Gold Medal Blog

Setting priorities.  To prioritize things means to lend great importance to one thing over something else.  We prioritize our time.  We prioritize our money.  We prioritize our relationships and our attention.  When I look at priorities, I usually see two issues.  The first issue usually centers around what we say is important.  For each person this is different.  But you can usually tell what a person deems important by seeing where they spend their time and their money.  I choose to spend my time with my family.  Why?  Because they are important to me.  I value their time and the time I get to spend with them.  I've had to learn hard lessons since having kids that sometimes I have to give up some of the things I want to do in order to prioritize my time with them.  There are other relationships in my life that are important, but none that are more important to me than those with my family.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that if I can committed to them, then I have to commit t

No one wants to talk about patience.  We don't have time for that.  In our fast paced, highly competitive world, patience is a character trait of the weak.  If we want to win we have to go, go, go!!  We are always looking towards the next thing.  While keeping our eyes forward is important, the fast paced hustle and bustle can cause us to miss the moment. I read an article a couple of years ago about anxiety.  The article compared anxiety levels in teenagers today.  The study stated that the average teenager today carries the same level of anxiety as a mental patient from the 1950s.  This statistic blew my mind.  As I examined why this was true and how I could help, I realized how this world we have created adds so much stress into our lives that the ability to find peace is almost non existent.  We work 40 hours a week.  But then when we get home we answer emails from the boss or text messages from a coworker.  We turn on the news.  We see war, famine, drought, devastation.  We sc

When Tom Coughlin took over as head coach of the New York Giants in 2004 he made some changes to the way the Giants approached their day.  His expectation was that when a meeting was scheduled or someone was supposed to be there, that person needed to be there and be ready to go at least 5 minutes prior to the arranged time.  His mantra was that being "on time" was late.  And being early was being on time.  While initially there was some resistance in the team, Coughlin eventually won them over to his way of thinking.  Being on time was a matter of respect for oneself and your teammates and it was a measure of responsibility.  After all, if I can't trust you to be on time, how can I trust you to win a football game?   When it comes to our students, we have a duty to help them to see the value in being on time.  It is about respect and responsibility.  We are working with kids to help them to develop skills they will need in the real world.  And being punctual is a real wo