“Am always follows do in American culture.” – Alex Himaya, Senior Pastor, theCHURCH.at

I was sitting in church a couple weeks ago, and when our pastor said this, I knew I had to include it in this post.  I don’t think it’s a profound statement, but I do think it points out a troubling truth. Our culture tends to define us by our accomplishments.  We see it all the time.  Let’s use Dan Marino as a quick, easy example. Dan Marino is arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, but every time the debate comes up, the first argument against Marino is the fact that he never won a Super Bowl.  The critics ask, “How can he be the greatest if he never won a Super Bowl?”  Really?!  Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl, and if I had to pick between the two, I’d take Marino every time (no offense, Trent).

“If you ain’t first, you’re last.” – Ricky Bobby

The problem, as Pastor Alex went on to point out, is that our culture has it all wrong.  The ‘do’ should be a result of the ‘am.’ As in, I “do” these things because I “am” _____, instead of I “am” _____ because I have “done” (or accomplished) these things.  I’ve been a big believer in this for a few years now, but I didn’t really know that I believed in it.  Let me explain…

For the last eleven years I’ve read books written by successful coaches in order to try to learn from their careers. Along the way I have discovered that one of my favorite authors is the late John Wooden. One thing that has always amazed me about Wooden is the fact that he never talked about winning. If you are unaware of Wooden’s accomplishments, that last statement might have missed you, so let me explain the significance.  He never talked about winning, yet his UCLA teams still managed to win 10 NCAA basketball championships! How is that even possible?

Wooden emphasized “the process.”  In my own simple, watered-down explanation, what he did was create a list of things that champions do, and he and his players took to doing them as well as they could.  The end result was a college basketball dynasty.

As a young coach, I knew that Wooden’s ideas were worth building a career around. The problem was that I had no idea how to verbalize what I really wanted to be about, and I did not know how to go about teaching those ideas in a logical, systematic way. I tried for the first eight years of my coaching career to teach kids about “the process,” but I always felt like I could have done better. I just didn’t quite know how.

Then I accepted a job at Union High School.

I am so blessed to work at Union and to be mentored by our head football coach, Kirk Fridrich.  As I interviewed for this job, “Coach Fred,” as most of us call him, did not ask me one question about football. Again, let me explain the significance of that statement. Union’s football program is recognized as one of the elite programs in the nation.  Since 2002, Union has won 7 Oklahoma 6A State Championships.  At the time of my interview, they had just won their third consecutive state championship, and during our 90-minute interview, he did not ask me a single question about football.  It was all about fit.  He wanted to know if I would fit into and teach the “Live Like A Champion” philosophy that drives his program.

Thankfully, he brought me on board.

As soon as I arrived in Tulsa, I was indoctrinated into a culture that I had never seen before. I quickly realized that this was what I was trying to verbalize for the first 8 years of my career.  Championships are important at Union, but our kids know and are continuously reminded that it’s not about trying to win championships.  Instead, it’s about living like champions.

Champions act a certain way in their classes.  Champions treat their parents, teachers, and coaches a certain way.  Champions serve others.  Champions work hard.  Champions learn from their mistakes. Champions are different.

The list of traits goes on and on, and we teach those things on a regular basis. We want our kids to have an internal voice that says, “I am a champion, and because I am a champion I choose to (or not to) ______.” We believe that by making these types of decisions and by choosing to live like champions, our student-athletes will win championships not only on the field, but also (and more importantly) in life.

“The score takes care of itself.”  -Bill Walsh

Recently, I’ve been reading Alex Himaya’s latest book*, and in it he continues to address some of this by saying that the difference between motives can be found in “because” and “so that.” That perfectly sums up what we are teaching our kids at Union.  We live a certain way because we are champions, not so that we will become champions. We are not trying to do certain things in order to win championships. Championships just happen to be a tremendous by-product of the way we choose to live.

One of the things I love about being an educator is that you often internalize the things you are teaching your students, and “Live Like A Champion” definitely falls into that category.  I ask myself questions such as, “How would a champion teach this particular class?” or “How would a champion raise his kids in this situation?” Then I try to apply the answer to my life.  As a result of trying to apply this concept to my life, I have become a better father, husband, teacher, and coach.

Now, what about you? Are you living like a champion?  Are you leading like a champion? Are you a champion in the classroom? Are you a champion in your home and with your family? Are you a champion in your place of business? Are you a champion on the court or on the field? If not, stop wasting time. You most likely know what a championship dad, mom, teacher, student or (insert role here) looks like. Make a decision to be that person, and start living like a champion today!

Feel free to leave comments on this blog, but let’s try to keep them positive (or at least constructive). I’d love to hear how you are choosing to “Live Like A Champion” in your life or how you’ve seen others doing it in their lives.

* “Jesus Hates Religion: Finding Grace in a Works-Driven Culture” by Alex Himaya. It’s a wonderful book that I would definitely recommend.