The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life - Revere Local Schools

The Winners Manual:
For the Game of Life
Jim Tressel with Chris Fabry

Tressel, J. (2008). The
Winners Manual: For the
Game of Life. Carol
Stream: Tyndale House.

Book Premise
• Tressel shares fundamentals for success: Attitude, Discipline, Faith,
Handling Adversity & Success, Excellence, Love, Toughness,
Responsibility, Team, and Hope.
• Peppered with personal stories from Coach Tressel’s storied coaching
career, this book shares the fundamental lessons that he has been
imparting to his players and coaching staffs for the past 20 years. A
perfect blend of football stories, spiritual insights, motivational reading,
and practical application, The Winners Manual provides an inside look at
the core philosophy that has positively impacted the lives of thousands of
student athletes and served as the foundation for two of the most
successful college football programs of all time.
• Other features:
– Each chapter closes with a practical application section, where readers will be
“coached” on how they can apply the lessons imparted throughout the book to
their own lives, via the establishment of measurable goals.
– Provides a rare inside glimpse into the mind of one of the most respected
coaches in college football history and into the huddle of one of the most
successful football programs of all time.
– Filled with hundreds of inspirational stories, quotes and anecdotes.

Part I: The Game Plan
Pages 3-35

Chapter 1:
The Journey of Success
Pages 3-15

Chapter 1: The Journey of Success
• Know your Goal— “in order to thrive during that
journey, we have to have a clear view of what
success is, what it isn’t, and what it will take to
achieve it?
• It is important to keep an emphasis on the
journey to success that we work on each day,
step by step.
– The thing we should most enjoy about any endeavor
is the road we travel together to get there.

Define Success
• Specific long-term success goals (make
millions of dollars, be CEO of a company,
win a championship) are great—but its
important to understand that you are not
defined your goals.
• Example: Dan Marino was amazingly
talented and set a lot of records at this
position, yet he never won a Super Bowl.
However—he didn’t let his lack of a ring
define himself nor did he sit back on all
his records.

Define Success
• SUCCESS: The inner satisfaction and peace of
mind that comes from knowing you did your
best to become the best you are capable of
becoming.
– This definition takes away external characterization
of success.
– Success is found in “peace of mind”; only you can tell
yourself if you have peace of mind—have you done
everything possible to achieve your best for yourself
and for the good of the team.
– Life Lesson: teaches them that through their
performance connects directly with their goals, their
purpose is tied to who they are.

Group Success
• People tend to worry more about how
something affects “me,” as opposed to
how it affects “us”—so it is important to
focus on US!
• SUCCESS: The inner satisfaction and
peace of mind that comes from knowing
you did the best you were capable of
doing for the group.
– Adding FOR THE GROUP: forces us to define
success in terms of what the group needs,
what our team needs, what our family needs,
and/or what our society or country needs!

Goal Sheet
• Goals make us think: what we want and how
we plan to get there!
• Goals must be specific and measurable!
• It is important to let our goals spring from our
purpose
– out of the purpose will flow the goals, dreams, and
desires you want to accomplish!
• Purpose comprises those aspects of life that
define who we are as individuals and the kind
of people we want to become

Chapter 1: MISCELOUNOUS
• You should never be about something, it
must always be for the purpose of
something.
• It is essential to understand the
difference between purpose and goals in
order to understanding the true definition
of success.

Chapter 1: QUOTES
• If the game of life ended tonight, would you be a
winner?
• DECIDE YOUR PURPOSE, SET YOUR GOALS
– If you do the things you need to do
– When you need to do them,
– Someday you can do the things you want to do
– When you want to do them!
• DEVELOPING VISION
– The first step in creating an improved future is developing the
ability to envision it.
• Vision will ignite the fire of passion, which feels our commitment to
do whatever it takes to achieve excellence.
• Vision allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of
achievement through human action.
• Vision has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our vision is what
we become in life.
• Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about
something else—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Chapter 1: QUESTIONS

Chapter 2:
The Block O of Life
Pages 17-35

The Block O of Life
• The Block O represents a graphic organizer to
help crystallize our thinking.
• The O is divided into two halves:
– the top is the part of our lives we consider our
purpose—comprises those aspects of life that define
who we are as individuals and the kind of people we
want to become
– the bottom half represents our goals—this is what we
do, as opposed to who we are.

The Block O of Life
• Top of the Block O— define who we are as
individuals and the kind of people we want to
become
– Personal/Family
• Include family members in all that we do!
• Be a positive influence on siblings!
– Spiritual/Moral
• Explore the aspect of faith in your life if that’s
what you desire!
• There will be opportunities for you to grow
spiritually if you desire to do so!
– Care/Giving
• With great blessing comes great responsibility to
reach out and connect with other people!
• Make a difference to others!

The Block O of Life
• Bottom of the Block O—this is what we do, as opposed to
who we are.
– Athletic/Family
• What do you want to achieve as a team?
• What do you want to achieve as an individual?
• What is it going to take to achieve these goals?
– Strength/Fitness
• Helps you to practice and participate at a high level!
• Injuries and time spent rehabbing from injuries may be
reduced!
– Academics
• Use every resources available to be your best academically!
• Set a team G.P.A. goal?
– Dreams
• As you identify your dream, write it down!
• After you write it down, make it a goal!

Chapter 2: MISCELOUNOUS
• Don’t get stuck on the “PURPOSE”—focus on
what you do know rather than what you don’t
know.
• Some people will default to the doing rather
than focusing on being—too many will define
themselves by what they do rather than who
they are.
• The goal of community outreach is not to get
good public relations for the team but to
expand and enrich out players’ loves by
expanding and enriching the lives of others.
– Entering into someone else’s pain and being able to
help that person gives perspective
• Writing things down—when we write things
down, we begin the process of activating the
fundamentals in our lives.

Chapter 2: MISCELOUNOUS
• MOTIVATION—urges you to think, take action,
and make changes.
1. FEAR motivation: says if you don’t do
something, you’re going to be grounded or
benched or cut or fired!
2. REWARD motivation: the promise of a lollipop
for obedience or pay increase for
performance.
3. PURPOSE motivation: provides by example,
LEAD BY EXAMPLE!
NOTE: The first two types eventually run out of
steam—if a player runs laps long enough, he’ll
know he can run them but will eventually ask,
“What the point of all this running?”

Chapter 2: QUOTES
• Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you
will never go any higher than you think.—
Benjamin Disraeli
• The greater danger for most of us lies not in
setting our aim too high and falling short; but in
setting our aim to low, and achieving our
mark.—Michelangelo
• Excellence is the gradual result of always
wanting to do better.—Pat Riley
• To be what we are, and to become what we are
capable of becoming, is the only end of life.—
Robert Louis Stevenson

Part II: The Big Ten
Fundamentals
Pages 39-241

Chapter 3:
Attitude
Pages 39-68

BE WHERE YOU ARE
• Voltaire once said, “Paradise is where I
am.”
• He hit in on the head—focus and have
passion about where you are at the
moment.
– If you’re in paradise where you are—not
wishing you were someone or
somewhere else—that’s the right
attitude.

YOUR ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE
• Attitude is not a formula we can put
under a microscope and make it work
every time to help us win every game—
we are still going to lose and still going to
get upset!
• The older you get, the more you’ll realize
that its their choice what they’re feeling,
what they’re thinking, and what approach
they’re going to take to life.
• We have to chose to have a good attitude!

GRATITUDE
• There is so much that we all have to be thankful for—we each need to be
reminded of how fortunate we are!
– It is a privilege to play at Revere! It is a privilege to be a student at Revere!
• “It is impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time.”
– You’re either going to be grateful or unhappy. That is your choice!
• Bottom of the Block O—this is what we do, as opposed to who we are.
– Athletic/Family
• What do you want to achieve as a team?
• What do you want to achieve as an individual?
• What is it going to take to achieve these goals?
– Strength/Fitness
• Helps you to practice and participate at a high level!
• Injuries and time spent rehabbing from injuries may be reduced!
– Academics
• Use every resources available to be your best academically!
• Set a team G.P.A. goal?
– Dreams
• As you identify your dream, write it down!
• After you write it down, make it a goal!

Promise Yourself . . .
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your
peace of mind
To look at the sunny side of everything and make
your optimism come true
To think only of the best
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of
others as you are about your own
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on
the great achievements of the future
To share the great achievements of the future
To give so much time to the improvement of
yourself that you have no time to criticize
others
To be too large for worry, too strong for fear, and
too happy to permit the presence of trouble

THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSPECTIVE
• “I marvel at some people in our country
and around the world who possess so
little compared with what we have, and
yet their perspective is one of
thankfulness. They’re grateful for
something as simple as clean water or a
full stomach. That tells me that whether
we have little or much, we need to find a
way to be grateful for what we do have!”

The Global Village
If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely one hundred
people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, the village
would include. . .
60 Asians, 13 Africans, 12 Europeans, and 15 from the Western Hemisphere,
(9 Latin Americans, 5 North Americans, and 1 Oceania).
50 would be female
50 would be male
80 would be nonwhite
20 would be white
67 would be non-Christian
33 would be Christian
20 would earn 89% of the wealth
25 would live in substandard housing
67 would be unable to read
13 would suffer from malnutrition
33 would be without access to a safe water supply
1 would die within the year
2 would give birth within the year
2 would have a college education
24 would not have any electricity (76 that do, most use only for light at night.)
4 would own a computer

LIVING A GREATFUL LIFE
• It’s one thing to say, “Year, thanks, I’m grateful
and fortunate,” but its something else entirely
to live gratefully.
• In this age of e-mails and text messages and
voice mails—a good old-fashioned hand written
note speaks volumes to people!
• To determine whether people are living a
grateful life, we can look into how they spend
their time:
– Are they the best student they can be?
– Are they the best son they can be?
– Are the best brother they can be?
– Are they the best football player they can be?

HAVING THE PROPER ATTITUDE
1. More athletes fail thorugh falty mental attitudes than in any other
way.
2. Attitudes are habits of thinking. You have it within your power to
develop the habit of thinking thoughts that will result in a
winning attitude.
3. The foundation for the proper attitude consists of devloping the
habit of thinking positive thoughts.
4. Tell yourself constantly that you can do something, and you will.
Tell yourself you can’t, and your subconscious mind will find a
way for you not to do it.
5. A desire to win and a desire to prepare to win are important
ingredients of winning attitude.
6. Before you can scale the heights of athletic greatness, you must
first learn to control yourself from within. Be your own master.
Control your emotions.
7. An athlete with a good attitude is coachable. He welcomes
criticism, constantly seeks to learn, and avoids criticizing his
coach or teamates.
8. True success depends on homework, and the winning attidue
puts the good of the team ahead of anything else.
9. Whether or not you create a winning attitude is entirely up to
you—but nothing is more improtant to you on your road to the
winner’s circle.

HUMILITY
• DI Athletes—ever since the 5 th grade they
have been told they are the best.
– All of that can be confusing for young people,
especially if they want to be part of a team.
– With a team, now they are told they have to
give themselves up for others
• Without humility, you are left only with
pride. With humility, you also have
gratitude.

COLIN POWELL’S RULES
1. It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the
morning.
2. Get mad, then get over it.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that
when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done!
5. Be careful what you choose. You may get it!
6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good
decision.
7. You can’t make someone else’s choices. You
shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10.Remain calm. Be kind.
11.Have a vision. Be demanding.
12.Don’t take the counsel of your fears or naysers.
13.Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

HAPPINESS AND RESPECT
• There are two things that give us a
chance to have a positive impact on those
who agree with us and those who don’t.
– First is happiness or joy—if we consistently
demonstrate that we’re happy or joyful, its
inviting to opel on the outside looking in.
– Second is we can earn a hearing from other
people by respecting where they come from
and listening to their perspective on life.

ENTHUSIASM
• Enthusiams is a derivative of the Greek word entheos,
which means “full of spirit.”
• It is through the tough times—two-a-days, losing
streak, etc.—that you have to have enthusiams.
• There are three types of people, which one are you:
– Those who make things happen,
– Those who watch things happen,
– And those who say, “What happened?”
• People who get enthused have no problem humbling
themselves to become part of a team.
• And there are times when you have to lie to yourself
and show a little more enthusiams than you feel—that
is human nature.
• CREATE YOUR OWN ENTHUSIASM!

Chapter 3: QUOTES
• Most people are about as happy as they make
up their minds to be.—Abraham Lincoln
• If you see no reason for gicving thanks, the
fault lies within yourself.—Tecumseh
• Earth produces nothing worse than an
ungrateful man.—Ausonius
• We each have a choice: to approach life as a
creator or a critic, a lover or a hater, a giver or a
taker.—Unknown Author
• Your life is either a celbration or a chore. The
choice is yours.—Unknown Author

Chapter 3: QUOTES
• If we were humble, nothing would change us—
neither praise nor discouragment.—Mother
Teresa
• Flaming enthusiams, backed by horse sense and
persistence, is the quality that most frequently
makes for success.—Dale Carnegie
• I AM ONLY ONE —Edward Everett Hale
– I am only one, but I am one.
– I can’t do everything, but I can do something.
– And what I can do, I ought to do.
– And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I shall
do.

Chapter 3: QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. Do you think it’s really true that we can alter
our lives by altering our attitude? How might
this happen in your life?
2. What’s it like being around people who are
grateful? What about people who aren’t
grateful? How do they make you feel?
3. Who is the most humble person you know?
What aspects of that person’s life do you want
to emulate today?
4. Do you feel a lack of enthusiasm for some part
of your work? Whey do you feel that way, and
how can you remedy the situation?

Chapter 3: YOUR PERSONAL GAME PLAN
1. Personal/Family: Think of someone in your immediate family
with whom you have a difficult time relating. How could a
change of your attitude toward this person help change the
climate in your home? What specific thing can you do to help
achieve that today?
2. Spiritual/Moral: Cultivate your gratitude to God today by
making a list of things you’re thankful for that you would not
have if it were not for God’s presence in your life. Share the list
with someone you love.
3. Caring/Giving: Who in your life has been your greatest “sideline
encourager”? Encourage that person with a note or a phone call
today.
4. Health/Fitness: How might a change of attitude attract the way
you care for your body? Put that into practice today by doing
something new, or continue doing something to which you’ve
committed.
5. Your Team: Is there someone on your team who needs a sideline
that’s alive? How can you show you’re full of spirit for that
person today?
6. Academics/Career: If an attitude of gratitude takes practice,
how can you practice that fundamental with those in your school
or work life? Consider keeping a “gratitude notebook” that you
can refer to often to help you focus on this discipline.

Chapter 4:
Discipline
Pages 69-88

REMAINING: COMING SOON