The JP Revolution

Run the race against yourself and not the guy in the other lane.

One of the greatest temptations we have in life is to compare ourselves with other people. We see their success and imagine that they simply aren't facing the same challenges which hold us back. That's out fixed mindset at work. We like to imagine that it's our circumstances and talents (or lack thereof) that determine our ability to succeed. That is simply not true. It's our willingness to put in the hard work, the practice time, and mental fortitude required to achieve our goals. Unfortunately, when we start looking at others and competing with them we hinder our own ability to be the best version of ourselves we can be.
In honor of Georgia winning the National Championship this week, we are going to turn to the man who led them to their last championship in 1980 for advice. Herschel Walker is one of the greatest running backs in history. Once again, the mindset that creates success on the field can help you create success in your life.

There is no continuum for success. Focus on the process and not the results.

The Georgia Bulldogs are the College Football National Champions. Former walk-on quarterback Stetson Bennett had a monster second half to lead the dogs to their first championship in more than 40 years. His coach, Kirby Smart, got a chance to defeat his friend and mentor, Nick Saban. The legendary Alabama coach was going for his 7th championship since 2009. Smart modeled his Georgia football program after much of what he learned working at Saban's side. Congratulations, Georgia.
Even though, Alabama fell short of its goal to take home the title again. Few can argue the influence Saban has on college football. In this episode, we take one more look at how some of the lessons he teaches his athletes can be used to help us become champions of business as well.

Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth.

The ego is a very mysterious thing when it comes to success. You have to be confident enough (at least on the outside) to accomplish the things you want to make happen. On the other hand, you can't let your ego get so out of control that you run over those around you and refuse to listen to the people who can help you along the way. We all have known very talented people who were never able to achieve much success. Often folks who grow up more skilled than others at certain things never develop one important trait needed for success: humility. Talent only gets you so far. Humility allows you to take that next step to greatness by recognizing that others are needed for you to get where you want to go.
In this episode, we once again look to Alabama football coach Nick Saban. His Crimson Tide is set to take on the Georgia Bulldogs tonight. Today, we go deeper into how humility impacts your ability to succeed as Saban explains the traits he looks for in world-class athletes that tell him they are destined to be champions. (As you will hear, this episode was scheduled to run last week)

If you expect things to be hard, it’s much easier to the difficult things required for greatness.

Life is hard! Success is hard! Building a business is hard! Achieving your dreams is hard! If that wasn't true, every person on the planet would have a full bank account, a rocking business where other people did most of the work, and beautiful homes all around the globe. The problem is that we all want those things to come easy. It's not that we are lazy necessarily; it's just that we are hard-wired to see struggle as negative. In fact, we are pretty wired to see everything as negative. Looking at life from a "glass-half-empty" perspective saps your strength; it's exhausting. Then which hit those challenges and are faced with tasks you just don't want to do, you don't have the energy to power through.
In this episode, we once again tap into the wisdom of legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban. He points out that making the conscious decision to see the world in a positive light makes it so much easier to do the hard things required to achieve greatness.

Make the decision to be a champion, then make the small choices it takes to become one.

Becoming a champion on the football field doesn't just happen. Becoming one in the business world doesn't either. reaching the pinnacle of what you do (or even just getting really good) requires hard work and a certain amount of laserlike focus on the tasks required to get better and better along the way. The first step, however, is making the conscious decision that you are going to be a champion and not allowing anything you can control to block that path.
In this episode, we once again turn to Bama coach Nick Saban. He makes it very clear to his team on the first day of practice that they must decide right then and there if they intend to become a champion. Everything else builds on that decision.

It is not human nature to be great; you have to make it happen!

If you are like most of us, it gets harder and harder every day this week to stick to your New Year's Resolutions. If you can make it for a couple more weeks, your new habits will start to form. That's when real change begins. In the meantime, you are going to have setbacks and failures. You will then have a choice: either let them derail you or simply begin again and proceed forward.
In this episode, we once again turn to the wisdom of Alabama coach Nick Saban. So many of the tips and techniques he uses with his players to create championship teams apply equally to the pursuit of excellence in life.

Success comes from doing something each day that adds to your overall excellence

There is an old saying that if you could build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. That saying is flat-out wrong!!! There have been hundreds of "better" mousetraps designed over the years; most never made it to production and never made their inventors rich. Why? Because despite modern mythology to the contrary great ideas very seldom lead to massive success. The idea is the easy part, it's the day-to-day work that decides whether or not that idea leads to success.
This week, as a tribute to the College Football National Championships, we continue to take a look at some of the wisdom that makes Alabama coach, Nick Saban, the poster child for success on the gridiron. To be a champion on the field requires much the same discipline and toughness that it takes to be a champion off the field. (Sorry Georgia Fans, I am still looking for a good Kirby Smart quote that applies to the pursuit of success off the field.)

The pain of discipline or the pain of disappointment, you choose!

The new year is upon us and it is now time to put up or shut about those resolutions you set for this year. If you are truly committed to making this your best year ever, you have a choice to make. Do you make the sacrifices that you know you need to make to accomplish real change or do you continue to kick that can down the road?
In this episode, we turn to the world of sports. The Alabama Crimson Tide is once again playing for the national college football championship. Few would question whether or not Alabama has been the most dominant football program in the country for the last several years. It stems from their head coach, Nick Saban. Today, what he has to say about the choice we must make to be successful.

Don’t let setbacks and the doubts of others prevent your resolutions from becoming reality

The new year is here and the time to plan those resolutions is over. Over the past several episodes, we have mapped out just how to make sure those resolutions become reality. We have focused on looking for your deeper reason for wanting to make change. Knowing that will help you keep focus. We then looked into setting those resolutions and breaking them down into manageable parts. Now it's time to put all of that into practice.
As you pursue your resolutions, there are going to be ups and downs... successes and failures. In today's episode, we focus on how to not let those failures completely derail you. Ultimately, it does not matter what path you take to achieving your goals as long as you get to where you want to be.

You can’t swallow the whole elephant at once. The same applies to resolutions.

As we continue to ramp up towards New Year's Day, it's time to be finalizing those resolutions. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to make resolutions than it is to keep them. Over the last few episodes, we have discussed techniques to help ensure the success of this year's planned changes. First, we focused on the importance of understanding why the changes you want to make are so important to you. That allows you to focus on the end results rather than the action. Then we looked at using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Specific) to develop your resolutions.
Now that we have narrowed down on just what improvements you want to make in your life, the challenge is making it happen. In this episode, we look at how to break those resolutions into small bites that can easily be converted into small habits that add up to big changes.