Remember when you were a kid in your front driveway shooting hoops? Your mom calls you in for dinner. So, you have to be quick. You pretend it’s the National Championship, and there are only a few ticks left on the clock and your team is down by a point. At the last second your final shot goes up, and… you clank it off the back rim.

What were the next five words that came out of your mouth? “But wait, he was fouled!”

Am I right?

You continued, “Now he’ll go to the foul line with a chance to still win the game.” Be honest, if you missed the free throw, there were numerous “lane violations” that allowed you to keep shooting until you finally made the shot!

Here’s the question: Why did you do this?

The answer is simple: You wanted to leave the court feeling like a Winner!

As you grew older, the same became true in your life, because everyone wants to feel like a winner in all phases of life. Yet for most of us, because we are so influenced by “Madison Avenue” and are so caught up in the day-to-day scramble, we don’t know what winning looks like, much less how to create a Gameplan to achieve it.

I was no different. When I hit “halftime” in my own life’s game, I thought about how fast the first half went, how I was going to keep myself healthy during the second half, whether I could discover pursuits that would keep me energized and, most importantly, what I could do that would really make a difference in the world.

My life has been positively impacted with sports for decades, on many levels — from my playing days, to coaching and mentoring student athletes, to watching countless games and events after I became a parent. Sports and self-development are my passions and — although for the past 20 plus years I’ve worked as an attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota — like many of you, in the evenings I can usually be found on a field, at the rink or in a dugout. Serving my community as a youth coach and teaching young athletes life lessons through sports is very important to me.

Now I want to reach out and expand this message beyond my community to help sports fans of all ages to become winners in their own game of life.

To do so I rely upon sports, and the values and lessons they teach, as the stage to present a surprisingly easy-to-use yet wildly effective system that will forever change the way you look at, define, measure and run your life. Using sports as a metaphor, my program is founded upon scientifically-proven positive psychology practices and time-tested business and achievement principles.

In essence, I want to help others identify what winning means to them so they can play the game of their life and emerge victorious.

Here are just a few of the principles required for creating a winning life. Several could be key Resolutions for you in the new year!

* Develop a clear definition of Winning.

Quite simply, you feel like a Winner when you meet the standards and expectations you have set for yourself. When you feel like a winner, you become alive with ENERGY! Winners, therefore, are exceedingly aware of their standards and expectations, because they know they are the key to winning. The standards and expectations you adopt measure whether you win or lose — and produce the positive or negative emotions flowing from each. To be a winner, you must LEARN TO MANAGE EXPECTATIONS.

* Break out of the “complaining” rut!

If you’re not getting the outcomes you want in your life, don’t resort to whining, complaining, or blaming others. To be a winner, you must accept that YOU are completely responsible for your life and your future. To a winner, there are NO EXCUSES.

* Commit to exercising and improving your body.

Becoming healthy and fit is one of the most important components to becoming a winner. You must devote a part of your day to exercise, and making it your most important appointment of the day.

* “Worry” about your own game.

Winners evaluate their performance by developing standards based upon things solely within one’s control. Simply put, “Winners control the controllable.”

* Identify and “play to” your strengths.

Are you a risk taker? An able communicator? Trustworthy? Known for being efficient? Orderly? Persistent? Ingenious? Humorous? If you want to be a winner, you must brainstorm ways to capitalize on the things you do well (and that energize you) and incorporate these things into your personal and work life.

* Put only the best food onto your “training” table.

Become keenly aware of what you feed your body and your mind. Winners understand that their mind will feast on the last intellectual meal they feed it for the day, and therefore take care to make it a healthy one.

* Play with confidence.

Envision a dream you really want, then practice the components of the dream until you achieve success. Practicing will lead to actual accomplishment in a pressure situation and this actual accomplishment will give you confidence that you can do it again and again. Winners prepare for an event as if they are the underdog going into a championship game — they know that practice is the key to improving their confidence.

* Review your “plays of the day” and your own “highlight reels.”

Each night, ask yourself four important questions:

— What things am I most grateful for today?

— What am I most proud to have accomplished today?

— What am I looking forward to tomorrow?

— What will I emphasize for the following day?

* Improve your clock management.

What are your biggest time-wasters? Winners focus their efforts on the top 20 percent of their to-do list which gives them an 80 percent return on their effort. You should do the same.

* Make a great first impression in every setting.

Winners ALWAYS present themselves appropriately. Be on time. Remember people’s names. Smile sincerely. Be polite, and show respect.

* Become a great teammate.

FRIENDS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT FOR A LIFE WELL-LIVED. Create and improve upon your everyday relationships. Learn who your teammates and opponents are. because they will either fill you with or drain you of energy. You become the average of the five closest people in your life — so Winners choose their relationships wisely! Winners, whether they say it out loud or not, engage others with the question: “What can I do to help you?”

* Remember what truly matters.

Money, good looks, the admiration of others and material possessions DO NOT make you a winner.

* Make and keep promises to yourself and others.

Demonstrating impeccable personal integrity is the most critical character trait you can possess. To be a winner, you must exercise the discipline of integrity by being true to yourself and others, listening to your conscience in the moment of truth and consistently doing what you know to be the right thing. Learning these critical traits will establish you as a person who makes true the words you speak.

This system — so connected to the principles of sports — is provocative, practical, thought-filled and motivating. It’s for people who want to find out what Winning really means to them, and then to create a Gameplan to achieve it. No matter what your starting point, if you follow this process, you will find more happiness, satisfaction and meaning in both your personal and professional life.

Ken Rohlf says sports (when done right) can affect your life in positive ways. His books are: YOUR GREATEST VICTORY: Create a Game Plan for a Winning Life and WHAT MAKES GREAT COACHES GREAT? (A parent’s guide for youth sports coaches). Contact ken@yourgreatestvictory.com; http://www.yourgreatestvictory.com

Ken Rohlf says sports (when done right) can affect your life in positive ways. His books are: YOUR GREATEST VICTORY: Create a Game Plan for a Winning Life and WHAT MAKES GREAT COACHES GREAT? (A parent’s guide for youth sports coaches). Contact ken@yourgreatestvictory.com; http://www.yourgreatestvictory.com

Author Bio: Ken Rohlf says sports (when done right) can affect your life in positive ways. His books are: YOUR GREATEST VICTORY: Create a Game Plan for a Winning Life and WHAT MAKES GREAT COACHES GREAT? (A parent’s guide for youth sports coaches). Contact ken@yourgreatestvictory.com; http://www.yourgreatestvictory.com

Category: Sports
Keywords: The Influence of Sports, Winning in Life, Athletic Fitness, Teamwork, Your Top Strengths, Ken Rohlf