The Huddle

Good morning! The Huddle has a new look. More on the reasons why below. Let us know what you think.

It was one of those “where were you?” moments in my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the middle of August and it was hot. Football practice was just beginning. One of our coaches was late arriving and he had a look of concern. I knew something was wrong, even as a 12-year old. Once we finished our stretching, Coach Stover (he was one of those guys that didn’t have a kid playing, just wanted to give back to our little community as a youth coach. We need more of his type.) called us all together. “Boys, I’ve got some real tough news for you. Elvis Presley died today.”

I don’t remember any of us boys being all that upset. We thought the Bee Gees and KC & the Sunshine Band were the real legends. But looking back, it’s remarkable what an impact Elvis had on his generation. He was a good singer, for sure. But he completely went against the grain. He refused to conform. He, as he famously sang, truly did it his way.

As we enter a new year, I think about the lessons we can learn from guys like Elvis Presley. What is that we would attempt if we were guaranteed not to fail? Why don’t we just go for it? In many instances, we are worried about what others will think of us.

On this day, Elvis’ birthday, let’s vow to step out of our boxes and be willing to put ourselves out there a little bit more, regardless of the opinions of the crowds.

The Huddle is about 18 months old, I believe. At first, it was a weekly email that only went to clients. I called it This Week in Sandler Training or TWIST. Except, it wasn’t really about Sandler Training. We then decided to rebrand it as the Huddle and send it to a wider audience.

I get a lot of positive feedback on this little newsletter and I’d like to increase the audience. One reader compared it to Tim Ferris’ weekly newsletter. I don’t know about that but I take it as positive feedback.

We have a good number of subscribers but the way we do it, it’s hard to promote it and cumbersome to sign up for. This week we start this new format.

It’s that time of year. The parking lots at the gyms are full. You’ll stand in line to get a spot on the treadmill. Just wait. It’ll clear out by Valentine’s Day. Being physically fit is more mental battle. It’s “You versus You.” I really like this TED video from Ogie Shaw. I love his idea of working out “every day, or most every day.” He says that working out 3 days per week (like we have been taught) is too hard mentally. This is a good one.

Our relationship with failure is important. Winners hate to fail, but they understand that failure is a part of the process. They don’t allow it to define them, nor do they slip into comfort zones. When we aren’t on our game, we tend to take failure personally. We allow it to ding our confidence. We are less likely to set big goals, opting for the safe (and less likely to fail) route. That is devastating to our success. Helping your team have a proper relationship with failure may be one of the most important things you can offer as a leader. Here’s a good article from academic Bob Sutton that hits on some important points.

There are a lot of gems in David Perell’s “21 Ideas from 2021.” Always the lover of a good list, there are some great thoughts. It’s worth reading, or perhaps printing out, for contemplation at another time.

Many of you are familiar with James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. He breaks down the secrets to developing habits in this short blog post. I especially like #1. Easy and consistent is better than hard and inconsistent.