The more I study successful coaches, the more I recognize the one common philosophy shared by so many of history’s greatest winners: they made a conscious effort to NOT talk about winning. From John Wooden to Nick Saban, these great coaches concluded that because their players couldn’t always control the final score, talking too much [...]
Darrin Donnelly
I write a lot about the positive emotions of optimism, grit, courage, and faith—essential factors that drive any person, team, or organization to success and happiness. One powerful emotion that isn’t often thought of as “positive” is anger. I think this is because we tend to associate “positive thinking” with happy-go-lucky people who are smiling [...]
When things aren’t going well and we experience a losing streak in life, it can be very difficult to shift our mindset from negative to positive. During tough times, it’s easy to find ourselves focusing on all the things that are going wrong, and never on the things that are going right. Oddly, it can [...]
Joe Torre knows how to win. As a player, he won a spot on the National League All-Star team nine times. As a manager, Joe Torre won 13 division titles, four World Series championships, and the fifth-most games in the history of Major League Baseball. Throughout his career, Torre identified several key qualities shared by [...]
When one thinks of an “old school” baseball manager, Jack McKeon quickly comes to mind. McKeon’s approach to managing was about as old school as it gets in the era of Sabermetrics. He relied on gut instinct, using pride as a motivator, letting his players learn on the fly, and doing things his own way. [...]
