Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

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Success and Purpose

?Successful people have a sense of direction and purpose ? they know where they?re going. They set goals, accomplish them, and then set new goals. They accept and enjoy challenges.? (Urban, Hal, Life?s Greatest Lessons or 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know, Great Lessons Press, Redwood City, CA, 1997, pp. 5,6)

Urban on Success and Learning

?Successful people have a strong desire to learn: about life, the world, and themselves. They see learning as a joy, not a duty. They continually enrich their lives by learning new things and improving themselves. They are always discovering, always growing.? (Urban, Hal, Life?s Greatest Lessons or 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know, Great Lessons Press, Redwood City, CA, 1997, pp. 5,6)

Success and Action

?Successful people are action-oriented. They get things done because they?re not afraid of hard work, and they don?t waste time. They use it in constructive ways. They don?t get into ruts or become bored because they?re too busy looking for new experiences.? (Urban, Hal, Life?s Greatest Lessons or 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know, Great Lessons Press, Redwood City, CA, 1997, pp. 5,6)

Success and Personal Conduct

?Successful people maintain high standards in their personal conduct. They know that honesty is one of the main ingredients in the character of a good person.? (Urban, Hal, Life?s Greatest Lessons or 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know, Great Lessons Press, Redwood City, CA, 1997, pp. 5,6)

Carlyle on Becoming All You Can

?Let each become all that he was created capable of being.? (Thomas Carlyle, Historian and Prolific writer)

Life as a Series of Problems

Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? (M. Scott Peck)

Dell on Making a Difference

"You can make a mistake by saying 'I want to be successful' or 'I want to make a lot of money.' That's the wrong goal. The right goal is 'I've got something I'm excited about, and I think I can make a difference in a unique way." (Dell computer founder Michael Dell, CosmoGirl, April 2004, p. 120.)

Stardom No Solution

"I think I always thought being a star would make everything okay. Make you loved, make you this or that. But as time went on I found out that just wasn't true." (Hal Riddle, 83 year old retired actor, Entertainment Weekly, 9/19/03, p. 56)

Coach Belichick Overcomes Failure

Failure: The Pathway to Success How One Football Coach Handled Failure This story of Bill Belichick, the super-successful head coach of the New England Patriots, should encourage all who of us who struggle with failure. Bill the Failure The Cleveland Browns' head coach was one unpopular guy. In five years he'd produced only one winning season. As if losing games wasn't bad enough, he traded Cleveland's favorite quarterback. The press crucified him. At games, fans would chant, "Bill must go! Bill must go!" Bumper stickers called him an idiot. It got so bad that his children couldn't ride the bus to school because of other students' cruel comments. He received so many death threats that the police had to stake out his home. He endured for four long years. But in the end, he probably did well to escape Cleveland with his life. From One Failure to Another After such a horror story in Cleveland, you might wonder why anyone would risk repeating it. But Bill loved football. At age nine he was already scouting teams with his dad and studying film of teams. His dad didn't push him into coaching. It was his passion. In school and at home he incessantly talked football, studied football and dreamed up plays. And getting older didn't put out his fire for the game. So he refused to give up. When things got tough, he just worked harder. But it takes more than football knowledge to be a head coach. Maybe Bill didn't have what it takes to motivate players, deal with the public, and chat with the press. So everyone, including Bill, must have worried that his next head coaching job might be a repeat of the last. But he took the chance by accepting the invitation to lead the New England Patriots. The first year looked like another failure - a dismal 5 wins and 11 losses, the same record as his last season in Cleveland. On Top of the World But he still refused to give up. Rather than believe the crowds and the press in Cleveland, rather than listen to the detractors who doubted him in New England, he kept on working. He learned from his failures. And behind the scenes, he was building a coaching staff and a team for the future. Not a team built around a couple of flashy superstars, but a team of dedicated players who worked as a team, thought as a team and got credit as a team. And it worked. Today, Bill Belichick is universally acknowledged as a brilliant strategist - one of the top coaches to ever coach pro football. His Patriots are one of only two teams to have ever won three Super Bowls in four years. Two of his Super Bowl defensive game plans are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His Patriots dominate the world of professional football, having won five straight division titles (six overall). As I write, they stand undefeated in their regular season - a feat equaled by only one other team in pro football history. Now they've won the playoffs and are on the way to yet another Super Bowl. But it could have never happen had he thrown in the towel after five humiliating years in Cleveland and a horrid first year in New England. So if you watch the Super Bowl this Sunday, you'll see coach Bill Belichick standing on the sidelines. No matter who ultimately wins, remember the criticism he had to overcome to get to the Super Bowl and be encouraged to hang in there, no matter what you're going through. Reflections Have you ever failed? Do certain subjects or skills or sports elude your grasp? Don't give up! When people put you down, remember how the newspapers, radio and TV commentators put down Belichick. When they laugh at you, remember the bumper stickers that read, "Belichick is an idiot!" When you go through weeks and months of failure, remember his years of failure. I suppose you could say that the road to success is often paved with failures. Biblical Principles 1. Hang in there when things get tough. (I Corinthians 15:58) 2. Stand your ground, in spite of the pressure. (Daniel 3:13-18) 3. No matter how bad things get, God can bring victory. (Philippians 4:13) Discussion 1. In what ways did Bill Belichick fail? 2. In what ways did people reject him? 3. How would you have felt if you were rejected in the same way? 4. What do you think kept him going? 5. How have you faced rejection? 6. How do you know when to quit and when to keep going? 7. How can we overcome failure? 8. How can our faith help us to overcome failure? End Notes [Copyright December, 2007 by Steve Miller and Legacy Educational Resources ( www.character-education.info and www.youth-ministry.info ). Facts from The Education of a Coach, by David Halberstam (New York: Hyperion, 2005) and Wikipedia on Bill Bellichick.]

Success as a Lousy Teacher

Success is a lousy teacher. It makes smart people think they can't lose. -Bill Gates

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