2 years, 4 books, and a new life - Part 2

Published: Fri, 12/18/15

   
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2 years, 4 books, and a new life
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Last week I shared 2 books that have changed me over the past 2 years, Inside-Out Coaching by Joe Erhmann, and The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews.  These are 2 foundational books that helped me define a clear direction of where I am going, this week I'll share 2 more that helped me define how I'm going to get there.

The first one is actually not a book, it's a 30 minute audio CD of Earl Nightingale's 1956 recording called 'The Strangest Secret.'  In it he defines the 6 words that are the strangest secret:

'You become what you think about.'

It is highly correlated to James Allen's As a Man Thinketh, and the core message is that you have to become what you think about. So if I spend the majority of my day thinking about my fantasy football team, then a good fantasy football owner is all I'm going to amount to. The message is incredibly empowering and positive - if you set your mind to something and that becomes the focus of your thoughts and actions, you will achieve it. Plus, Nightingale's voice is entrancing, I have literally listened to this CD 100's of times in the last 2 years.
You can find the CD here: The Strangest Secret

The second book I recommend is Carol Dweck's Mindset. This book can best be summarized by the Thomas Edison quote regarding inventing the light bulb taking 10,000 tries:

'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.'

Having a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset changes the way to approach failures and setbacks. Instead of defining ourselves by failures, we understand that failures are part of the growth process and embrace them as opportunities to grow. There is also a fascinating parenting/coaching study in this book, where Dweck analyzes the results of telling kids they are smart vs. telling them they are a hard-worker, and how that affects the future results of the kids. It has certainly changed the words I use and my general approach to encouraging my kids.
You can find this book here: Mindset

These 4 books have changed my approach to accomplishing greatness in this life, what books have done this for you?  I'd love to hear your thoughts, just reply to this email and it goes straight to my inbox.

 
Not satisfied with your kid's sports season?

We're in the middle of lots of sports season - it can be a stressful time for coaches, parents, and kids.

Parents
If you looking for tips on how to stand out in a tryout, or looking for long-term alternatives that produce superior results to travel sports teams - there are great free tools to help you at: winningyouthcoaching.com/travelmath

John O'Sullivan from Changing the Game Project just wrote an interesting article talking about youth sports math - check it out: changingthegameproject
 
We'll be off for the next 2 weeks for the Christmas holidays, look forward to a new coaching series we'll launch in January.
Have a blessed holiday season with your families!​
Make winning the right way your habit starting today,
​Craig
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Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, a site dedicated to helping coaches and parents make youth sports an awesome experience for the youth and the parents.  He interviews coaches from around the world and posts them on his podcast, which currently has over 65 interviews and has been downloaded over 45,000 times. He writes a weekly note to coaches and parents. He is married to his high-school sweetheart and they share the blessing of 3 children and live in Franklin, TN. You can sign-up for his weekly note here, find him on twitter at @craighaworth1, or visit his website winningyouthcoaching.com.
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"
- Frederick Douglass