Cam Newton & Being a Sore Loser

The losing Carolina quarterback walked out of a media interview after losing The Super Bowl Sunday to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

Losing is tough.  No one likes it — especially minutes after the losing the game.

Newton actually called himself a “sore loser” and is wearing it with pride – for now.

This irritates some people and parents who are still trying to keep some semblance of sportsmanship in sports.

Losing is a rehearsal for winning – winning is best, losing is second best and is a great motivator.  Cam Newton will likely lead another team to The Super Bowl and has a good chance of winning next time.

The Super Bowl trophy is named after Vince Lombardi, the winning coach who is famous for saying “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”.

I get it and you do, too.

We don’t play to lose.

But there is great value in all our lives to respect setbacks as the greatest character builder known to humanity.

Go easy on Cam Newton.

He just needs a little time to process what we all have trouble with from time to time – understanding how to deal with defeat.

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  • We’re told that public school athletics are good use of our
    tax dollars because it keeps kids interested rather than dropping-out.The good athletes go on to college programs.
    College athletic programs have become the ultimate “branding”
    of huge educational institutions while health, science and humanities efforts
    of those institutions become lost programs struggling to survive.The good athletes go on to sports careers.
    Now we’re advised to cut some slack for millionaire players
    who are the final product of an entertainment business that has its foundation
    in local school tax payments.
    “Going easy” on a Professional
    Athlete is just a continuation of the “participation trophy” attitude that has
    doomed this country!From the earliest
    school sports activity and onward there is supposed to be the process of
    character building taking place.At
    least that is the line of BS coaches like to spread when asked about the value
    of school sports programs.
    Professional spoiled brats are just another example of a
    failing country.

  • We’re told that public school athletics are good use of our
    tax dollars because it keeps kids interested rather than dropping-out.The good athletes go on to college programs.
    College athletic programs have become the ultimate “branding”
    of huge educational institutions while health, science and humanities efforts
    of those institutions become lost programs struggling to survive.The good athletes go on to sports careers.
    Now we’re advised to cut some slack for millionaire players
    who are the final product of an entertainment business that has its foundation
    in local school tax payments.
    “Going easy” on a Professional
    Athlete is just a continuation of the “participation trophy” attitude that has
    doomed this country!From the earliest
    school sports activity and onward there is supposed to be the process of
    character building taking place.At
    least that is the line of BS coaches like to spread when asked about the value
    of school sports programs.
    Professional spoiled brats are just another example of a
    failing country.

Ammo Against Haters

Politicians are outdoing themselves this season for being nasty and even hurtful.

Seems like nothing is off limits.

But we don’t have to look to politics for nastiness, just see what’s happening in schools, offices and even friendships.

We hate haters but it is getting easier to express hateful comments because, sadly, people are more accepting of it.

To stamp out haters, it is important not to let the insult divert you from what you believe.

Haters have apparently become diet doctors because they sure throw a lot of hurtful comments about people’s body shapes and sizes.

Instagram alone has become a reserve for outdoing others by making them jealous and trying to get more “likes”.

Forget what others think.

What do YOU think?

Haters are going to hate because it’s easy to do with the high connectivity we have in our digital world.

Let it roll off of you (shake it off, as Taylor Swift advises).

Do not retaliate – be the person you want to be.

Don’t go trolling for “likes” unless it is a “like” for how you feel about yourself.

No love is possible unless we can love ourselves first and most importantly.

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Choosing Your Mentor

I had the privilege of knowing Don Rosenberg a.k.a. Dr. Don Rose, the outstanding morning personality of WFIL, Philadelphia radio.

Recently, my friend Gerry Wilkinson who is the heart and soul of Philly Broadcast Pioneers, did what he does best – make history come alive with this quote sent to Rose by a listener on Don’s last day on the air October 5, 1973:

“Once in awhile, we meet someone who stands out from the rest of the flock. Someone who flies higher and faster and further than we ever thought possible. It helps us to do the same”. 

A mentor is defined as an experience or trusted advisor, but he/she can be so much more.

Choose to be in the air space of people with high values, worth ethic and devotion to doing the right thing.

The next time we hear the word “mentor” used, let’s compare it to the definition that Dr. Don Rose shared with us on his last Philadelphia broadcast.

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The No-Firing Policy

Usually when management changes, heads roll and new people are hired to “fix” the old company.

But that didn’t happen when Dave Gettleman took over his job.

Gettleman was hired to operate two years ago and he decided to avoid five or six months of upheaval that would have happened if he put his own people in place.

His philosophy in Gettleman’s own words is “I think everyone should have an opportunity to do his job”.

Then he watched and evaluated everyone he inherited to see strengths and weaknesses.

And this is the important part – Gettleman believed he could make the changes he wanted to achieve a winning organization by influencing his existing employees to come over to his way of thinking.

Well, did it work?

Sunday, his Carolina Panthers, where he is the team GM, will play Denver in the 50th NFL Super Bowl.

Imagine the loyalty Gettleman has accrued by not replacing the usual moving parts.

And think of all the other NFL teams that could not wait to make a change even before the season ended (yes, I’m talking about you Philadelphia Eagles).

A policy of “no-firing” can be more successful then cleaning house.

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  • Wow Jerry, you applaud Gettleman for making it work with the same staff, but you throw Mary Berner onto the open flames for not making any staff changes.  Seems rather hypocritical.

Serena Williams’ Body Image Battle

The winner of 21 Tennis Grand Slams has always had a love hate relationship with how she looked.

She competed with thinner athletes not ones with big muscular, curvy bodies.

“When I was younger, it was hard seeing all these thin athletes when I had more muscular curves and was big-busted”.

Now, she is in a different place:  “”I love that I’m a full woman and I am strong, and I’m powerful, and I’m beautiful at the same time, and there’s nothing wrong like that. It’s so important to look at the positives, if I get caught up looking at the negatives it can really bring you down.”

serenaBody image is molded by those around us and societal “norms”.

But we now live in a world of diversity where it is beautiful to be unique and different.

For everyone who struggles with body image issues it is encouraging to see the power than comes from first loving yourself.

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  • We always lived in a world of diversity where it is beautiful to be unique and different. Now – thankfully! –  we are more vocal about consciously promoting being beautifully unique and different.

  • We always lived in a world of diversity where it is beautiful to be unique and different. Now – thankfully! –  we are more vocal about consciously promoting being beautifully unique and different.

Cant’ & Won’t

If someone pushes you to try to do something you’d rather not and you answer with “I just can’t”, you are likely inviting even stronger attempts to get you to do what you don’t want to.

On the other hand, if you answer “I won’t” meaning “I won’t (do that which you are asking me to do), then it is more definite and final.  It is likely your wishes will be accepted without any further attempt to pressure you.

Can’t when used in this context could be taken to mean, “I can’t (unless you push me to do it)”.

Won’t, in the same context, means I’ve made my mind up and that is my final decision.

In life, we have an obligation to be true to ourselves in all human contact and by saying what we mean, we put the weight of conviction behind our words.

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4 Words That Make People Respect You

They don’t respect someone who is perfect.

Who thinks they are always right.

Who makes them feel envious or jealous.

Who knows everything.

In our world now, people respect authenticity.  People who seem real even if they are a bit odd or imperfect.

That is why being vulnerable is real and has real benefits.

Here are the four words you should use more often that will make others respect you:

“I made a mistake”

The only thing worse than being wrong is always being right.

It’s not believable and it’s not possible.

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Burn-Out

Taking five or ten minutes at the beginning or end of each day, can transform your life, reduce stress and make you happier and more productive.

I saw a British study in the Harvard Business Review in which commuters who were encouraged through text messages to plan their upcoming day were happier, less burned-out and more productive than a similar group who did not do pre-planning.

All of us complain about feeling too stress. Here’s a way to reduce it:

  • Take five to fifteen minutes at the beginning or end of the day to think about the day ahead or how the current day went.
  • Reserve this time the same way you would set aside time for a project or meeting.
  • As the Harvard study suggested, even thinking about the day ahead or just concluded in a positive reflective way (say on the commute home), can be as beneficial.
  • A short investment in time is like a play from the sidelines sent in by the coach to tell the quarterback what to do next. Just doing without thinking about it is stress we can eliminate and now there is research to back it.

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  • Fantastic advice, Jerry, and when I’ve done this it really does help.  Being the best “wordsmith” I know, did you purposely use “stress” in this connotation instead of “stressed” as most people use it?  I ask since so many words are used totally out of proper content these days such as “issues.”  Thanks!

How to Keep Expectations Under Control

Keep your expectations low and your motivation high for the best possible outcome.

When it is the other way around, disappointment from not achieving our goals soon derails our hopes and chips away at our ability to sustain the motivation needed to achieve our original goals.

Dash those expectations if you want to remain happy and productive.

And if you want to have high expectations about anything, make it about your ability to maintain a high level of motivation under all circumstances.

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Oprah’s Diet

Yesterday Oprah tweeted that she lost 26 pounds while eating bread every day on Weight Watchers.

That one tweet drove Weight Watcher’s stock up so much that Winfrey, who owns 10% of the company, made $12.5 million in one day.

All good.

But on the same day, a little noticed story on Huffington Post about a mom who defended her daughter from a Dillard’s salesperson who wanted her to use Spanx to reign in her figure popped up with an ad for none other than Weight Watchers.

 
Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 8.16.36 PM

Her mother told the world and the salesperson in a tweet that “she did not need you telling her that she is not perfect”.

In one example, dieting gets us to perfection and in another the use of body control shape wear does it with a big fat ad for a weight loss program in the middle of a story about body image.

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And therein lies the problem.

There is no perfect and there doesn’t need to be.

We come in all shapes and sizes and that is just fine.

Instead of dieting and shape wear alone, we could use some self-love and teach it to others.

When we love the body we have, we are truly attractive starting from the inside and it costs us nothing.

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