Leadership in EveryDay Life

This month’s topic for PoolSynergy is “Life Lesson Application.” I.e., an activity, training, or experience outside of the world of billiards, and how that could be applied to help a person's pool game.

I have studied the mental part of pool (i.e., competing) for many years to help my game. I happily found out that improving mental toughness in pool helped me in everyday life, also. The same thing happened in reverse when I learned about leadership.

In 2001, I was accepted into a 2-year leadership course where I work. My classmates & instructors read leadership books, discussed the important points of the books, took classes, and worked on projects.

Leadership is now encapsulated into my everyday life. I love leadership and all that it entails. I recognized how important leadership is not only at work, but in everyday life (relationships, home life, and competing in tournaments). Additionally, the leadership lessons helped me handle interesting and sometimes difficult situations when I helped run the Ladies Tour for 9 years. You can imagine with 200 female members that all different types of “situations” would come up, lol.

Learning, improving, and reminders about Leadership in my everyday life lead directly to becoming a better pool player. Competing is about confidence, mental toughness, and attitude. So is leadership. How to handle obstacles, difficult situations, and differing personalities relates to leadership; and also to competing.

Quotes:

Every leadership quote I see, read, or hear, I relate to pool without even realizing it. I automatically notice if it can be related to mental toughness. I would read the leadership books to help me be a better leader at work, but realized I related the topics to pool competitions.

There is a “Quote of the Week” display on the elevator at work and sometimes they resonate so loudly about mental toughness. Of course, sometimes they have nothing to do with how it can relate to pool, but more times than not, they are awesome, gentle reminders about mental toughness. Here are some examples. See how these leadership quotes directly relate to your pool journey:

• “Lessons that are bitter to learn usually are sweet to know.”
• “You are the only one who can use your ability. It is an awesome responsibility.”
• “The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will always be able to see farther.”

I get emails all the time from fellow course-mates suggesting great leadership articles. While some are about the typical Manager versus Leader, others can easily relate to competing in pool and mental toughness. I read them for leadership help but I also notice how they relate to me personally about playing pool. Someone sent me a link the other day to a website that provides a plethora of inspirational quotes from various leaders of the past and present. Check it out at: http://www.greatquotesmovie.com/ and see how many of the quotes can be related to being a better player.

Here is an example from the website that I immediately relate to competing in pool: "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." -Henry Ford.

Articles:

I receive weekly emails from Zig Ziglar. He is a motivational speaker and writer and every week these great emails contain awesome quotes and articles. I always scan the email for mental toughness-related reminders.

Just the other day, there was an article entitled, “The Often Overlooked Ingredient for Winning More.”

This leadership article starts off with: “It’s the one thing every one of us is familiar with, the one thing we’re able to accomplish, and even the one thing we have done our whole life. Yet, when it comes to winning, many of us lose so much because of this one key ingredient. Amazingly, you’re doing it right now, but are you doing it to win?

If you study winners, over-achievers, the movers, the shakers, the top percentage in any class - regardless of gender, race, age, or religion, you will find a constant thread that’s so common it’s almost scary. And here’s where the really scary part comes in. The ones who are not part of the over-achievers group are actually partaking in this common thread even more, yet they’re not reaping the benefits. Now that’s insulting, unfair, and downright cruel. But it’s all by choice, our choice!

The ingredient I’m speaking of is Managed Pain. Huh? Yes, let me explain. We’ve all heard “No Pain, No Gain,” but it’s interesting to note when you study the core differences between winning and losing you will not discover a lack of talent, knowledge, brilliance, hard work, or raw skill. What you will find is those who consistently win have learned how to manage the pain they face on the way.

I’m referring to pain as anything that’s not pleasurable, such as; inconvenience, change, effort, sweat, boredom, confusion, loneliness, fear, etc. Winners realize pain for the proper purpose is productive. You see, all of us will go through a lot of pain in life. Winners spend more of their time going through pain that aligns with their goals, their vision, or their purpose.

Did you know when you grasp the idea that pain is part of the process you can instantly win more out of life than you’ve ever imagined?”

If you love pool, mental toughness, improving, and competing as much as I do, then you will completely understand why the leadership article above resonates to your core.

Everywhere I go, anything I read, if it can even remotely relate to mental toughness, improving, and competing, I savor it, keep it, and thrive on it.