Tony Dungy’s book, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life is a must-read book. In it, he writes about his life, starting as a boy growing up in Jackson, Michigan, all the way through winning Super Bowl in 2007. While Coach Dungy obviously writes about life in the NFL, don’t make the mistake of thinking that’s all the book is about. Most importantly, Coach Dungy talks about the life lessons that have helped him consistently win in football and life.
Here is Tony Dungy’s advice for athletes.
The value of staying calm and communicating effectively, especially when things are going wrong.
Remembering my dad’s patience that day when Linden’s [Coach Dungy's brother] hook was caught in his ear, I finally understood the importance of staying calm and communicating effectively.
Things go wrong in our lives. It’s important that we stay calm, otherwise we make the situation worse. It’s also important that we communicate effectively. By not communicating effectively, it not only leaves a bad impression of us and makes bad situations worse.
Dealing with difficult times
What’s important is not the accolades and memories of success but the way you respond when opportunities are denied.
Things will go wrong at times. You can’t always control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response. Your options are to complain or to look ahead and figure out how to make the situation better.
By focusing on what we can do in response to adversity, such as our attitude, approach, and response, we can move on more quickly and grow more as an individual.
Hard work is more important than talent.
The truth is that most people have a better chance to be uncommon by effort than by natural gifts. Anyone could give that effort in his or her chosen endeavor, but the typical person doesn’t, choosing to do only enough to get by.
Here is one of the best coaches in the game saying hard work trumps talent. It’s important that we realize the truth of this, and give all our effort in everything we do.
Talk is cheap.
Actions speak louder than words. Winning would create greater potential for change than talk alone.
All the talk in the world doesn’t mean anything. Actions do.
How to respond to barely missing a goal:
The best solution for falling just short of the goal is to focus on the fundamentals but perform them better. Let’s face it: if your system or approach hadn’t been working, you wouldn’t have come so close.
When we fail at something, we feel a pressure to change things up. Don’t. You came close to accomplishing your goal for a reason. Just focus more on the little things, and you’ll succeed.
How to be a good leader:
…a good leader gets people to follow him because they want to, not because he makes them…
People don’t want to follow someone, or do something, they don’t believe in. Give them a reason to believe in you.
Sports are just a small part of life. Prepare for other challenges.
Once the game is over, it’s over. Life goes on and you prepare for the next challenge.
Many athletes think they have it made when they get into the NFL, MLB, NBA, whatever. We lose sight of the fact that the game doesn’t last forever. It’s important that we never lose sight of life after sports, and how to live life to the best of our ability.
How to deal with failure:
We’re not all going to reach the Super Bowl or the top of the corporate ladder, but we each have a chance to walk away from something saying, “I did the ordinary things as well as I could. I performed to the full limits of my ability. I achieved success.”
No one plans for failure, and we all fail at some time or another. However, don’t let that scare you from trying, or trying not as hard. As long as you give it 100% at all times, you have no reason to hang your head in shame.
Be punctual.
Be on time. Being late means either it’s not important to you or you can’t be relied upon.
If you can’t be counted on to show up on time to your commitments, how can someone trust you with bigger responsibilities?
Have expectations of yourself:
Be a pro. Act like a champion. Execute. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. Not almost. All the way. Not most of the time. All the time.
If you have expectations of yourself, and you hold your accountable to those expectations, you develop your personal character. If you can build a strong character, win, loss, or tie, you will always be a winner.
Give back to the community.
Coach Dungy is a huge force in communities throughout the United States, such as All Pro Dad. (All Pro Dad is an organization based on helping men become better fathers.) As athletes, we’re all role models, whether we believe it or not. Make a difference in your community and other peoeples’ lives by giving back in some way.
Live life on your own terms. Believe in yourself.
Throughout the book, Coach Dungy tells stories of how outside influences impacted him to question himself and his approach to life and football. He always continued to live life on his own terms. The book it titled “Quiet Strength” for a reason. You never see Coach Dungy losing his cool on the sidelines. At all times, realize that you can succeed while being yourself, and by trying to be or act like someone else, you’ll always be second best.
I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to buy and read Quiet Strength, because of the book’s great universal message.
Looking for more advice from athletes and coaches? Read Lou Holtz’s Advice for Athletes, a similar post I wrote based on a reading of Lou Holtz’s book: Wins, Losses, and Lessons. I conducted two interviews, one with rugby and strongman Ben Hanson, and one with grip strength champion Jedd “Napalm” Johnson.
