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Some People Just Can't Hack It Like Hackett

Lots of news, stories, and talk is floating around about the upcoming Olympic games.

One person who has caught my eye is Grant Hackett. He's the captain of the Australian Olympic Team. He's also a world-record swimmer.

An online article from the Australian Daily Telegraph demonstrates Hackett's incredible dedication to obtaining his best performance in the 2008 Olympics. Near the end of the story's account of Hackett's grueling practice regime, he is quoted saying:

"People see the events on TV, but they don't see the day-to-day work and the level of exhaustion you reach, but that's what it takes to get to this level.''

This is a great example of what it means to pay the price in order to achieve something.

In the world of student leadership, people may see a student leader who gets an office, or gets to stand in front of a lot of people, or gets a cool t-shirt that says "student leader." But what they don't see, or don't bother to see, is the immense amount of work that goes into being a student leader.

It's those who look beyond the perks and are willing to pay the price that make the best student leaders. And from what I've read and studied about Grant Hackett...paying the price makes amazing swimmers as well.

Check out this amazing underwater video of Grant Hackett in action.

Best Moment in Sports

I just got done watching the 2008 ESPY Awards. There were a couple of standout moments for me.

The first moment that gave me goosebumps is when they gave out the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance to Kevin Everett. Kevin was paralyzed on a tackle during the Buffalo Bills season opener. They never expected him to move again...let alone walk.

When they announced the award, they showed a video and then said, "Ladies and Gentlemen...Kevin Everett." And here comes Kevin walking onto the stage. Like I said...goosebumps.

The second award that got my attention and stood out above all of the others was the award for "Best Moment" in sports. The finalists were: Jon Lester's No-Hitter, Danica Patrick's Indy Win, and the incredible show of sportsmanship during the Central Washington Vs. Western Oregon Softball game.

The girls from the softball game won. And deservedly so.

Sara Tucholsky (Western Oregon) hits a home run. Her first home run. Ever. It's the go ahead home run. In the excitement of watching her hit go over the fence, she rounds first and misses the bag. She quickly realizes that she missed the bag and turns to go back. POP! She tears her ACL in the process and drops to the ground. She can't continue. ESPN writer Graham Hays describes what happens next...

Umpires confirmed that the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an active runner would result in an out. So without any choice, Knox prepared to make the substitution, taking both the run and the memory from Tucholsky.

"And right then," Knox said, "I heard, 'Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?'"

The voice belonged to Holtman, a four-year starter who owns just about every major offensive record there is to claim in Central Washington's record book. She also is staring down a pair of knee surgeries as soon as the season ends. Her knees ache after every game, but having already used a redshirt season earlier in her career, and ready to move on to graduate school and coaching at Central, she put the operations on hold so as to avoid missing any of her final season. Now, with her own opportunity for a first postseason appearance very much hinging on the outcome of the game -- her final game at home -- she stepped up to help a player she knew only as an opponent for four years.

Read the article in it's entirety here

Players from the opposing team carry in the winning run. It's an incredible story of sportsmanship and doing the right thing.

As I watched the ESPY's tonight, I saw a lot of people applauded for something that they get paid a LOT of money to do. I'm not taking anything away from them. It only adds to the monumental moment that occurred when a couple of players on a softball field reached out to another player (who wore a different color jersey) and made history by putting her on their shoulders and carrying her.

Think about it. As Zig Ziglar says so well, "If you help enough other people get what they want, then you'll get what you want." Perhaps this is the year that you step up and step out as a student leader and put a few people on your shoulders - helping them to round the bases.

Photo Credit: ESPN-Blake Wolf

Working With The Noise On

During the summer, I have an office outside of my home. It's at a coffee shop. A very cool coffee shop.

Here's their website...check 'em out.

Some people can't concentrate on their work (writing, creating, designing) when it's noisy and they're surrounded by activity. Sometimes I feel that way. In the midst of the conversations, music, and sounds of steamers pumping out latte's, I can get distracted.

But I've discovered how to quiet my surroundings. And it's not by putting my finger up to my mouth and saying, "Shhh!" to everyone.

Okay...that just made me laugh thinking about actually doing that.

I have replaced the noise of the coffee shop with a different kind of noise...white noise.

When I looked up what "white noise" is on Wikipedia...they showed me that white noise is part of a random formula that looks like this...

Does anyone understand that?

Basically, white noise helps to tune out all of the other noises that are around you in your environment. It's why the Bose headphones are so popular and it's why I love to sleep at night with the fan on.

So I've been working at my office...the coffee shop, remember?!...with my headphones on and some white noise playing. It's been remarkable and I've found that I'm much more productive and not as easily distracted.

Here's a few online sites that have provided some noise in my life...

SimplyNoise.com - This site specializes in two sounds: white noise and pink noise.

I Dose - This site has a lot of different white noise compilations that provide various effects from relaxation, to stimulus, to creativity, to pain killers.

SoundSleeping.com - This site lets you select various sounds and has an equalizer for you to adjust volumes. You create your own white noise mix!

Hope you find these online resources useful to create your own distraction free workspace. Some of these sites even let you download their white noise so that you can play it when you're not online.

Can you recommend another site? What benefit have you found in having some white noise going on in the background?

Photo Credit: by arnisto

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