Dear ,
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Welcome to Issue 244. The mission of "Marvelous Mondays" is to offer an inspirational thought, a practical exercise, some humor, or a simple tip to jump-start your week and to enhance your life, business, outlook or relationships.
Please feel free to forward "Marvelous Mondays" to others who will enjoy it.
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THE WIZARD OF WESTWOOD
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This is the nickname given to legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden (1910-2010), whose UCLA basketball team performed in Westwood, Los Angeles. Why was he a wizard you might ask? It's not just because he won more college basketball championships than any other coach by winning seven consecutive NCAA championships and ten titles during his last 12 seasons. It was his innovativeness which made him the wizard. For example, one of his early teams had no player taller than 6'5". Basketball experts thought such a small team could not be competitive. However, John Wooden proved otherwise and in fact won the national championship.
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HARDSHIPS, HARD WORK, AND DISCIPLINE
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John was born in 1910 on a farm in Indiana with no running water or electricity. They were living poor, went bankrupt, and lost their home and farm. Instead of giving up and complaining, his family started a new life and moved to a new town in Indiana called Martinsville. John was 14 when this move occurred, a teenager, a time in life when starting a new high school and leaving friends can be traumatic. Serendipitously, the town pride was high school basketball, where John could develop his natural talent. Thus began the storied life of one of the greatest names in basketball history.
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EXERCISE
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This week I invite you to reflect on the following:
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Did you go through issues in your past that you labeled as "hardships"? In what way did those hardships form you into the person you are?
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What issues or hardships are you experiencing today? What are you learning from this? How are you growing?
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Do you see hardships as obstacles or opportunities?
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