MM#102 -- March Madness SPECIAL -- Coach K's Prayer

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser. 

Hello, I'm David and welcome back to another special Mojo minute March Madness style. In our last Mojo minute, we talked about John wooden's wisdom, and that he is perhaps the greatest college basketball coach in the 20th century. And so once you answer that question, you would naturally ask the next logical follow up question. Well then who is the greatest college basketball coach so far in the 21st century, and pretty much at this stage that unanimous His name is Mike chef ski. And he has coached the Duke Blue Devils since 1980. And that is going to be today's Mojo Minute Book of the day. Way back in 1997, he wrote a book called leading with the heart, Coach K successful strategies for basketball business in life. 

And I'm going to start reading from that book now. One day in early 1995, just before I took the rest of the season off, I was sitting in my office, reviewing videotapes of an up and coming opponent. When I received a phone call from my mom, Hi, Mike. She said, I don't want to bother you or take up too much of your time. No, Mom, I said, you can bother me every second of every day. When have you ever bothered me? I don't remember the rest of the conversation. What I do remember is that after I hung up the phone, I cried. You stupid idiot. I said to myself, your mom's 83 years old? How can she feel that way? As observant as I am about people, I wasn't observant about myself. I didn't spend enough time with the people who loved me the most. And so I was into I was so into achieving that I was driving them away. I was alone. It was stupid of me. So here, I was approaching age 50. And my mom had taught me one of life's most valuable lessons. And she didn't need a whole team to get my attention. Rather than telling me I wasn't taking enough time for my family, she simply use the word bother. I don't want to bother you. Jim Valvano had tried to tell me the same thing just before he died. Don't screw it up, Mike. He said, Well, I had screwed it up. But now I knew better. And besides, my mom didn't raise a dummy. I know, it'll never happen again. And now when our team is participating in a tournament, I'll get everybody together after the game, and our hotel room and I'll look them in the eyes. Don't forget, if you always look your players in the eyes, whether it's a victory or defeat, you're going to get the most out of your profession. Okay, guys, I'll say, Here's your schedule for tomorrow. Now you're going to get hit by a lot of autograph seekers and all that. But don't spend time with them until you have acknowledged the important people in your life. You go right to your mother and give her a hug. If your mom was not here, go call her. share the moment with her or your father, who or whoever is important in your life. Now go be with your families. That was a huge lesson to learn. For me. I felt lucky to have my mom do that for me. Because from that point on, I have never forgotten that I needed to spend most of my time with the people who count most of my life, my family. 

And now we're going to fast forward to the end of this chapter to bring home this point. Back to the book. A few weeks after my mom passed away I received a package from my brother Bill, who had been going through her things in her apartment. He had found a ledger that he felt I should have it contained a list written down in my mom's handwriting of every game my teams have played while I was a head coach. It covered a period of 20 years. Starting with my first game at West Point and ending with the last game we have played to Duke each entry contain the date, the name of the opponent the final score. or an L or a W, for a loss or a win. I never knew she was keeping that ledger. And also in the package was my mother's rosary. And now before every game, I put her rosary in my shirt pocket, so that it's close to my heart.
And when our team is warming up on the court, when I'm all alone, I'll put my hand over my shirt pocket and say a prayer in honor of my mom. I asked God to look out for her. And I say, quote, Please, God, help me to do my best helped me to be myself, and helped me to lead with my heart. 

All right. If you don't have a box of Kleenex close by, then be sure to press pause, pause, and we'll wait for you to get him. For that story was a gut check, wasn't it? Especially for the guys in the audience. Seriously, though, and today's Mojo minute, let us get our priorities in life. Correct. As Coach K would say, first is your God. Get that relationship right? And then is your family Family is very important. And let me add both of these things is a sure recipe to live a flourishing life. And as we enjoy the games today, may we also echo Coach K's and his prayer. Please, God helped me to do my best. Help me to be myself. And help me to lead with my heart.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on