Two Minute Motivation: GET PAST MAD

RATED - E for Everyone.

What's up JWT Nation. I was listening to an interview the other day between Brendan Shur and Shaka Smart. Coach Shur was a longtime assistant in the NBA for HOF guys like Chuck Daily and others. Shaka Smart is one of the rising stars in college coaching, and is currently the head coach at the University of Texas (hook 'em horns).

In the course of the interview, Coach Smart told this story about advice he got as a young coach. He said "don't RULE yourself out of a win." In other words, don't make so many rules that you end up hurting your team and costing yourself wins. Coach Shur jumped in and said "Coach Daily used to always say 'GET PAST MAD.'" I love that expression!

Have you ever been there, as a parent or teacher or boss or coach, whatever position of authority you have, where somebody broke one of the rules you had in place? What's your first reaction? You get mad! You get prideful. You have to hold that person accountable. Maybe you overreact?

That is a normal reaction, but it's also a terrible place from which to make a decision. In those situations, the best thing to do might be to say what you need to say, but don't box yourself in with a quick decision in a moment of anger. Because that puts you in the position where you either (a) have to change your mind later and look weak, like you caved in; or (b) you say 'By God, I said I was going to do this, so I'm sticking to it' and you follow through with something you really don't want to do.

GET PAST MAD. Then come back and make a good decision. Sometimes time won't allow for this, but when it does, it's always a good policy to GET PAST MAD.

Thanks for reading. Have an awesome day. Make it a win. #JWT