​​When someone is seen as being "determined", they are seen to have "resolve".  If you look at the word "determination", you see the word "termination".  Both "termination" and "resolve" refer to "completing" something or "an ending".  When we say we are "determined" or that we have "determination", we are saying that we will take something to its full completion.  We will stick to it until it is done.  Determination doesn't mean that we will only stay with it until it gets hard or difficult or boring or uncomfortable or when we lose interest in it.  Determination keeps going when we want to stop.  Determination doesn't feel.  Determination keeps going when we don't feel like we can keep going.  When we have a hard conversation with someone and we are willing to stay engaged until we find a resolution, then that is determination.  When we find ourselves in a situation where most people quit or give up, determination is a tool in our toolbox that we use to help us finish the job.  Determination is what helps us persevere when others quit.

The word "motivation" comes from the Latin root "movere" which means "to move".  We all need motivation in order to move us from behaving, feeling or thinking a specific way (often not the way we want), to move us to behaving, feeling or thinking a better or more desirable way.  When we begin something like a New Year, new semester, new season, new workout plan, new eating plan, new study routine, new spiritual plan, we usually don't have a problem because we just started.  We moved already to start the plan.  But over time, we lose motivation.  We lose a desire to continue to move.  We become stagnant.  In order to succeed in life, we need to be intentional about moving.  NIKE came out with a marketing campaign a few decades ago and it has become a part of our everyday language.  It is three simple words and the words simply encourage us to move.  Every NIKE add for the past thirty years plays into our emotions and often give us motivation to do something.  NIKE understood that people are naturally unmotivated.  Instead of telling us to buy their shoes, they tell us to move ... so we go and buy their shoes.  Today is a great day to see where in your life you need to move more.  We need to move from being in the same place you were yesterday or right now, to where you want to be.  Move to do more.  Move to do different.  Just Move.  Just Do It.

​You can't stop the rain.  Weather is above our pay grade and completely out of our control.  You can stop getting wet, but you can't stop the rain.  You can grab an umbrella and use it to keep you dry, but you can't stop the rain from falling from the sky.  As humans, we spend a lot of time worrying about things that we have little or absolutely no control over.  Unfortunately, we also spend a lot less time than we should paying attention to the things that we have complete control over.  We can't stop the rain but we can put on a rain jacket and tie our shoes a little tighter and jump over some puddles as we make a conscious decision to not let the rain keep us from working toward our goals.  ​

Sport Happens (what did you think the word was?).  The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson had an amazing 2019 regular season.  Most people had already crowned them a Superbowl Championship team or at least a Superbowl participant, before the playoffs started.  Then they lost their first playoff game and they were done.  What happened?  Sports Happened.  Sports are more than muscle and technique.  Games are won or lost by more than speed, agility and quickness.  The biggest athlete doesn't always win.  The most athletic person doesn't always hoist the trophy.  Sports are more than robots or merely a compilation of statistics that can be entered into a computer and spit out a winner.  Sports involve human beings and human beings are completely emotional.  Emotions can either fuel an athlete or distract them from their goals.  Emotions can either control an athlete or they can be controlled by the athlete.  Sports (and life) Happen but we can either allow our emotions to allow sports (or life) to happen to us or we can learn to control and manage our emotions so that we make sports (and life) happen for us.

​Babies are seen as being immature.  Who can blame them, they are babies.  Toddlers are seen as immature when they act like babies.  Teenagers are seen as immature when they act like toddlers.  College students are seen as immature when they fail to exercise self-control.  By the time we are full blown adults, we no longer have an excuse of being immature because we should have the ability to demonstrate an appropriate level of self-control.  Self-control refers to using our minds to make choices to behave properly.  Babies don't have that ability.  Toddlers and Teenagers have it but in limited capacity.  We now all have the ability to control our urges, emotions, anxiety, tempers or other natural impulses.  We are no longer like an abandoned ship on the stormy sea with no captain or crew to control the rudder or the sail.  That ship is tossed by the wind and the waves and is eventually put at risk to sink.  We should never abandon ourselves and we should always be the captain of our own ship, and stay on board, with a full crew around us who can not only help us to sail the ship, but throw down an anchor to secure us through the storm, if needed.   

​Today will be either a "good day" or a "bad day".  Today will contain both successes and failures.  If we were to keep count, we either had more of one than the other OR we view specific successes or failures to carry more weight than others.  Today will be full of all kinds of actions and circumstances and behaviors and we both consciously and subconsciously evaluate those moments as either successes or failures or "good" or "bad" or "wins" or "losses".  What should our response be tomorrow?  If we have a good day (success), then we should use that positive experience as fuel and as momentum to have more success and an even better day tomorrow.  However, if we had a bad day (failure), then we can either have a bad attitude and tomorrow will be repeated and possibly worse OR we can see tomorrow as a new day.  A clean slate.  A "do over".  Better yet, we can choose to learn and move forward and be better.   We have a choice to respond appropriately to our circumstances and not merely allow them to dictate our life. 

​Temptation is not a bad thing.  Temptation is the opportunity to do what is right or correct.  Fear is not a bad thing.  Fear is an opportunity to trust.  Stress is not a bad thing.  Stress is a demand placed on our mind and body and that demand often allows us to improve and to become better.  Rejection is not a bad thing.  Rejection is a "redirection" toward something that will be better for us.  Challenges in our lives are not a bad thing.  Challenges provide an opportunity to learn the skill of resilience which is the most valuable skill a person can acquire.  We can choose to be limited by our current and past circumstances by how we label and define those circumstances OR we can define our life by choosing our attitude and the manner in which we view our circumstances.

​As Jan Term classes end this week and students begin to make decisions on how to spend Jan Term break, most have a plan.  Sure, there are some that have "no plan", but that, in essence, is their plan.  Others haven't gotten around to a plan yet and figure that they will make a decision when the time comes.  That works, for some, but it isn't the most efficient use of time.  When it comes to road trips, few rational people simply get in the car and start driving aimlessly, hoping that they arrive to their destination at some point later that day.  Some have better plans than others.  Where to stop for food or a bathroom break (Starbucks are much better than the Exxon)?  Where to fill up with gas?  How long it will take?  The best route to avoid traffic or poor weather conditions?  Unfortunately, GPS has ruined a lot of the planning and has resulted in a lot of people to simply use the Waze app as their "plan".  Showing up to practice and simply doing things (ie - following the coaches directions) with the hope of "arriving" at a specific destination is as flawed of a plan as getting in a car and simply driving without a direction or destination in mind.  As practice begins, athletes should come to each practice with a plan.  What do you want the result to be at the end of practice?  Work harder than you have ever worked before?  Learn something new?  Do things more intentionally?  Be more focused?  Be more coachable?  Be more encouraging to TEAMmates?  Get more uncomfortable? Believe in yourself more and take more risks and accept that failure is not failure but simply a step closer to success?  "Wanting" to be "better" is not a goal.  It is more of a wish than a plan.  With no classes today to bog you down, take a moment and plan out your practice and you will get closer to your season goals today.