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Life Is Challenging. I Wish I Could Tell You That You’ll Always Be On Top Of The Mountain, But The Reality Is That There Are Days When Nothing Will Go Right, When Not Only Will You Not Be On Top, You May Not Even Be Able To Figure Out Which Way Is Up. Do Yourself A Favor, And Don’t Make It Any Harder Than It Has To Be. In Those Moments, Be Careful How You Speak To Yourself; Be Careful How You Think Of Yourself; Be Careful How You Conduct Yourself; Be Careful How You Develop Yourself.

-Tony Dungy

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Life Is Challenging. I

Tony Dungy

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Life Is Challenging. I Wish I Could Tell You That You’ll Always Be On Top Of The Mountain, But The Reality Is That There Are Days When Nothing Will Go Right, When Not Only Will You Not Be On Top, You May Not Even Be Able To Figure Out Which Way Is Up. Do Yourself A Favor, And Don’t Make It Any Harder Than It Has To Be. In Those Moments, Be Careful How You Speak To Yourself; Be Careful How You Think Of Yourself; Be Careful How You Conduct Yourself; Be Careful How You Develop Yourself.

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We Have A Number Of Difficulties Facing Our Nation, But I Believe Fatherlessness Is Right At The Top Of The List.

You Have Gifts, Abilities, And Dreams No One Else Has.

And One Game, As We Know, Can Cost You A Lot.

Everybody Needs Encouragement, Even When Things Are Going Well.

Take A Moment To Think About Your Answer To This Question: Am I Prepared To Have Great Success And Not Get Any Credit For It?

Anyone Who's A Parent Dreads That Call In The Middle Of The Night. I Have Four Grown Children And I Still Dread It.

Success Is Uncommon And Not To Be Enjoyed By The Common Man. I'm Looking For Uncommon People Because We Want To Be Successful, Not Average.

I've Always Talked To Players About Perception And Reality. I Don't Worry About Perception. There May Be Some Of That, That People Want To Attach To A Good Name, But The Reality Is That Some Good Things Can Happen.

Stubbornness Is A Virtue If You Are Right.

Winning Would Create Greater Potential For Change Than Talk Alone.

You Don't Win On Emotion. You Win On Execution.

Once We Had Become Locked In On A Schedule, He (coach Denny Green) Often Created A Disruption (artificial Adversity) To That Schedule Just To See How Guys Would Respond.

(offensive Coach) Paul Hackett Realized That Joe Montana Knew More About The Offense Than He Did, But When The Meeting Was Over, Paul Saw That Joe Had Taken Three Pages Of Notes. He Documented Exactly How Paul Wanted To Run The Play, As Well As All Of The Basics Of It And Its Details. That's What A Professional Does.

Nothing Is More Deflating To Morale Than To Have A Poor Outcome Pinned On Someone Who Doesn't Deserve It. It Lacks Integrity And Overvalues The Outcome At The Expense Of The People As Well As The Process.

Others First. Whatever Your Corporate Mission, Paint A Clear And Compelling Picture That Others Can Understand And Embrace. State Your Mission In Terms That Appeal To Your Team's Best Instincts. Persuade And Empower As If You Are Leading And Mentoring Volunteers.

Change Isn't Always Bad; We Should Always Be Learning And Improving. But The Change I Was Seeing Involved Principles, Not Procedures.

Gay Marriage And Who Should Be On A Football Team Have Nothing To Do With Each Other.

How You Use The Opportunities Your Given To Affect The World Around You Will Determine The Legacy You Leave Behind.

The Biggest Thing You Need To Be Successful With It Is A Quarterback Who Wants To Be Involved In The Decision-making Process And Not Just Merely Want To Execute Plays Sent In To Him.

That's The Difference Between The Ncaa And The Nfl Right Now. They've Got To Step Up And Say, 'we're Going To Do The Right Thing. We're Going To Hire Qualified People. We're Going To Hire The Best Man For The Job Regardless Of What Boosters Or Anyone Else Has To Say.'

Michael Vick Is A Work In Progress. I Think He Really Is Wanting To Do The Right Thing. I Think The Philadelphia Eagles Have Been A Great Organization For Him. He's Had Some Ups And Downs. He Still Has To Learn To Not Put Himself In, Maybe Bad Situations, In Terms Of Personal Life And Friends, And That Kind Of Thing. But All In All, I Think He's Growing Every Day.

God’s Definition Of Success Is Really One Of Significance-the Significant Difference Our Lives Can Make In The Lives Of Others. The Significance Doesn’t Show Up In Won-loss Records, Long Resumes, Or The Trophies Gathering Dust On Our Mantels. It’s Found In The Hearts And Lives Of Those We’ve Come Across Who Are In Some Way Better Because Of The Way We Lived.

Football Is A Vocation And An Opportunity For Ministry. But It's Not A Life.

God's Definition Of Success Is Really One Of The Significant Differences Our Lives Can Make In The Lives Of Others.

But There's No Substitute For A Full-time Dad. Dads Who Are Fully Engaged With Their Kids Overwhelmingly Tend To Produce Children Who Believe In Themselves And Live Full Lives.

Be A Pro. • Act Like A Champion. • Respond To Adversity; Don’t React. • Be On Time. Being Late Means Either It’s Not Important To You Or You Can’t Be Relied Upon. • Execute. Do What You’re Supposed To Do When You’re Supposed To Do It. Not Almost. All The Way. Not Most Of The Time. All Of The Time. • Take Ownership. Whatever It Takes. No Excuses, No Explanations.

Chuck Noll Knew How He Could Help People. He Was A Teacher. He Was A Guy That Was Very Good At Selecting People, Getting Them To Fit In. He Wasn't The Guy That Was Going To Sit There And Motivate You, Intrinsically. That Wasn't What He Was Best At. So He Hired People That Were Good At That.

Nothing Does More To Lubricate The Rough Spots Than A Good Dose Of Encouragement.

I Wouldn’t Have Taken Him. Not Because I Don’t Believe Michael Sam Should Have A Chance To Play, But I Wouldn’t Want To Deal With All Of It. It’s Not Going To Be Totally Smooth Things Will Happen.

If We Lose Sight Of People, We Lose Sight Of The Very Purpose Of Leadership.

If I Can't Get The Captains To Respond Appropriately And Show The Leadership I Expect, How Is Anyone Else Going To Respond?

The Best Solution For Falling Just Short Of The Goal Is To Focus On The Fundamentals But Perform Them Better.

When It's Over, It's Over Is Part Of Football's Greatest Appeal To Me. When A Game Ends, Win Or Lose, It's Time To Prepare For The Next One.

I Just Don't Think You Pass On A Great Quarterback If You Have The Opportunity. If Need Be, You Can Trade It Away.

If Someone Needs Help, I Can Offer Advice. I'm Not Always Right And People Don't Always Listen.

Don't Shed Any Tears For Me. I Got To Live A Dream Most People Don't Get To Live.

Be Successful Not Just In What You Do, But In Who You Are.

Being Successful

The Regular Season Games Are Much More Intense. And Also, I Believe That In 16 Games, Some Teams Separate Themselves. The Good Teams Separate Themselves From The Not-so-good Teams. The Longer The Season Is, The Bigger That Separation Will Get.

If You Want To Make A Difference In The Lives Of The People You Lead, You Must Be Willing To Walk Alongside Them, To Lift And Encourage Them, To Share Moments Of Understanding With Them, And To Spend Time With Them, Not Just Shout Down At Them From On High.

A Good Leader Gets People To Follow Him Because They Want To, Not Because He Makes Them.

I'm Probably Going To Be An Indianapolis Fan.

Sometimes I Think God Wants There To Be A Circus So We Can Show There's Another Way To Respond.

Our Goal Was To Win, To Win A Super Bowl, But Also To Win In The Right Way, To Be Role Models To Our Community, To Represent Indianapolis, The State Of Indiana And The National Football League.

People Look At Me And See A Calm, Cool Guy On The Sidelines And I Want Them To Know That My Christian Faith Affects My Coaching And Everything I Do.

What You Do Is Not As Important As How You Do It.

If You're Just Saying, Hey, I'm Doing This. I'm Working To Make Money. I'm Working To Increase My Status. If That's All There Is, I Think You Will Find Out That It's Meaningless.

God Allows Us To Feel Pain For A Reason: To Protect Us.

It's Easy To Lose Sight Of The Ultimate Goal When You're In The Trenches.

We Are All Important, But We Are Not Indispensable.

I Guess I'm Flattered That People Think I Can Help Get Things Done.

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I Am A Firm Believer That The Lord Sometimes Has To Short-circuit Even Our Best Plans For Our Benefit.

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Engage, Educate, Equip, Encourage, Empower, Energize, And Elevate. Those Are The Methods For Maximizing The Potential Of Any Individual, Team, Organization, Or Institution For Ultimate Success And Significance. Those Are The Methods Of A Mentor Leader.

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Long-term Success Requires Faith-faith That Your Efforts To Plan And Execute The Process Will Lead To The Desired Outcome.

Everything's Not Going To Go Perfect. You're Going To Have Some Losses That You're Going To Have To Bounce Back From And Some Things That Are A Little Unforeseen That You're Going To Have To Deal With.

He's Probably The Hardest-working Guy I've Been Around Who Has Great Ability. Overachievers Work Hard Because They Have To. Peyton Has Rare Talent, But Chooses To Push Himself Like He Doesn't.

Avoidance Doesn’t Solve Anything; It Merely Serves As A Temporary Salve.

I Learned From Chuck Noll In Pittsburgh That Speed And Explosiveness On Defense Is The Way To Build A Team. Both Are Difficult For Your Opponent To Assimilate In Practice And Then In Games It Is Even Harder To Match.

When I Was Younger I Only Read Sports Books. I Loved The Biographies That Told How Athletes Developed. When I Got Into Coaching, I Did Start To Read More Instructional Books, But I Was Always More Interested In The People Behind The Ideas.

When Things Get Difficult It Can Be Easy To Complain. How You Respond Makes All The Difference

Hard Work And Togetherness. They Go Hand In Hand. You Need The Hard Work Because It's Such A Tough Atmosphere... To Win Week In And Week Out. You Need Togetherness Because You Don't Always Win, And You Gotta Hang Though Together.

I Realized That I Needed To Be More Like The Shepherd Than The Hired Hand In Protecting My Team.

There Are Certain Bridges That Are Not Worth Crossing, No Matter What Others Think. Loyalty And Relationships Are Important.

I Was Able To Look At Football As Something That God Was Allowing Me To Do, Not Something That Should Define Me. I Couldn't Take My Identity From This Sport.

Things Will Go Wrong At Times. You Can't Always Control Your Attitude, Approach, And Response. You Options Are To Complain Or To Look Ahead And Figure Out How To Make The Situation Better

Remember That Mentor Leadership Is All About Serving.

First, There Is No Typical Grief Cycle, And Second, It's Not Something I Went Through. I'm Still Grieving.

It's The Journey That Matters. Learning Is More Important Than The Test. Practice Well, And The Games Will Take Care Of Themselves.

Don't Fear Failure. Fear Being Successful At Things That Don't Matter

Being Successful

I Learned It Doesn't Matter How You Win. You Play To Your Team's Strength.

The Truth Is That Most People Have A Better Chance To Be Uncommon By Effort Than By Natural Gifts. Anyone Could Give That Effort In His Or Her Chosen Endeavor, But The Typical Person Doesn't, Choosing To Do Only Enough To Get By.

I Just Think Winners Win. And Guys Who Won All The Way Through High School And College, The Best Player At Every Level, They Have A Way Of Making Things Happen And Winning Games.

We Talked About Some Of Our Experiences, Focusing, Hanging Together Down The Stretch, Important Games. It's Not Necessarily Who Has The Most Talent But What Team Sticks Together And Executes Their Fundamentals The Best.

What Will People Remember Us For? Are Other People’s Lives Better Because We Lived? Did We Make A Difference? Did We Use To The Fullest The Gifts And Abilities God Gave Us? Did We Give Our Best Effort, And Did We Do It For The Right Reasons?

I Found That While Life Drags On When You're Losing, It Marches On When You're Winning.

What's Important Is Not The Uniform Or The Number, And It's Not What Team You Play For Or Whether Anyone Else Sees Your Value; It's Who You Are On The Inside. And When You're In Christ, That's Never Going To Change.

For Some Reason The Football Coach Of A Major College Program Is Seen As One Of The Leaders Of The Campus. And Some Way We Have To Let Our Young People Know That That Leader Can Look Like Anyone.

The Further I Get Away From Coaching, The More I Know I Made The Right Decision. You Almost Forget How Wonderful Family Life Is.

I Talk To Our Players About Life And Situations And Doing The Right Thing All The Time.

I Hired Top-notch People, Trusted Them To Do Their Jobs, And Then Came To Grips With The Fact That I Wouldn't Be Coaching As Much.

If You're A Leader, People's Lives Should Be Better Because Of The Influence You've Had Along The Way.

Once A Player Joins Our Team, Our Priority Is To Teach Him, Not Worry About The Player We Didn't Select.

If You Want To Be An Athlete, Then Getting Good Grades, Going To College, And Developing Your Intellectual Skills Are Important.

What's Important Is Not The Accolades And Memories Of Success But The Way You Respond When Opportunities Are Denied.

You Can Have An Impact Anywhere You Are.

Who Really Benefits From Discouragement? More Often Than Not, Encouragement Is Exactly What Is Needed.

We Wanted Guys Who Had Been Productive In College, And We Made It A Point To Pick Performance Over Potential.

We Are All Role Models To Someone In This World, And We Can All Have An Impact - For Good.

It's Just Really Making Sure I Am Doing The Best Job I Can Do As A Dad. I Do Think That Is My No. 1 Job.

The Secret To Success Is Good Leadership, And Good Leadership Is All About Making The Lives Of Your Team Members Or Workers Better.

Integrity, The Choice Between What's Convenient And What's Right.

I Said All Along That God Is In Control.

God Is In Control

I Have Yet To Hear God's Audible Voice, Although I Have Often Felt Led By God In More Subtle Ways.

We Believed It Was Not Our Formations That Made Us Good, But Rather How We Played.

It's About The Journey--mine And Yours--and The Lives We Can Touch, The Legacy We Can Leave, And The World We Can Change For The Better.

Integrity Doesn't Come In Degrees: Low, Medium, Or High. You Either Have Integrity Or You Don't.

There Are Weaknesses That You Have To Understand And It Takes A Lot Of Discipline For The Players To Be Able To Play It Effectively And Have Confidence In What They're Doing.

The First Step Toward Creating An Improved Future Is Developing The Ability To Envision It. Vision Will Ignite The Fire Of Passion That Fuels Our Commitment To Do Whatever It Takes To Achieve Excellence. Only 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.

The Lord Has A Plan. We Always Think The Plans Are A, B, C And D, And Everything Is Going To Be Perfect For Us And It May Not Be That Way, But It's Still His Plan.

If We Have Trouble Hearing Him, He Will Faithfully Work In Our Lives Until We Are Pointed In The Direction He Wants Us To Go.

Life Is Challenging. I Wish I Could Tell You That You’ll Always Be On Top Of The Mountain, But The Reality Is That There Are Days When Nothing Will Go Right, When Not Only Will You Not Be On Top, You May Not Even Be Able To Figure Out Which Way Is Up. Do Yourself A Favor, And Don’t Make It Any Harder Than It Has To Be. In Those Moments, Be Careful How You Speak To Yourself; Be Careful How You Think Of Yourself; Be Careful How You Conduct Yourself; Be Careful How You Develop Yourself.

I Was Not Asked Whether I Would Have A Problem Having Michael Sam On My Team. I Would Not.

We Have A Whole Generation Of Men Who Don't Understand How Much They Mean To Their Kids.

The First Step Toward Creating An Improved Future Is Developing The Ability To Envision It.

I Can't Very Well Preach Unity And Tell The Guys We're All In This Together And Everyone's Important, Then Cut A Guy Because We Might Improve By One Percent If We Bring In Someone Else.

I Think I've Got A Responsibility To Be Home A Little Bit More, Be Available To My Family A Little Bit More And Do Some Things To Help Make Our Country Better. I Don't Know What That Is Right Now, But We'll See.

I Enjoy Talking To Young People, And Talking To People About Helping Young People. That Part Is Not A Chore. It's Pretty Fun, And Something I Like To Do Because I Think It's Important.

When You're In A Situation, You Can Complain About It, You Can Feel Sorry For Yourself, You Can Do A Lot Of Things. But How Are You Gonna Make The Situation Better?

You May Not Win The Super Bowl. Your Kids May Not Go On To Be Doctors And Lawyers And Everything May Not Go Perfectly. That Doesn't Mean It Was A Bad Plan Or The Wrong Thing. It's Just Like A Football Season. Everything's Not Going To Go Perfect.

False Modesty Is An Attempt To Tear Yourself Down. True Humility Focuses More On Build Up Others.

Character Is The Glue That Bonds Solid And Meaningful Relationships

There's A Difference Between Making Incremental Improvements And Making Sweeping Changes That Take You Away From Your Core Values.

Don't Worry About Your Platform; Focus On Your Impact.

At The End Of The Day, The Only People A One Voice Doctrine Silences Are Those Who Should Be The Most Loyal.

Courage Is The Ability To Do The Right Thing, All The Time, No Matter How Painful Or Uncomfortable It Might Be.

When I Was Young, I Didn't Like To Read. I Would Have Much Rather Been Outside Doing Something Than Been Inside Reading About It.

We Often Can't See What God Is Doing In Our Lives, But God Sees The Whole Picture And His Plan For Us Clearly.

Did You Know That Nearly One In Three Children Live Apart From Their Biological Dads? Those Kids Are Two To Three Times More Likely To Grow Up In Poverty, To Suffer In School, And To Have Health And Behavioral Problems.

No Excuses. No Explanations.

The First Thing You Have To Do Is Make Sure You're Still Wanted Back. I Never Take That For Granted Any More.

I Love Coaching Football, And Winning A Super Bowl Was A Goal I've Had For A Long Time. But It Has Never Been My Purpose In Life. My Purpose In Life Is Simply To Glorify God. We Have To Be Careful That We Don't Let The Pursuit Of Our Life's Goals, No Matter How Important They Seem, Cause Us To Lose Sight Of Our Purpose. I Coach Football. But The Good I Can Do To Glorify God Along The Way Is My Real Purpose.

Integrity Is What You Do When No One Is Watching; Its Doing The Right Thing All The Time, Even When It May Work To Your Disadvantage.

If We Do What We Do Without Panicking, We Can Accomplish Great Things.

I Enjoy Watching Football On Tv. Many Times I Can Visualize The Whole Field, Even On The Tv Screen, Because I Still Know Enough About What The Teams Are Doing.

You Never Know What's Going To Happen. My Mother Was An English Teacher. If Someone Had Told Her That I Was Going To Write A Book, She Would Never Have Believed That. So You Can Never Say Never.

And If God Has Given You A Lot Of Ability, I Believe You Should Be Held To A Higher Level Of Expectation.

My Dad Took Me To A High School Basketball Game And This Very, Very Famous Coach In Michigan, By The Name Of Lofton Greene - He Was A Guy That My Dad Was Familiar With. He Was From Our Hometown. And I Watched The Game And I Said I Didn't See This Guy Doing A Lot Of Coaching. And My Dad Told Me, Well, It's Just Like A Teacher - Which He Was - He Said If You Do A Good Job Teaching During The Week, When They Take The Test On Friday, That's Not The Time You Have To Do A Lot Of Demonstrative Things.

The Fundamental Keys To The Culture Of Any Organization Can Only Be Achieved When Everyone Is On The Same Page.

Keeping Ridiculous Hours Doesn't Mean You'll Be Successful.

Part Of Our Purpose In Life Is To Build A Legacy – A Consistent Pattern Of Building Into The Lives Of Others.

You Can’t Always Control Circumstances. However, You Can Always Control Your Attitude, Approach, And Response.

I Had 10 To 12 Close Buddies Who I Played Ball With All The Way From Elementary To High School. That Is Where I Learned To Compete.

Pain Prompts Us To Change Behavior That Is Destructive To Ourselves Or To Others. Pain Can Be A Highly Effective Instructor.

They Were Unwillingly To Give 100 Percent If They Didn't Personally Think It Was Important. What You Don't Understand Is The Champions Know It's All Important.

At Some Point In Life's Journey, Professionally And Personally, We Have To Be Able To Trust Our Preparation.

I Do Not Think Being A Coordinator Is A Requirement, But It Does Give You Some Advantages. You Get Used To Working With Half The Team And You Go Through The Game-planning And Decision-making Processes.

You Need Togetherness Because You Don't Always Win, And You Have Got To Hang Though Together

The Game Has Changed Since The '70s As More Coaches Have Looked At Ways To Make It Tougher On Defenses. But I'm Glad My Career Turned Out The Way It Did - I Would Have Never Gotten A Chance To Learn The Defensive Side Of The Ball.

We Spent Our Whole Married Life In The Ultra-competitive World Of Professional Football, Lauren And I Had Always Tried To View It Through God's Eyes. As Much Fun As It Was To Be Winning, We Tried Not To Get Caught Up In It. We Knew That Our Family Life And Our Faith Walk Were More Important.

I Need To Treat Everybody Fairly, But Fair Doesn't Always Mean Equal.

As A Father Of Seven Kids, And Been A Kid Myself At One Point, I Realize You Don't Always Make The Best Decisions Every Time Out. And Life Is A Learning Experience.

We Only Wanted To Pay Significant Sums To Keep Truly Special Players.

But I Know I Have A Son Who Doesn't Listen To Anything I Say And If He Hears The Same Thing From Someone Else, Sometimes It Has A Little More Impact.

And As A Football Coach In The National Football League, I Know For Sure That It's Going To End Someday.

I've Always Tried To Coach People The Way I Would Like To Be Coached; Positively And Encouragingly Rather Than With Criticism And Fear ... I've Tried To Be As Fair As Possible.

Remember That Mentor Leadership Is All About Serving. Jesus Said, “for Even The Son Of Man Came Not To Be Served But To Serve Others And To Give His Life As A Ransom For Many” (mark 10:45).

I Would Want America To Know Our Kids Need Us. Spend As Much Time With Your Kids As You Can. Enjoy Them. Be With Them. Hug Your Children; You Never Know When It Will Be The Last Time.

I Could Never Have Pictured Myself Writing A Book When I Was 25 Years Old. My Mom Was An English Teacher But I Wasn't That Way Growing Up.

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