Often sports is more powerful than who won or who lost.

It teaches us life lessons when we observe how athletes face adversity.

Just five short weeks ago, golfer Phil Mickelson failed in a heartbreaking one-stroke loss to Justin Rose at Merion on no less than Father’s Day.  Just prior to the tournament, the father Phil Mickelson flew across the country to be at his daughter’s 8^th grade graduation.  He played bleary-eyed by the time he jetted back to play golf.

Fast forward to last weekend when Mickelson tees off at the British Open, an event in which he barely contends each year and comes back from a 5 stroke disadvantage to win it all.

Sean Gregory of Time Sports suggested why Michelson is such a fan favorite:  “He’ll pull out a driver when he doesn’t need it, like he did at the 72nd hole during his infamous 2006 U.S. Open collapse at Winged Foot, and cost himself the title. Then he’ll leave the driver out of his bag at Merion, when he absolutely needed it on the 72nd hole, to have any shot of forcing a playoff against Rose”.

In one way, Mickelson is very predictable.

Mickelson’s wife, Amy, is a breast cancer survivor.  In his heart of hearts he knows too well that golf is just another game when compared to the game of life. 

Overcoming adversity is predictable once we believe it.

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Here’s what the tough head of the Major League Baseball Players Association said last week prior to the sport’s All Star Game:

“I look for beauty, meaning and joy.  If I find beauty, meaning and joy, that’s a good day”.

Come again?

This is the players’ union leader who fights for their livelihood and stands up to the Commissioner of Baseball across the bargaining table.

Michael Weiner made headlines by commenting on what he looks for in life because he has an inoperable brain tumor with only months, perhaps weeks, to live.  He made the comments from a wheelchair to which he is now confined.

Adversity has helped Michael Weiner see things the way we should see things in life:

“I get up in the morning and I feel I am going to live each day as it comes.  I don’t take any day for granted.  I don’t take the next morning for granted”.

Imagine if, miraculously, Weiner’s brain tumor could be cured and that he could now apply the wisdom that came to him as a direct result of his disease to living the rest of his life that way.

He cannot.

But most of us are fortunate in that we can.

Michael Weiner’s advice to look for beauty, meaning and joy should not wait one more day for anyone.

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Contrary to popular belief, our failures and fears also contribute to building self-confidence.

Positive self-image is not just about a subliminal pep talk, it’s about how we handle life’s challenges.

A few thoughts:

1. Another person may shake our confidence, but we are in control of whether they succeed at destroying it. 
2. Making positive statements about who we are and what our potential can be is the cure for negativity in our lives from those around us.
3. Inner happiness can only come from within ourselves not from external events, sources, riches or luck.  No one can take away inner contentment with ourselves.
4. Identify negativity around us – and cast it out of the minds as soon as it enters.
5. Banish negative self-talk:  “I can’t do this”, “I’m no good”, “People don’t like me”, “I’ll never be able to accomplish this”.  Self-defeating talk stops growth, healing and becomes our way of life.  Choose a different path.

“Loving ourselves is the most important love relationship” – Martin Padovani, Healing Wounded Relationships

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President Eisenhower said it best when he said, “Let’s never waste a minute thinking about people we don’t like”.

This may be the best advice that is hardly ever taken.

Social media is littered with comments about people who irk each other.

Behind most people we don’t like is their ability to push our buttons.  

Here is some great advice to paste on your refrigerator:

Know yourself:  “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people” – Carl Jung

Keep your eyes wide open:  “Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They’re only powerful when you got your back turned” – Eminem

Know human nature:  “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice, creatures motivated by pride and vanity” – Dale Carnegie

Tread carefully:  “I don’t have to attend every argument I’m invited to” – Unknown

Draw the line:  “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”  – Dave Ramsey

And my favorite:

“Don’t push my buttons without reading the manual.” – Inspector Gadget

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Doctors say we pay a great price for worrying.

It leads to anxiety that can make people become physically ill and mentally stressed.

Time to stop worry in its tracks.

Here’s my go-to formula:

1. Do, don’t stew.
2. Try the “magic formula” of Willis Carrier:  “Ask yourself what is the worst that can possibly happen if I can’t solve my problem”.  Prepare yourself to accept the worst – if necessary.  Then calmly try to improve upon the worst, which you have already mentally agreed to accept.  This formula is foolproof.  We just need to use it.
3. Never forget that 99% of that which we worry about will never, ever happen.

There are many things that can help reduce fear and worry, but I find these three gems a way to jumpstart the process when worry begins to get out of control.

“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension.  And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it” — George Burns

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I met a charming lady on a flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix recently who shared with me the tribulations of living with a learning disability. 

She was on her way to Arizona to finish work on her doctorate in mental health.

What struck me was that she had to turn her disabilities into accomplishments when she could have easily succumbed to them.

And whom did she credit for this gift of inspiration?

Her father who said “Don’t listen to others, you can overcome anything”.

Dad was the driving force in this woman’s life and while he will not be here to see his daughter fulfill her dream (he passed away five months ago), she attains her goal because he was there for her with the right words of encouragement.

When was the last time we gave such unconditional assurances to those around us so they can believe in themselves and their ability to overcome adversity and achieve success?

Make a short list of people who can be helped by actively believing in them.

Then begin reciting the mantra:  “You can overcome anything”.

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We spend more time at work than we spend at home or enjoying leisure activities and the people we work with are in a sense our extended family.

Often a dysfunctional family where conflict erupts to adversely affect careers and happiness. 

Many times we bring workplace conflict home to our loved ones as an unintended consequence.

It’s time we put conflict at work in its proper place.

1. Search for the hidden agenda that is stimulating the conflict.  Some people live to control, others use work to validate that no idea is good unless it is their idea and often, personal dysfunction (bullying, inappropriate behavior and insulting associates) becomes an issue.
2. Most employers want to distance themselves from conflict at work other than a seminar or two.  They know it is there but do not deal with it.
3. Acquire skills to identify situations that trigger workplace conflict and gain the skills to respond rather than react.  Spend some time with the works of Dale Carnegie for an arsenal of tools that will come in handy for these situations.
4. Avoid arguing because as the master himself, Dale Carnegie said, the only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
5. Encourage collaborative problem solving and multiple ways of resolving differences.

I once heard a psychologist who wrote a book about careers interviewed on a Philadelphia talk station.  I’ve forgotten her name but I’ll never forget her advice.

Never, ever quit a job you love because of workplace conflict or personal animosity.

Wait for them to quit using strategies like these to deal with the problem along the way. 

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For all the talk we hear of about the benefits of living in the present, we sure endure a lot of focus on the future.

How to be better when we graduate. 

To get the promotion after the next review. 

When we meet the right person for us. 

When our ship finally comes in.

Ironically, the best way to guarantee a brighter future is to not think about the future.

What about today?

What are you learning, not what are you going to do when you graduate.

How to make today your most productive day instead of waiting for an employee review to seek a promotion.

Forget meeting the right person, be the right person.

I confess I live too much in the future and it is not a good place to be.  So change must begin today.

There are no guarantees in the future.  No way to will what we want so badly without first passing through this day. 

Now I see the future as kind of a score at the end of an inning – no baseball player could say I want to win this game 5 to nothing without first playing the game half-inning by half-inning.

The same is true of life and of the fastest way to a brighter future.

“If you desire a glorious future, transform the present” – Patanjali

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One of the hardest things in life is to admit that we made a mistake.

I don’t know why that is, but people will go through amazing lengths to avoid having to say these two words – I’m sorry.

Often, it’s all that is necessary to restart the communication process.  So if you have difficulty choking on those two words, here are some alternative and effective ways:

1. Admit the mistake sincerely and briefly describe what you are specifically sorry for.  Often the person on the receiving end prefers this to the words “I’m sorry” because it is a standup way to say what you’re sorry for.
2. Make it up to the person you’ve hurt or wronged first and when you see the positive response, the words “I’m sorry” may not be so difficult.
3. Say you’re sorry by listening.  Often those we’ve offended simply want to be heard.  Once we make a sincere attempt to hear the other person, the right words will flow.

“An apology is the superglue of life.  It can repair just about anything”  — Lynn Johnston

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For years I taught public speaking to all kinds of people only to learn that they would rather die then get up in front of a group.  (By the way, I have seen research that bears this out – death over public speaking).

I’ve seen students run out of the room in fear and not show up again perfectly content to let the fear of speaking overcome them.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here are my very best secrets to overcoming the fear of speaking to more than one person at a time:

1. Talk to a group or a large audience the way you talk to one person.
2. Never memorize the message (believe it or not people do this time and time again setting up the very next opportunity to forget what they were going to say).
3. Be yourself not someone else or your image of another good speaker. 
4. Being loud does not make you a good speaker.  Some of the most compelling orators are ones who speak softly.
5. A pause is your best friend.
6. When you forget what you were going to say, recap something you previously said.  If you can’t remember that, say, “I forgot what I was going to say” and presto it returns – try it.
7. Rehearse three times in front of a mirror and keep time on your smartphone.  Each time I do this it comes out different which is great because the fourth and final time is in front of an audience and they don’t know what the first, second or third rehearsals sounded like.
8. Practice a one line open and a one line close.
9. Never overstay your welcome.  I followed a speaker once who had the audience in the palm of his hands until he couldn’t stop talking.  And he should have known better because he was a television personality.  Leave them wanting more.

Red face?  No problem – you’re just being authentic and authenticity is what we all strive for today.

So next time you have an opportunity to do a presentation or a talk, try these “secrets” and let me know how you do.

“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so.  For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind” – Dale Carnegie

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