Category: Uncategorized

Let’s Call it a Comeback

February 10th, 2017

It’s been an impressive past 12 months in sports. Even if you are not much of a sports fan, you have to agree the comeback victories across the major sports has been stunning.

Let’s recap it real quick:

Down three games to one in the NBA Finals, Cleveland was heading home down, dejected, and out of gas. Or so everyone thought. After some soul searching, recommitment, and game plan changes, the Cavaliers pulled off a three-game win streak and won the championship.

The Chicago Cubs found themselves in a similar hole after four games. The Cleveland Indians, hoping to bring yet another world championship to Cuyahoga County, had a stranglehold on the trophy. It’s very, very rare for a team to come back from a 3-1 hole. Yet, with consistent effort and belief, the Cubs found a way and brought the trophy home.

Most recently, the New England Patriots completed the most improbable, incredible, and unforgettable comeback in the history of football. No team had come back to win a Super Bowl after being down 11 points or more. The Patriots were down 25 with just over 21 minutes remaining in the game. And yet, with persistent hope, laser focus, and lots of good decisions, the Patriots hosted the trophy.

Listen to Julian Edelman and Tom Brady throughout the game – they were leading their guys along. They never gave up! They reminded me of an interesting leadership quote I heard this week: Managers make excuses while leaders figure out how to get it done with the help of others. Listening to Tom and Julian, they are definitely leaders – regardless of how you feel about the team.

Listening to Tom and Julian, they are definitely leaders – regardless of how you feel about the team.

You Choose Your Adventure… and Attitude

In each of these cases above, things looked bleak. However, each team remained upbeat, supported one another and relied on their training and preparation. Sure, in each case, a little luck was needed. However, each team was prepared to take that little luck, that little opening, and make the most of it.

These teams got to practice choosing their attitude on the world’s largest stage. But, it doing so doesn’t require the bright lights and gloss of a world championship. Those teammates chose their attitude daily – when they were hurting through two-a-days, studying film for hours, and giving up a lot of opportunities to focus on their team goal.

We’ve seen lots of comebacks at Weequahic. When Hopi last won Tribals in 2012, they were down massively – way back in 4^th place with a day to go. After an enormous effort and another Westerman miracle, they had pulled of an amazing comeback.

But, it’s not only teams that make massive comebacks, it’s individuals, too. We’ve had several campers who, if you asked them on their second day of camp, they were heading home and never coming back to camp.

However, because of the amazing work of our staff, their supportive buddies at camp and parents at home, they not only conquered their fear of being away but wound up loving camp so much they crying while heading home! And, they were among the first to re-enroll for the next summer.

Show the courage to do the work. Pick the attitude that makes you most likely to succeed. Sure, you may need some luck but get ready for it to come your way. You just may have a championship comeback, too!

Have a great week. With GAC,
Cole

A GAC Sunrise

February 3rd, 2017

Earlier in the week, I had the opportunity to head up to Weequahic. Our new caretaker, Alex, and his team had been cruising through some new projects and I wanted to check in with him. Impressive work – these guys can really get things done!

An Early Start

Because of an early Wayne County Camp Association meeting the next morning, I left Weequahic before sunrise. I’m not a huge fan of driving early in the morning during the winter around camp but, thankfully, the snow plows had been very active early and the roads were great.

As I was driving the windy, up and down Hwy 17B, the sky brightened slowly but surely. And then, crossing over the Delaware River, the full glory of the morning’s first light hit all around me.

The sunrise was spectacular. It illuminated the trees on the Pennsylvania side making the snow covered pines literally glow. There were small patches of ice bubbling calmly down the Delaware. The clouds in the sky were a riot of reds, purple, and golds. The fields and the small town I was passing through were idyllic. It was a gorgeous moment.

And then I smelled the skunk.

It hit me full on, head first and was brutal. The smell was so strong, I thought the thing had climbed into the car with me and asked for a breakfast bar. It was over-powering.

To be honest, I got a bit frustrated. I mean, I had just been enjoying this incredible, once in a long while kind of sunrise. I had been fully immersed in this fantastic moment and then, WHAM!, this happens? C’mon!!! I laughed darkly at the irony.

A “GAC” Lesson

To get my mind off things as I sped along, I turned on a podcast I had been listening to the afternoon before. The first things I heard was this:

“The struggle ends when gratitude begins.”

Wait… what? I had to stop the podcast, rewind, and listen to it again because I couldn’t believe the coincidence of it. Sure enough, the person being interviewed had said:

“The struggle ends when gratitude begins.”

All of the sudden, I realized the lesson in my beautiful, skunk-tinged sunrise – I get to choose my point of focus. I don’t have to choose, I get to choose. There is a big difference in those two verbs.

The inputs – the visual beauty and pungent smell – were streaming at me. Because I was driving, I had to take them both in. But, I didn’t have to give them both the same amount of attention. When I started to focus on the gratitude I felt for the sunrise, I actually got happier. Sure, the skunk smell was still with me but I knew that it would be gone a mile or two later. The beauty of that sunrise, though, would stay with me for a long time.

When I started to focus on the gratitude I felt for the sunrise, I actually got happier. Sure, the skunk smell was still with me but I knew that it would be gone in a mile or two. The beauty of that sunrise, though, would stay with me for a long time.

Going Forward

Every day we are presented with opportunities to choose our focus. Things are never perfect – a great game could be marred by a teammate’s turn-overs. You probably will be sent to bed before you want to after a fantastic day. Some kid in your class probably did something annoying today. But, are you going to let those small experiences take away the good?

You get to choose your point of focus and how you react. And, if you choose to be grateful for the good in your life, those smelly moments go by a whole lot faster.

Have a great weekend!

Choose Your Friends Wisely

January 27th, 2017

There is saying you may hear from time to time: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” It’s a quote that came from Jim Rohm, a very popular speaker and trainer of sales people back in the ‘80s.

The idea is simple: Whoever you spend the most time with, you take bits and pieces of them – their behavior, their phrases, their attitude – and add it to your own life.

You do this without even thinking about it; it’s a natural phenomenon. But, just because you aren’t thinking about it doesn’t make the effect any less real.

So, if this is the case, the question is, “With whom are you spending the most time?” While we can’t help you back home, at camp, we can be very influential.

At Camp….

You may be thinking, “I don’t get to choose our counselors at camp” or, if it’s your first summer at Weequahic, “I don’t get to choose who I bunk with.” And, you’d be right.
But, here’s the thing: you and your family chose Weequahic for very specific reasons. The ideas of practicing gratitude, choosing your attitude, and building courage are important to your family. You want to choose your activities but make sure you do your fun things with other kids your same age and gender. You want to make sure you are safe and have the time of your life!

The other campers with whom you’ll spend your time are looking for the same thing. Sure, their activities may differ somewhat but the base is the same: they are kind kids who want to make friends and have a blast.

The (amazing) young people we choose for our team at Weequahic feel strongly about GAC, keeping our campers safe and making sure everyone has a blast. In fact, we have three people who find, interview, and pick only the best people. By ‘best’, we mean those we feel will most successfully take up our vision and make it happen.

So, at camp, we got you covered.

Back Home….

Here’s the thing – you actually have more control over who you spend time with than you think. You can just roll through your days and not be intentional. Or, you can take some time to really think about the people you spend the most time with and decide whether they helping you be the person you want to be or not.

[A side note: You need to know what kind of person you want to become! To determine this, have a conversation with those who love you most and you trust. They’ll give you guidance in this very important part of your life.]

So, who do you want to be? Once you’ve got that decided, do your friends help you get there? I hope the answer is ‘heck yeah!’

If the answer is ‘no’, then you have a choice to make. Do you show the courage to change or do you keep things rolling as normal? Here’s the great news: just like Weequahic, you get to choose.