certainly is.

Listen in :  Fireside Chat with Coach John Saintignon

After this broadcast, I had to turn around and complete a full day of helping students, by being an Ambassador for the University of California at Santa Cruz at the Anaheim Convention Center.  It was a great time to this time answer questions from students, parents, event some administrators within the Anaheim School District about the University of California, admission requirements, what it is like to live on campus, how far away from Orange County, what is the most popular major, but the best question I received was this.  Will UCSC bring out my inner voice?  This was someone who wants to be able to share their story.

Take the time to reach out and volunteer, you will be amazed by what you gain by offering your time!

Pursue your Passion!

Coach John Saintignon
Orange County Magic Basketball

Building people to win a championship

Winning Championships is going to take a dedication to building people along the way.

Start with a theme.  Do you have one?  I have used many:  One year I wanted us to be a unit, playing the same type of music, so I used one sound, one beat.  I went off of what an orchestra sounds like, so we kept trying to keep with that theme.  Another was coming to work every day.  So I had to figure out ways to get that done.

Punch in and punch out, time card, blue collar worker, hard hats, lunch pail, a stone cutter mentality.  You get the point.  This is what I talked about daily, but I also had to show our players the same.  I did this with companies as well, when I would walk in and show their employees how to get everyone to buy into what you are trying to establish.

I hear of every business, team, saying that we are building a culture?  We are changing the culture?  What does that mean?  How?  By making them work harder?  There has to be more to it?  For example we clocked in every day, even brought a hard hat to symbolize as well as having a rock at practice to show the process over and over again, to reinforce what the message was to be.  We even had our players clock in, with time cards, to let them know that we wanted no distractions upon entering the gym floor, prepare for what we were going to do for the day.

What's your theme for your team?

When I was recently in China speaking, I told the audience of coaches about the lunch pail and what it symbolized and why we chose to use it.  In the box, I know my own boys, like it when I write something in there from time to time or put a nice treat for them.  But I also know when you see the people with a lunch pail in their hand, they are going to work, blue collar, usually outside, tough conditions.

For my players, I would put things in their lunch pail to help them remember and feel good and reflect upon things that will help them during the season.  Like a bouncing rubber ball, to symbolize what I have been trying to promote to them all along, being resilient, having a next play mentality, bounce back!

We would as a staff, put in definitions so that our players would know what it meant, like Resilient:  Bounce back from Adversity, move to the next play.  And then images, of our own players if we had it, or others that we could find that would capture the moments.

You think you could use this with your team?  Your company and employees?

One of the best exercises that was ever given to me was by one of my college coaches during my senior season at UCSD.  I was struggling, trying to help others, to fit in, to not shoot too much, to get everyone else involved.  My coaching staff wanted me to shoot the ball more and score more points so that there would be a triple threat on the team and make us a difficult team to play against.  I was not sure how I was fitting in.  My coach told me to go back to my house during the break that was offered for 2 days and go back to the place where I fell in love with the game.  To remember the smell, the sights, the inner self talk, and it was just remarkable for me to do that.  It brought me a smile, it reminded me of why I loved the game, why I played it.  Needless to say, I returned for our December Tournament and was selected MVP of the tournament and helped our team to win the championship.

I tell my athletes and others when they struggling to put that in the lunch pail to remember what that is like, even though physically don't have to travel there, mentally can be done.

In closing, just ask your players/employees what they want to be remembered for?  Remember earlier I talked about in a previous post about the performance skills and moral skills that are necessary.  Have them decide which ones they would like to have, now you do the same.  What would you like to be remembered for as a coach?

See if you can begin at this moment before the season begins to write your own awards banquet speech using those character skills you chose.

Thank you all for the continued feedback.  Stay tuned more information coming by way of a video channel and podcasts, so much to look forward to!

Pursue your Passion.

Coach John Saintignon
Coach Saintignon
OC Magic Basketball Club
@stignon

What is the purpose of sport?

Give this one some thought?

What's your focus?  The higher the competition, the more moral ground you lose.  The pressure to win becomes greater and greater.  I know.  I have been a High School coach, then to NCAA Division 1 and then to Professional Head Coach in various countries.

If you want sports to build character, then you have to make it your priority in order for that to happen.  You are going to have to be different.

AD's say I don't care what your philosophy is, you better win, or your fired.  Just look at this past season with former coaches of the year award winners, fired.  It never used to happen in college athletics, but that is the case, just this week with a couple losses, LSU fired their head coach.  High School's are now doing this as well.

You have to reshape your focus so that you can stay with this teaching point of character development.

Character drives performance.

The better you are with your character the better you are going to perform because you understand what life is all about and you'll be able to understand failure better, because it comes for everyone.

So what if you were paid to build the character of your players, what would you do?  Things would change, because I hear coaches say that they are paid to win.  Look the other way when things go wrong, just deal with the task at hand which is win only.

Ask yourself this question.

Why did you get into coaching?

Was it to win titles, to win championships?

Many say that is the only reason, but I don't think so.  I believe you probably had a coach in your life at one point who made a difference in your life.  I know I did.  Coach Fimbres in Tucson, Arizona where I grew up, took an interest in me as a person and developed my character which then led to me becoming a better player because I was taught and developed about what things meant and to keep them in perspective.  In essence, to have priorities.

You held those coaches in such high regard because of the impact that they had on your life that you would love to leave a similar legacy to others.

This is why you were drawn into the profession.  To make a real difference in the lives of other people.

Many coaches along my journey have said which coach do you want to be?  What do you want written on your tombstone?  One that says how many wins you had?  Or the other than said the impact you left with those that you coached?

Which one would you choose?

Think about who are you becoming?  Are you putting the person first, athlete second.  The real story that is going to matter is what you become as a coach as a result of being under all that pressure.

Who have you become as a coach?

Who have you become as a result of the chase?

Are you more humble or a bigger ego?  More open or more defensive?  More stable or more fragile? Happier or less happy?

Who have your players become as a result of the chase in their experience with the sport?

Are they more respectful or less respectful?  More grateful or less grateful?  More confident or less confident?  More open or more defensive?

You have to make sure that your players experience great things along this chase.  That's what you are chasing first and foremost.  You make this the game.  This is how you hold yourself and your players accountable.  Wins and losses, come and go, who you become stays with you.

You need to know where are you going?  Why are you a coach?  That's your purpose?  But then you need to know, who are you becoming?  That's the real truth.

Help your players find their purpose, help them face the truth, help them do things that get them closer to seeing who they are now and who they want to become ultimately as a human being.

That's the role of you as the coach.

Coach John Saintignon
Twitter

There is always a solution

I begin this post with the notion that there is always a solution.  It is too easy for many to just say no.  Ideas get shot down by people who just don't want to think outside the box, so they say no.  But the true discovery comes when you are open to finding a solution, to be curious, to not settle, to find a way.  This weekend, I was at my son's Karate tournament and I am going to share a story about being resilient and helping others find a solution.

As tournaments go in the world of sports they are difficult to put on and conduct regardless of whatever sport it is.  Karate tournaments require a coach, require focus with all the distractions of music, performances, and generally people in the stands or walking around, excitement, cheering, you name it, it's all there.  These tournaments last the better part of the day so there has to be a preparation beyond the physical as there is a mental component attached as well.

Here is the story that I want to share with this weekend with my youngest son, Sebastian.  In this tournament my son was scheduled to compete in a kata and also sparring for his age group and black belt division.  No problem, there is a lot of competitors, there is musical form katas that are being performed, weapons, artistic, traditional, sparring, team, you name it.  There are also many rings in which to have these competitors perform, not to mention having to have usually 3 volunteer judges per ring.  Now there are also people that are on a microphone saying what ring for competitors to be at, each age division, each belt rank, there is also the music being played for those performing their routines with music, the people in the stands, cheering or watching, there are the other competitors so it can be easy to not hear all the time what is being said via loud speaker or via a judge who perhaps just saying something with his or her voice as to who should be at the next ring.  You get my point, there is a lot going on, many distractions.

Now at these events the members usually are represented by their coaches.  Which is a tremendous help as the role of a coach as I define it is to provide structure, guidance, encouragement but also to protect the athletes and be their voice especially in situations like this where there is a nervousness and anxiety with each and every athlete, regardless of the status of their belt.  In essence their leader.  This has always been the case with my son and his dojo.  However, not always the case in large tournaments like this can you pay attention to all the competitors as you are split between going to support one individual while maybe another is competing in another part of the arena.

Here is the teaching moment that presented itself to me this weekend with my son at this tournament and what I know we all want our children to be able to do.  My son was waiting 5 hours and had not been called up for one of his events, we sat near the ring where we thought that he would be performing along with entire team and never heard anything, so something must have gone wrong.  Did he miss the event and not hear it?  Did we all miss it and not hear it?  This is our responsibility, not anyone else. But here is the situation that is in front of us.  I am agitated that this has occurred as this is not the only time that this has happened at one of these tournaments, keep in mind that we have been doing these for years and this happens frequently to many competitors.  With so much going on, you can see how things like this can and do happen often.

I want my son to learn to be responsible and to discover for himself what happened. He is young, scared and not really sure what to do, but I want him to go and explore nonetheless.  I sent him to talk to someone at the desk, the announcer who can perhaps give him an answer.  Sebastian, tells him the situation and the response was that it was called, you missed it.

OK, I then tell him to go and find the Shihan that is in charge of the event, he goes to locate and doesn't find.  Next solution is to find his coach and have him go with you to discover what happened and again told that it was called and missed.

Now, I am deciding how can I provide a teaching moment for my son.  I take him with me, we both walk to the gentleman that was at the desk, I tell him that I wasn't looking for a refund, that I just wanted to find a solution and that one was to locate an empty ring, find 3 of the volunteers to sit there and judge the young man on his kata which is what he came to do.  No awarding of a trophy, none of that matters.  I just wanted to help find a solution other than leaving the site with a refund and a waste of time and a bad taste.  This was done.  My son was nervous as he could tell again that I was agitated but what I don't like are when adults are not always willing to find a solution.  It's too easy to just say no, there was no added time, pressure or responsibility that was to be put on any of the judges or the Shihan of the event as I did not want to get the refund as was suggested, all I wanted was to have Sebastian perform and get his opportunity to do that.

The teaching point that I wanted to impart was to show my son that there is always a solution, sometimes you have to help guide others by providing them with the option so that they can realize that it's not going to inflict any additional time, commitment, or pressure on them.  We then had to turn into a very diligent athlete, I had him ask question after question as to where is the next event that he is to perform, what ring is that going to be in,  to then go to the table, turn in his competitor card, and ask again and again is this where it is going to be at.  Now, how to provide the next teaching moment?

re·sil·ient

rəˈzilyənt/

adjective

1. (of a substance or object) able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed.

   synonyms:

   flexible, pliable, supple; More

   • (of a person or animal) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

   
   

The next event was sparring and Sebastian had to change his focus ASAP to able to get over what he just went through and stay in the moment, to recover quickly and bounce back.  This requires a bounce back mentality, next play, internal talking.  I wanted him to now focus on what was in front of him, big, quick, athletes who were taller.  A strategy that his coaches have provided him for years was now going to be needed to be heard.  He was going to have to rely on self talk to achieve the result of scoring points.  He did, he had a great event, finishing 2nd place in the sparring competition and left the building, satisfied that he was able to overcome and bounce back.  He was very pleased with his performance as was I.  

As a parent and as a coach that is what we are all looking for, teaching moments.  Pay attention to the teaching moments that present themselves and be prepared to teach on the spot so that your athlete can perform, feeling that encouragement, support, and guidance so that they can learn from you.  As a coach, as well as a parent, you are a role model.  We are here to help those who are under our supervision to help them perform and learn life lessons and to discover that there is always a solution.

Pursue your Passion! 

Coach John Saintignon

OC Magic

Coach John Saintignon

What is your master plan?

OK, so where do we begin the season?  How do we make sure that we are teaching our players all that they need to know for a successful season?  How do you stay on track?

You need to start.  You need to create a master plan so that you have a reference point to look at.  Really, to keep on track and stay on track.  Sometimes we as coaches tend to focus on a few things and run out of time during the season and don't cover something and wish we had.

I learned how to get this done as I was a high school coach and visiting clinics and hearing NCAA coaches at UNC and UCLA talk about it, but how did they put it together?  That was never shared?  How much time did they spend on things?  I asked them for information and dug deeper as I had a thirst for how to become the best coach that I could become.

Here is what I put together after gathering information from many coaches across the country.

Coach Saintignon Master Plan for Basketball

I used this especially during the season to make sure that I was staying on track.  One thing you will have to keep in mind is that you will always have to modify, adjust and adapt.  This is true in all things.

University of North Carolina Practice

Coach Bobby Knight Indiana University
*Please note that there are typos, this was a document sent to me, so I had no control over the spelling.

This gives you a little idea to help you during your season in your preparation phase.  Should anyone want more, please email me at johnsaintgnon@gmail.com and I would be happy to help in anyway that I can.

Pursue your Passion!
Coach John Saintignon
OC Magic
Coach John Saintignon

Winning, Losing, Results

So we are at that time of year where as a coach and player there is the talk about winning and losing and the results that are being produced is at the forefront of many discussions.  There are many things that can derail us as coaches, players that I want to see if I can remind to see if this helps a bit.

As I stated before all of us can get off the rails so to speak and get caught up in disappointment because of the thinking that we can win, or deserve more.  We can lose sight and turn away from what is most important during the course of the season.

We all experience success, we all have an ego that say we deserve this or that.  We believe that maybe we are talented enough that we can maybe take it easy here or there, ease up on some of the development that should be occurring or the training that should be happening.

One of my greatest moments of coaching was the time that I spent learning from Coach John Wooden.  As I was coming up and winning, thinking that what we did was a direct result of my teaching, etc., Coach spoke in parables, quotes, and with poems.  One in particular that has become my favorite that he usually recited to me to make his point, was "IF" by Kipling.  I was reminded that winning and losing were impostors.  To treat them both the same, according to Coach Wooden, he used to tell me that you are not as good as people say you are and your not as bad as they say either.  The players that you work with on a daily basis, they are why you coach.  They are under your supervision and are you giving them the attention that they deserve and not just only talking about winning or losing and the end game, the results.  Are you concerned with them as individuals as this is a short lived game, it doesn't last forever, but your relationship just might.

I began to change as a coach each time as I am sure everyone who came in contact with Coach Wooden, did change.  It's easy many would say coming from someone who won National Title after Title and UCLA with the best of the best.  But he was pointing out to all of those who looked for his advise, what was important.

I once had a team that I was playing against in a tournament, I believed that we were good, I saw that the talent level on the other side of the floor during warm ups wasn't that great and noticed that our own players thought that they were just going to run them over as well.  We weren't serious as a staff and also as players during the warm up.  I didn't address the situation as I should have right then and there, as a result, we ended up getting beat that night because we didn't approach the game the same as we would have had it been the championship round of the tournament.  We were the better team, only on paper that night.  I was so frustrated, furious as I knew we should have been better, I second guessed myself, took it out on the team, coaching staff, when I knew all along that it was my fault, period.  So to this day, I take every opponent serious, as all the championships that I have won as a coach, were formed during that lesson learned that night.

The bottom line is that when you experience success we all think that we can cut corners from time to time and still achieve the end result, the win.  Many of us get caught up thinking that we are bigger than the game.  This comes from us only focusing on winning.  We can get caught off the rails and make it so that we believe it's all about the X's and O's and not about the Jimmy and Joe's.

So ask yourself?  What are you doing each day to make your players better people.  Is your message only about the sport?  Only about winning?  There is much more to this than just getting the W.  That night we lost I should have addressed the importance of respect for each opponent and that we owed it to ourselves to give our best effort regardless of who we were competing against.

We can become consumed with winning.  We can forget about getting home to your significant others.  Your family, children.  We make up excuses that we don't have the same talent, we don't have the same facilities to compete with others.  We need to practice longer, stay in the office so others will notice that we are giving all to this team.  We can think that we need every advantage to achieve what we want and the thing that we usually sacrifice first is our family.

There are incentives to winning as well that have been placed, with bonus structures, raises, etc.  This has now become a performance based industry.  Including AAU.  Winning supports your ego, yes, it also allows for those players to come to your programs, which leads to them going to NCAA., which allows players to continue with your program.  So it's now come to this, winning is everything.  Here's the problem.  99% percent of us aren't winning the ultimate national championship in the sport.  So here's the question.  How do you want to be remembered?  Maybe the focus from winning should be to developing people.  And make that the national championship that you are trying to create.  Coach Wooden told me that he knew he did a good job, 10 years later, when those that were under his supervision, were doctors, lawyers, parents, businessmen, etc.

The lessons learned from sports are lifelong.  What lessons are you imparting to those under your supervision?  Make this season your best, use your own definition of the results your looking for.

I look forward to helping.

Coach John Saintignon
www.ocmagic.org
www.johnsaintignon.com

Getting to know Coach John Saintignon

The other day I had a meeting with someone to help with OC Magic and just talk and it was suggested that people might not even know who I am, so it led me to this discussion point.  Recently, I had an interview on a podcast that I am sharing with you about that very subject, who is Coach John Saintignon.

I hope that you enjoy listening in and learning more.



http://goldnetbasketball.podomatic.com/entry/2016-09-12T16_58_00-07_00



www.ocmagic.org

www.johnsaintignon.com

The image of a champion.

The image of a champion is someone who is bent over drenched in sweat to the point of exhaustion— when no one else is watching. 

As everyone’s basketball season is about to get underway, this is often the image that is not seen.  So much goes into preparation for anything.  There is a correlation between the mental and the physical training.  For example when I train my basketball teams, I want them to be in the best condition possible; I called it my 12 week plan.  It took them through so much, including the “messy middle” where everyone in all things wants to quit.  This is where it gets difficult to persist.  Relationships, marriages, businesses, sports all have this messy middle, where things get difficult and people quit.

 

I found that this is where it was especially to get help from your teammates, colleagues, support system, coaches, bosses.  This is the where the strength comes from.  There is shared pain and a shared joy that usually comes from this type of training.  

But what I am learning from Karate is that same concept of never quitting, putting things into perspective and to believe that if I don’t quit, the Sensei’s won’t quit on me either.  This has helped me as a person, as a father, as a businessman, as a coach.  To use this same idea with everyone else…I won’t quit on you. 

Often in life it’s not the people who are the smartest, educated or talented who succeed, it’s often the ones who just persist.  The problem is that we live in an instant society.  If we don’t get the results that you were looking for immediately people switch, this is true of marriages, careers, learning a skill.  So I have some suggestions that may help in staying the course.

1.    Set a goal.  Start from the finish line and work backwards.  This will help you break down what you are trying to accomplish into smaller achievable goals.  Your mind works best when it can focus on a few things at a time to achieve, gain momentum and continue forward in the pursuit. 

2.       Improve your pace and push through.  There are times when you have to just pick up the pace.  The best way is to continue to ask yourself,  “Why am I doing this?”  It will help you reconnect to the goal that you have in mind.  It will help you visualize the victory.  Ask yourself what will accomplishing this goal do for you?  How will it make you feel?  Most of us can do more than we believe we are capable of.  The pursuit of anything worthwhile you will have to press on and ask why you are doing what you are doing.

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3.       Run and walk at the same time.  There has to be recovery time in anything you pursue.  When you grind out a project, when you are working constantly it’s a recipe for burnout.  All of my training sessions have built in recovery periods to keep everyone fresh, and this applies to us all.  Staying up late to finish homework, to complete a project isn’t good for anyone.  All achievers have this instinct of “Keep working, keep working!”  For example, you have a project, and a deadline looming and your trying to push through and it takes you 4 hours to do something that if you had a good night sleep, and you worked on it in the morning, you could get it done in 20 minutes.  So this is why we all need this change of pace.  Like the top tennis players in the world, the very best, use the time in between the game, they stand still, they use those few seconds to be still, rest, and over time, over the course of the match, equates to quite a bit of time, it helps their endurance, and it becomes a big deal at the end of the match.

4.       Kill the distractions.  Stay focused.  The phone today, with texting, emails, etc., takes away from the focus.  We also just need to identify what we are going to do.  You have got to learn how to say no so that you can be committed to the bigger yes. 

5.       Change your self-image.  They may see themselves as a quitter.  Maybe you quit on something, a job, a relationship.  Inner dialogue has to change, that you are a finisher.  Karate for example yesterday, our Sensei gave us a drill of punching with weights, slow stress, a good amount of punches to be delivered, and then we dropped the weights and the amount of punches increased exponentially so that would force us to think about quitting.  The challenge to get through that was to have a positive self-talk, and to get creative in the sequence, and think in terms of 2 at a time to get through to the end. 

It’s important to just never quit.  To get through to the end, even if you have to walk.  Finish.  Confidence will come because you have built this muscle; you have made it through the messy middle and crossed the finish line.  You will trust yourself and have the resources to figure out anything.

Have the perception that whatever you undertake, it’s going to take longer than you expect.   This will be a temptation for you to quit.  Discouragement over the apparent lack of progress will also be a temptation to quit.  Going alone on a project, will be a temptation.  Don’t go at things alone.  And also getting disconnected from why we are doing things?  Why is this important?  What are the consequences of not completing?  This is usually the biggest reason that will keep you persistent. 

Thank you for your time, I look forward to your thoughts!

Coach John Saintignon

www.johnsaintignon.com

www.ocmagic.org