NCAA Tournament Optimism Despite Disappointment

This week in our Podcast of Optimism, we take on the tough loss dealt to MSU in the NCAA basketball tournament. 

Though they won't be advancing in the tournament, this year's team has every right and reason to be proud of their accomplishments, teamwork, and effort put forth in this fabulous season.

Still, losing is tough on the team, the coaches, and the fans so Dr. Russ helps give an optimistic perspective to this heart-breaking loss for Spartan fans.

Click here to listen in!

Tom Izzo and Draymond Green Lead the MSU Spartans to Sweet Sixteen Third Year in a Row with Optimistic Spirit

By Dr. Russ

March Madness is in full swing.  Tom Izzo, Draymond Green, and the MSU Men’s Basketball team continue to teach the invaluable role of optimism in leadership and success not only in sports, but in life. 

Once again MSU is in the NCAA “Sweet Sixteen.”  Unlike last year and the year before, when they had many apparent obstacles to overcome, this year they entered the tournament as a number one seed.  But, optimists take nothing for granted and Izzo and his star senior player Green have carried over their optimistic lessons of years past to build on the successes of this year.

OPTIMISM TIP:  Be an Obstacle Terminator

What is an obstacle?

Obstacles are factors that have the potential to interfere with, derail or completely block our progress toward goal accomplishment.  Internal-to-Self Obstacles are our collections of fears, anxieties and self-doubts in any given moment.  External-to-Self-Obstacles are challenges and problems that need to be assessed and solved.

How do optimists versus pessimists deal with obstacles?

Highly Skilled Optimists (about 10% of the general population) learn to accurately identify obstacles standing in the way of successfully completing their plans and goals so that they can effectively terminate them with rationale problem solving.

Optimist-Pessimist-‘Tweeers (formerly referred to as Mr. or Ms. In-Betweeners; about 70% of the general population) try to go through, over, under or around the obstacle with foolhardiness, ignoring, fearing and stumbling around. In effect they self-handicap their progress and experience unnecessary frustration, worry and irritability with only moderate success at best.

Pessimists (about 20% of the general population) give their power over to the obstacle, blame it for their failure, say it can’t be or couldn’t have been done; impose a negative state of hopelessness upon themselves.

Example of an Obstacle Terminator

Two years ago, Draymond Green, a stand-out sophomore, basketball player for Michigan State University, was driving toward the basket with 23 seconds left in the NCAA semi-final game against Butler University.  MSU was one point down, 50 to 49.   In 6’6” Green’s way was one “BIG EXTERNAL-TO-SELF-OBSTACLE,” 6’9” Butler player Gordon Hayward.  As he leaped up to take the shot, Green appeared to get “smacked” by Hayward. The ball bounced off the rim of the basket; no points.  The refs did not call a foul.  Butler won the game.  Afterwards Hayward admitted he might have gotten a piece of Green’s shooting arm, committing a foul.

So, what did Green say?

What Green DID NOT say:

1.    He did not blame the refs for a “no call,” doing so would have made him a PESSIMIST since he has no hope of overcoming the obstacle of the “BAD CALL REF.”
2.    He did not say Hayward made a better play on him.  Doing so would have made him an OPTIMIsM-PESSIMISM-‘TWEENER as he only had partial control over the outcome of any one-on-one play in any given moment.

What Green DID say: 

• “Maybe I did get smacked, but on my behalf I have to go stronger . . .”

In this moment, Green was speaking like a “highly skilled optimist” because he took personal responsibility for the future TERMINATION of an obstacle like this.  In saying, he needs to learn to “go stronger” toward the basket he was taking CONTROL OF WHAT HE COULD CONTROL – learning and practicing the skill needed to GO STRONGER; not let a “smack on the arm” interfere with his future shot making.   He likely already is planning out practice sessions where he can PRACTICE “going stronger” against JUST SUCH an obstacle.

An Obstacle Terminator Role Model and Teacher

In my opinion, Green’s coach, Tom Izzo, is another example of a “highly skilled optimist.”  As a college student, he missed a game winning free throw at the end of a championship game.  Since that day, and right up through today, Izzo shoots one hundred foul shots a day in any given practice making sure that whatever “Internal-to-Self-Obstacle” (there are no external-obstacles in foul shooting) that interfered with his shot in-that-moment stays TERMINATED FOREVER.

Fast Forward to 2012

Optimists learn from their mistakes. In last night’s game against St. Louis University, St. Louis was on a run and had pulled within two points with only a few minutes left.  This time, instead of trying to muscle past the obstacle of several defensive players and go for a lay-up, Green passed out to his point guard yelling encouragement and confidence to Keith Appling that he could make the three-pointer despite a recent shooting slump.  Appling sunk the shot, Green got credit for an assist, and MSU went on to win without further major challenge.

Parenting for Perseverance

By Dr. Russ

The theme for this week has been 'PERSEVERANCE.'   We have learned about a 69 year old, South Korean grandmother who failed her written driver’s license test 959 times before passing on the 960^th re-take; all the while maintaining a cheerful demeanor.  Cha Sa-soon never had the opportunity of a formal education, and thus never learned the reading 'R' of the three 'R’s.'  She did however, through the “hard knocks” of life, learn the “P” of Perseverance - a core component of optimism.

While the three 'R’s' are taught in school, I do not believe I have ever seen a course in any elementary, secondary or college curriculum entitled “Perseverance.” So, where do we learn the big “P?”  How do our children learn it?  How do we teach perseverance to our children?

Perhaps the children learn it by reading or listening to the Big “P” stories of famous people as exemplified in the following vignettes excerpted from one of my favorite “little books” entitled: Try Again, Fail Again, Fail Better (Herter Studio, Running Press):

• Thomas Edison experimented with over 6000 materials to use as his filament in a light bulb before he found the one that worked.(p.6)

• In his sophomore year, Michael Jordan failed to make his high school varsity basketball team.  He has said, “I was very disappointed and I thought the coach had made a mistake.  But my mother said the best thing for me to do was to prove to the coach that he was wrong.  And I started working on my game the day after I was cut.” (p.40)

• Alfred Butts invented the game of SCRABBLE after he lost his job as an architect during the Depression.  Butts fastidiously studied the front page of the New York Times to calculate how often each of the twenty-six letters of the English language was used. (p.44)

• Charles Goodyear was convinced of the commercial value of rubber – if he could only find a way to keep it from sticking and melting in the heat.  He began experimenting with the materials while in debtors prison, and continued to test the material for years, failing many times and eventually driving his family into poverty.  The story goes that in 1839, Goodyear was in town showing off his latest gum-and-sulphur formula.  As had happened in the past, snickers rose from the watching crowd.  It is said that Goodyear became agitated and while waving his arms in the air, the gum flew from his hand and landed on a sizzling hot stove.  When he went to scrape it off, he found that he had finally discovered weatherproof, or vulcanized, rubber. (p.54)

• Winston Chrurchill failed sixth grade.  He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became prime minister at the age of sixty-two.  He later wrote, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.  Never, Never, Never, Never give up.”(p.24)

Or perhaps the children learn the Big “P” from the “over-and-over” again pronouncements of their parents, coaches, teachers or mentors such as:

• One of my mother’s favorite expressions was: “You may not be smarter or as smart as the ‘next guy,’ but you can always work harder.” 

• Tom Izzo, coach of the National Champion Michigan State University Men’s Basketball Team says over and over to his players:  “You may not be able to out-skill your opponent, but you sure can out-work him.”

 Children can also learn The Big “P” from the kinds of tasks the parents assign them: 

• I was once on a judging panel of an essay writing contest for Junior High students.  The topic was motivation.  One of the top rated essays came from a girl who wrote about how her father had encouraged her to untangle a ball of string until she had every last knot undone.  The task took her hours, and her essay not only captured her internal mental struggle to stay with it but her joy and satisfaction of accomplishment of such a dull and mundane task.

 Five Parenting Tips to Teach Perseverance

1. Do recount stories of perseverance from within family tree.  Most families have an uncle, grandparent, or great grandparent who persevered and overcame some significant difficulties.  Any family descended from an ancestor who came thru Ellis Island surely has some stories to tell.  Need more family tree information: Google “Ellis Island” and explore the “family tree” data base.  Do tell about and have your children read about famous people past and present, like the one's above, who have persevered.
2. Like my mother and Tom Izzo - Do talk about the importance of hard work and staying with the task.  Begin verbalizing these maxims at an early age.  Do discount the adage, “I’d rather be lucky than good.”  Replace it with, “I’d rather be a hard worker than good.”  Then remind the child that ‘good’ = ‘ability’ = ‘skill,’ and ‘skill’ is acquired through hard work.  Teach the child that some will “catch-on” and learn something more quickly than others.  Then explain that the disadvantage of “catching-on-quickly” is that one may “give-up-quickly” as well in the face of the inevitable difficulties of life.
3. Be a “role-model-of persistence” for your children.  My dad was a “do-it-your-selfer.”  When I was age 7, he began putting in a “finished basement” with knotty pine paneling and tiled floor.  For two years, he came home from work and tackled the project for several hours every evening; weekends as well.  He just kept up the routine and it turned out to be a gem of a family room.  In my teenage years he decided to fiberglass our 16 foot mahogany planked sailboat so that it would float.  He had never fiberglassed anything. Out in the garage every weekend for three months, he kept working...with me as his primary gopher. When the job was completed, it wasn’t the smooth finished texture of a factory molded fiber glass boat, but with a red paint job, we were proud of the rough edges; and the boat did float!!
4. When a child makes a commitment to join a team or activity make sure he/she stays with it for the season – OK to try something else next season, but finish out the current one.
5. Teaching PERSEVERANCE takes a long time; perhaps an entire childhood of storytelling, lecturing, role modeling and demanding effort.  Winston Churchill graduated from high school as “D” student, but showed in his adulthood that he had finally learned the BIG “P.”  Michael Jordan figured out the importance of “P” the summer between his sophomore and junior year of high school.  I too spent that sophomore to junior summer reflecting upon my future and realized how much effort I could and should be putting into my studies and sports. Finally, for the first time, as junior in high school, I made the academic honor role and received a varsity letter in soccer.

10 Maxims for Optimistic Living

By Dr. Russ,

In this Dr. Russ Buss WEEK IN REVIEW, I present 10 MAXIMS to guide the further development of your “SKILLED OPTIMISM.”

1.KEEP YOUR COOL UNDER FIRE: “Skilled Optimists” have learned to “keep their cool under fire,” knowing full well the consequences of succumbing to the temptation of becoming a Pessimistic, Hirepafoo.  When in a coach, parent, teacher, or boss role: “Try teaching instead of yelling and lecturing.”

2. THE BEST DECISIONS ARE MOLDED IN THE CRUCIBLE OF DISAGREEMENT: The best choices are made upon listening to a variety of perspectives and different opinions.  The four coaches who led their men’s basketball teams to the 2010 NCAA Final Four are all known for their ability to engage in “two-way,” “give and take” communication with their players.

3. CHOOSE THE HIGH ROAD:  The only acceptable counter to negativity is positivity. Our “Struggling Optimist” frequently demonstrates this quality in his musings. For example, he spends part of every week working to help other unemployed, job seekers with their job searches and he worries about whether he would be able to consider a full time job offer after having just accepted a part-time one.

4. KNOW AND STICK TO YOUR VISION AND PRINCIPLES:  Make choices consistent with your vision and principles.  Yes, there were NO LOSERS in this year’s NCAA Final Four.  Every coach appeared to get the maximum effort out of his players.  Further, this set of coaches are known for developing character, good graduation rates, as well as winning games.

5. OPTIMISTS LEARN TO TOUGH-IT-OUT:  Being an optimist is not easy.  We can teach children this “maxim of optimism’ at an early age by helping them take on challenges, difficult tasks, face their fears and most of all let them experience some of the “pain” of life so they are better able to as adults to do the same for themselves and their children.

7. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHOICES: “Skilled Optimists” learn to take responsibility for their choices.  Michigan State University Tom Izzo and star player Draymond Green embody this maxim when Green looks at his own play in the last seconds of the semi-final Final Four Game and says, “I needed to go stronger” against the opponent so that even if he fouled me, I can make the shot.  He never fell into that easy trap set by many reporters to blame the refs for a NO CALL.

8. PURPOSE REQUIRES FAITH: The purpose that you wish to find in life requires the faith to take risks and a rejection of the bonds of fear; purpose is something for which one is responsible.  Brad Stevens coach of the Butler Bulldogs in Monday’s final NCAA, Final Four, game made such a leap of faith when he gave up a well paying job with a pharmaceutical company to pursue an uncertain future coaching career as a VOLUNTEER.

9. IT IS THE VIEW THAT COUNTS: We especially learned from this years FINAL FOUR that when “bad things” happen, (e.g., injury to a star player), “it’s how you deal with them that matters.” Despite the upcoming anticipated loss of unemployment benefits our “struggling optimist” is not focusing on the door closing behind him, but on then one’s opening-up in front.

10. RISK IS NECESSARY: Optimists make choices that involve risk – risks of failure, income loss, ridicule, decreased popularity, and lowered self-esteem. Tom Izzo risked failure, ridicule and decreased popularity when he benched several “key” players toward the end of season in order to teach for a long term objective. The players could have responded with a “loss of self-esteem,: but instead showed renewed commitment, motivation, and sense of purpose. Brad Stevens gave up a ton of income when he volunteered for the Butler coaching staff.



Tom Izzo Leading Candidate for Terminator Role in Basketball Coaching

By Dr. Russ,

Wednesday is “Just One Thing Day.”  It is the mid-point of the work week when I offer up the TIP OF THE WEEK; one more thing you can do to BOOST your weekly optimism quotient in order to finish out the week in an up-beat mood. Tom Izzo is the leading candidate for this week's "terminator role."

OPTIMISM TIP OF THE WEEK:  Be an Obstacle Terminator

What is an obstacle?

Obstacles are factors that have the potential to interfere with, derail or completely block our progress toward goal accomplishment.  Internal-to-Self Obstacles are our collections of fears, anxieties and self-doubts in any given moment.  External-to-Self-Obstacles are challenges and problems that need to be assessed and solved.

How do optimists versus pessimists deal with obstacles?

Highly Skilled Optimists (about 10% of the general population) learn to accurately identify obstacles standing in the way of successfully completing their plans and goals so that they can effectively terminate them with rationale problem solving.

Optimist-Pessimist-‘Tweeers (formerly referred to as Mr. or Ms. In-Betweeners; about 70% of the general population) try to go through, over, under or around the obstacle with foolhardiness, ignoring, fearing and stumbling around. In effect they self-handicap their progress and experience unnecessary frustration, worry and irritability with only moderate success at best.

Pessimists (about 20% of the general population) give their power over to the obstacle, blame it for their failure, say it can’t be or couldn’t have been done; impose a negative state of hopelessness upon themselves.

Example of an Obstacle Terminator

Draymond Green, a stand-out sophomore, basketball player for Michigan State University, was driving toward the basket with 23 seconds left in the NCAA semi-final game against Butler University last Saturday.  MSU was one point down, 50 to 49.   In 6’6” Green’s way was one “BIG EXTERNAL-TO-SELF-OBSTACLE,” 6’9” Butler player Gordon Hayward.  As he leaped up to take the shot, Green appeared to get “smacked” by Hayward. The ball bounced off the rim of the basket; no points.  The refs did not call a foul.  Butler won the game.  Afterwards Hayward admitted he might have gotten a piece of Green’s shooting arm, committing a foul.

So, what did Green say?

What Green DID NOT say:

1.    He did not blame the refs for a “no call,” doing so would have made him a PESSIMIST since he has no hope of overcoming the obstacle of the “BAD CALL REF.”
2.    He did not say Hayward made a better play on him.  Doing so would have made him an OPTIMIDM-PESSIMISM-‘TWEENER as he only has partial control over the outcome of any one-on-one play in any given moment.

What Green DID say: 

• “Maybe I did get smacked, but on my behalf I have to go stronger . . .”

In this moment, Green was speaking like a “highly skilled optimist” because he took personal responsibility for the future TERMINATION of an obstacle like this.  In saying, he needs to learn to “go stronger” toward the basket he was taking CONTROL OF WHAT HE COULD CONTROL – learning and practicing the skill needed to GO STRONGER; not let a “smack on the arm” interfere with his future shot making.   He likely already is planning out practice sessions where he can PRACTICE “going stronger” against JUST SUCH an obstacle.

An Obstacle Terminator Role Model and Teacher

In my opinion, Green’s coach, Tom Izzo, is another example of a “highly skilled optimist.”  As a college student, he missed a game winning free throw at the end of a championship game.  Since that day, and right up through today, Izzo shoots one hundred foul shots a day in any given practice making sure that whatever “Internal-to-Self-Obstacle” (there are no external-obstacles in foul shooting) that interfered with his shot in-that-moment stays TERMINATED FOREVER.

{Draymond Green quote and other technical information about the game situation was drwan from Lansing State Journal artile by Joe Rexrode, p. 2Q, Sunday, April 4. 2010.}