Be a Champion of Character!

NOTE:  This blog post was written with excerpts of Chapter 12 in my book on Leading with Character First called “The Tricycle Effect.”

Chapter 12 is titled, “Champions Are Not Champions Because They Win,

They Are Champions Because of Their Character!”

Be a Champion of Character!

“Champions are made in practice, not on the playing field!”

This chapter focused on telling the story of one of my gymnasts with great character. She was not the most talented gymnast and also had to work harder to overcome her height to become a solid performer in the art and sport of gymnastics. She became a solid and high level gymnast successfully competing for over 15 years.

"Being a champion means you work on developing all the wheels of your Tricycle - at work and at home. That is what makes you a true champion. Be a champion within yourself first by being true to self. Keep "trikin' " no matter when good or bad times come, and keep focused on following your True North with the moral compass, while simultaneously developing your technical skills and people skills."

Guess what?  Champions are also made in the business rooms too!  That is exactly right.

Business is a lot like sports.  There is competition, and technical skills, and people skills,

and even character skills that are built or not built and are exhibited or not exhibited from

working in the business world.

Unfortunately, many people in the business world don’t understand that character is built on

the Business Field (i.e.- in the business rooms) just like it is built on the Sport Playing Field.

Or more importantly, as I once learned...."Sports doesn't build character, it reveals character

and then we can coach it."

Furthermore, many business owners and leaders don’t understand that character skills can

be grown and must be a made a priority by choice in setting personal and business goals.

That way great business can be built and thrive, not just survive. Leading with Character

First in business and in life will help build and cultivate a great business culture that is

strong, successful, significant, and profitable.

Billionaire and Businessman, Warren Buffet gives rich business advice in a Inc. article - By

Marcel Schwantes titled, “Warren Buffett Says Integrity Is the Most Important Trait to

Hire For.  It holds intelligence and energy together, or everything crumbles.”

Here is the quote from Warren Buffet (Billionaire and Businessman),

“Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three

qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don't have the first, the

other two will kill you. You think about it; it's true. If you hire somebody without

[integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”

So, as Chapter 12 coaches you, just like in sports, so it is in business, a real champion is a
champion of Character that focuses on building a balance between all the wheels on the

Tricycle, and even more importantly, Leads with the Character Wheel first in both business
and life.

Be a Champion of Character in Business and in Life!

Go Make a Difference my friend and Trike On!

Best Regards,

Coach Dane

Adults are just BIG Kids, and as a BIG Kid I love HUGS!

Adults are just BIG Kids, and as a BIG Kid I love HUGS!

We own a professional gymnastics training center (www.deutschsgym.com), and our teams practice multiple times per week.  Most of the time, we are always training the Technical Skills.  That is what we do.  We teach and coach the kids to learn "tricks" and perform routines for competitions.

We also focus on training and coaching the same athletes on their People Skills.  We even go further and focus on helping the athletes develop their Character Skills.  That's right!  You read that right...."develop their Character Skills."

Did you know that you can develop your character skills?  We all can benefit by making character building skills a cornerstone of our life goals.

Our primary goal though is to coach our athletes so they can strike the right balance in living life, mirroring what I strive to live by and wrote about in my book The Tricycle Effect.

One of the things I learned over the years is that as adults, we are simply just Big "grown up" Kids.  

We are still the same person, in our personality at least, today that we were when we were 3 to 5 years old.  We can grow our character skills though.

Yes...we may cover up our inadequacies and weaknesses better than when we were younger, and we may be better at hiding the things we fear too.  However, we generally have the same feelings and emotional needs as an adult that we did when we were younger, though we most likely would not admit that to anyone, including ourselves.

With all that said, I have to admit that I loved riding tricycles when I was young and I should never have quit!  Do you want to know why?

Because the kids in our gym still naturally ride their tricycles in life and I realize now how fun that really was and that I have somehow forgotten how to "Trike" in life...like a kid again.

Most likely I forgot, because through the hard knocks of life somehow, I got rusty and got worried about whether I could or should "Trike" through life anymore or not.  Maybe through the fears and tensions of life, I did not feel I could have fun anymore.

After all, I am an adult now you know!

To illustrate this point, I want to share a quick story with you.  Sound good?

I walked into the gym this week, as I always do and started to get ready for team practice.  I reached over to turn on the music and suddenly realized that one of my athletes (we call them gym daughters), was wrapping her arms around one of my legs and giving me a Big HUG!  

I looked down to see one of our newest and youngest gym daughters hugging me.  She wasn't tall enough to reach around my waist...she is only 7 years old I think and very short.  

But, it wasn't a quick hug and done...it was a "bear" hug with all her heart and she did not let go!  I smiled down at her as she looked up at me.  Then without hesitation, she said, "How are you doing Dane?"  

Oh my gosh!  How did she know I had a tough day...a really rough day emotionally...one of the worst days I have had in a long time.  Her hug was just what I needed.  

Noone told her to come over and give me a hug and find out how I was doing.  Noone told her she could or could not hug me.  As it turns out, she left her class group and came across from the other side of the gym.  She just did what was natural for her.  She just "triked" over to me and gave me a hug and asked how I was doing.  Isn't that so innocent and so genuine and authentic....it came straight from her little heart.

She had no fears that I might not like the hug or even might reject her.  She just did what came naturally from her heart, I think. She simply "Triked" right over to me to give me a hug and let me know she cared about me.  What?  Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?  I am the coach, after all!  I am so glad that this little gymnast knows how to ride her trike in life...and I hope she never forgets how to Trike either.  Life is so much more rich and fun when we never stop "Trikin'."

Even though she is fairly new to the gym family, she already knows how to Trike in life. How great is that?!

No matter what else happened earlier in the day to me, all those emotions and feelings melted away, and once again, one of my gym daughters reminded me that life can be just that simple and sweet!

The sweetest things in life happen most of the time in an unplanned way.  We just need to Trike naturally like a kid again.

So, I decided a while back to learn how to "Trike" again.  My gym kids and gym daughters need me to learn how to Trike again, and frankly, I want to learn how to "Trike" again, because it is more meaningful in life and it is so much more fun Trikin' in life that just passing through.

How about you?  Do you remember how to Trike?  Why not start Trikin' again even though you are an adult?  Let me encourage you to get Trikin'.

Want to learn more, and find out how you too can Trike in Life?  Visit Amazon.com and search for The Tricycle Effect to find out more and learn about how you, too, can develop your character skills to Trike again like the kid you once were.  

Trust me, life will become so much richer when we can let that Big Kid in us out again to play and Trike!  Smile On!