Hi Team,
Super Bowl 51 is coming up next weekend – the Championship for the American version of Football! There are many facets to a great football team, beyond talent… It’s teamwork. There was a coach named Vince Lombardi who was until recently the winningest coach in football. I’ve read his biography several times (if you’re interested in a copy let me know). His dedication and single-minded focus on achieving excellence were remarkable. Suffice to say, only your very best was good enough for him. He was a master motivator with a gift for summarizing his beliefs into great quotes.
As you know I’m a big fan of quotations, so I’ve put together a list of some of my favorites of his, by topic. I have an eight-year-old son and we watch a lot of football together. Last week, I had the following quote stenciled in big letters on the wall in his bedroom next to the logo of his favorite team: “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” I hope you find one or more of these quotes inspiring; share them with someone who needs to be uplifted or reminded about what is important. I’ll leave you all with my favorite Lombardi quote, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
Have a great weekend… and please enjoy:
Teamwork
“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses or the problems of modern society.”
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
Commitment
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
“Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”
“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
“I would say that the quality of each man’s life is the full measure of that man’s commitment of excellence and victory – whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you.”
Success/Sacrifice
“Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
“To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.”
“Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.”
“Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.”
“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”
Discipline
“I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline”.
“There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.”
“Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”
“The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.”
“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
“Once you have established the goals you want and the price you’re willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.”
Will to Win
“The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel – these are the things that endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events that occasion them.”
“There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do.”
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”
“You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn’t mean a thing. That’s for the fans. You’ve got to win the war with the man in front of you. You’ve got to get your man.”
“If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.”
Leadership
“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
“It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
“Leadership is based on a spiritual quality — the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.”
“Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.”
“Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity – having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.”
“A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the community.”
Excellence
“….I firmly believe that any man’s finest hours – his greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
“The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel — these are the things what will endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves.”
“They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them…you show them the reasons.”
“After all the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written, and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and after all the pomp and fanfare have faded, the enduring thing that is left is the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”
Mental Toughness
“If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.”
“Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.”
“Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it ‘character in action.’”
“Mental toughness is essential to success.”
Habit
“Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.”
“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
“Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a competitor will recognize both.”
“If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t belong here.”
Faith
“I believe in God.”
“I derived my strength from daily mass and communion.”
Passion
“It is and has always been an American zeal to be first in everything we do, and to win…”
“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.”
“To be successful, a man must exert an effective influence upon his brothers and upon his associates, and the degree in which he accomplishes this depends on the personality of the man. The incandescence of which he is capable. The flame of fire that burns inside of him. The magnetism which draws the heart of other men to him.”
Results/Winning
“Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization…”
“Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.”
“Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”
“Success demands singleness of purpose.”
“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”
“Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while…you don’t do the right thing once in a while…you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”
Truth
“The object is to win fairly, by the rules – but to win.”
“Morally, the life of the organization must be of exemplary nature. This is one phase where the organization must not have criticism.”