eburke's blog

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May 5, 2005

eat your vegetables

i recently found out that a number of players on the football team i coach and other students at the school are reading my blog. because of this, i have decided that it is now my responsibility to divulge the secrets of life in this forum. and, i like to hear myself talk.

aside: my only hope is that my players are spending as much time lifting and getting in shape for the upcoming season as they are reading my blog. if i were find out that they are not lifting because they're sitting at home eating cheetos, reading blogs, and playing solitaire (they'll say they were "doing research"), then as a coach it would be my responsibility to change this. maybe i would have them do two gassers for every day of lifting missed.

of course, since my players would NEVER miss lifting (ahem), i am merely speaking hypothetically.

now, on to life secrets. these posts will be in no particular order, so please don't think that secret #1 is the be-all-end-all and the others are just the "miss congeniality" of life secrets.

life secret #1: control what you can control and let go of the rest

when i was younger, i was terrible at this. i am not particularly good at it now, but i'm improving. the bottom line is, you can't control most things in life -- the weather, other people's behavior, other people's opinions of your clothes, your kids' sleep habits (inside joke), your players showing up for lifting, referees, the way a football bounces, etc.

the things you CAN control, however, are much more important:

• your effort level -- never be outworked by the competition
  
• your preparation -- do your homework in any situation
  
• your level of commitment to a particular task -- do what you say you will do
  
• your discipline -- do what you are supposed to do
  
• your reaction when things go differently than you expect
  
• your behavior toward others
  
• following the law -- anarchy is overrated
  

so before you go off worrying about how to make it stop raining or how to make the referees start calling holding on the other team as they rip your jerseys off, get this list down pat. i'm sure you'll be much happier.

(of course, this post is dripping with irony because in a way, i'm trying to control other people's behavior by writing this list. in the coaching circles we call it "mentoring" and "guidance". tomato, tom-ah-to. in any case, if people don't do what i say here i will TRY to control my reaction to it; however, i will probably still dish out gassers. like i said, i'm still not particularly good at following my own advice.)

Posted by eburke at May 5, 2005 3:25 PM

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