by: Karen Handel

For the majority of us fitness-business owners, we are in this business first and foremost for the love of the game. But, as we’ve all heard over and over, sometimes love just isn’t enough.  New challenges will inevitably present themselves, and in order to stay in this competitive business successfully, we must have our heads in it 24 hours a day.  Personally, I often wake up in the middle of the night trying to resolve any recent challenge that has presented itself.  This insomnia seems directly attributed to my difficulty in finding a clear perspective on my current challenge.  Our businesses, after all, were created from love, and ever since, blood, sweat and tears have been poured into them, so separating the emotion from the challenge solution is a perplexing challenge in and of itself.  But, I think I may have found a solution.

I recently watched an interview with Russia’s wealthiest citizen, Mikhail Prokhorov, who in 2010 purchased the worst team in the NBA, the New Jersey Nets. He describes business as a game, which is not uncommon, but, what intrigued me was that when asked about the overwhelming amount of stress he has in his life due to his businesses, he replied calmly, “I like stress, it is my competitive advantage.”  Now that is statement!

Think about that for a minute. Use the very fact that you have previously handled your past challenges, objectively, void of emotion, and ultimately successfully, to your competitive advantage.  When presented with new challenges we often forget we have proven ourselves before, and that we do already know, and have previously taken, the steps needed to take to gain a clear perspective and, thereafter, find our solution.  New challenges are inevitable, so why not embrace them, and the more we embrace and resolve them, the better we will become at facing new ones.  It is a competitive edge and preparedness that I believe most others do not have.

So I encourage all my fellow fitness-business owners that, when next confronted with a challenge, take a step back, regain your objective and unemotional perspective, enjoy the stress and let the others have the sleepless nights!

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The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party by: David Horowitz & Richard Poe

Book Description:

ABOUT SPORTS FOR DORKS

Sports for Dorks College Football provides ground-breaking, innovative content to readers seeking unique insights into the world of college football.

Co-edited by National Coach of the Year Mike Leach and Ferhat Guven, Sports for Dorks aims to address the information needs of college football fans who seek a deeper understanding about the game and its intricacies.

Sports for Dorks looks inside the mind of Mike Leach, asks why football coaches deserve to be paid more than the governors of their state, offers a solution that would make the BCS system actually work, and examines the rise of college football in Great Britain, of all places.

Readers learn why going for it on fourth down generates wins and why punting is, in most cases, a fool’s errand. The book also reveals how the no-huddle offense makes conventional defensive statistics irrelevant, why Davids pick on Goliaths, and how teams can improve recruiting outcomes “simply” by looking a prospect in the eye.

Intriguing, complex, cutting-edge, and provocative, this unique compilation is one of the smartest sports books to hit the market this year.

REVIEWS

“What do you get when you combine an astrophysicist, a world champion backgammon player, some respected economists and a few other brilliant minds? This fascinating book and the reason I’m hoping to watch Mike Leach on Saturdays instead of coach against him on Sundays.” -REX RYAN, Head Football Coach, New York Jets

“Sports for Dorks is an exciting collection of ideas and trends shaping the world of college football. Mike Leach proves, once again, that he is a step ahead of the rest.” -GIL BRANDT, former Vice President of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys, current Senior Analyst for NFL.com

“One man’s dork is another man’s intellectually curious, envelope pushing pioneer. Mike Leach is the most original thinker I’ve met in three decades as a sportswriter. With this provocative, nourishing, all-you-can-eat buffet of intriguing ideas, Leach reminds us why football needs him more than he needs football.” - AUSTIN MURPHY, senior writer, Sports Illustrated

Buy Your Copy Here!

Description:

SWING YOUR SWORD is the first ever book by one of the most fascinating and successful coaches in sports today. A maverick who took an unlikely path to coaching through law school, Mike Leach talks about his unorthodox approach to coaching and the choices that have brought him success throughout his career. A lover of the game who started creating formations and drawing his own plays as a kid, Leach took his Texas Tech Red Raiders to numerous bowl games, achieving the #2 slot in national rankings and being voted 2008 Coach of the Year.

Reviews:

I think he’s brilliant. Mike Leach is a renaissance man through and through. The commercials about the World’s Most Interesting Man—that’s Mike Leach. I love him so much. I aspire to live a full and rich life and he’s doing it. He’s as interested in literature as he is in football. He’s just a very complicated, well-rounded individual. He’s a real maverick and an inspiration.
-Peter Berg, filmmaker, director – Friday Night Lights

I could tell that our players liked him right away. What really struck me was how sure of himself of what he wanted to do. He had such conviction and confidence in his way of doing it and there wasn’t any second guessing it: “This is what we’re going to do. It is going to work. It has worked everywhere we’ve been.” I remember feeling great. This is exactly what we needed to do.
-Bob Stoops, Mike’s former boss at Oklahoma

He’s one of the most unique people I’ve ever met. He’s infinitely curious about everything. He doesn’t come in there and meet new situations with an agenda. He likes to walk straight up and ask the tough questions. He loves it when someone is real as can be. He wants to learn something new. He wants to hear another point of view on something. Mike Leach is an infinitely interesting guy. His free association is epic. Nobody has the ability to free associate like this guy. He starts going and you’re thinking, ‘O.K., where are you going with this?’ I love his re-set. His re-set line is always, ‘well, the thing is.’ Whenever he switches gears to another subject, that his comma, it’s ‘Well, the thing is. . . ‘
-Matthew McConaughey

Mike Leach has proved he can write a book that’s as good as his passing schemes. I might add that it also ranks up there with his leadership and communication skills. Don’t miss this eye-opening entertainment.
-Dan Jenkins

“Mike Leach is a great leader and an amazing motivator of men. And he got screwed. He’s got fantastic ingenuity, not only on the football field, but what he did with Texas Tech. The guy was on the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine as the head coach of Texas Tech. Think about how unusual that is. He is just so smart and really is a great guy, and a great coach.”
-Donald Trump

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This book is a great read and an important one for many coaches to read. A quick read the book discusses the inception of the great wishbone offense in the late 1960’s. Always an enjoyment to understand how this game has developed and changed over the last hundred years.

The book is about Key West colorful former mayor and is well worth the time and money if you are a Buffett fan, Key West tourist, Red Raider fan, pirate, old movie fan or McMurry Indian in need of a laugh. Very entertaining although the first two chapters I found tedious but probably only because I know a lot of excitement was coming. Captain Tony led a very colorful life and I recommend this book highly.

Oh yea the co-author Brad Manard is a school superintendent from Iowa.

The book not only talks about football but the path that delivered Coach Bryant from Moro Bottom, Arkansas to the sport and some amazing stories that he choose to share with us. Everyone knows the success and the value that Coach Bryant had on the game of football but the inside stories will provide entertainment value to the reader.

Chapter Eight – “The first thing a football coach needs when he is starting out is a wife who is willing to put up with a whole lot of neglect. The second thing is at least a five year contract. He needs five years so he can set up his program and surround himself with people who are winners, people who believe in what he is trying to do. And so he can weed out the hangers-on and the politicians who can’t help.”

Well said back in the early 1970’s and could not be truer in today’s football world. Bear’s book is filled with stories from early life in Arkansas, to the Bluegrass state of Kentucky and on to the Crimson Tide. Of course when Coach Mumme was at Kentucky there was always the talk of how we ran off Bear Bryant after he won the SEC championship and so did Rupp (basketball coach). How you ask? They gave Rupp a Cadillac with whitewall tires and Bear got a cigarette lighter! Straight from the book a story that had been told in Lexington was put to paper in Bear’s book.

I could go on and on and to this day this book sits on the shelf in my office. Now to find this book may take a little work. The first place to look is on Amazon where I found mine for $3.99. Good Luck and happy reading.

So as our first review we spotlight June Mumme’s accomplishments and honor all of those who have lost loved ones to this terrible disease.