A Lesson of Life from a Basketball Game

   All a good coach is, is a person who sells you a dream, and shows you how to achieve it.
   Now, I've been known to say (with great exaggeration, of course), that all I ever learned, I learned from a game of basketball. Well, I think to tell you right here and now of the lesson I learned from a basketball game today -- and why a good coach is a person who gives you to dream.
   My BYU Cougars suffered one of their most improbable losses ever this day, and I thought on the coaching. Coach Dave Rose is a good coach, but I wonder if this time he could have done better, or if there were other "coaching" voices, not his, that caused the downfall. Today's loss to lowly Pacific came two days after upsetting 25th-ranked St. Mary's. That mirrors a loss to Portland in January that came two days after a huge upset of Gonzaga.
   Is it possible the coach didn't properly prepare BYU for Portland and Pacific? Those are games you should have won, and would have if the coach had you playing at your highest level.
   No, I don't know if Coach Rose inadvertently planted negative thoughts, but there are hints that fear of failure was present, even if that fear was planted by someone other than the coach. I remember a player before the Portland loss saying the Gonzaga win would be for naught if they lost the next one. And, before the Pacific loss, I heard a sports announcer expressing concern that they not lose to lowly Pacific.
   Hey, warning against losing is not a positive approach. Rather than sow seeds of doubt, sell only the dream. Say only that by winning the second game of the two, you are in position to challenge for the conference title, or whatever.
   Sell only the positive. Sell only the dream.
   Now, what does this have to do with life? We are coaches of our family, friends and associates. And, more than coaching anyone else, we coach ourselves. If we would become what we might become, we must concentrate on what can be achieved, and what is possible. We must dream. We must consider our potential and our possibilities. The why-nots might not matter if we give them no mind, but they will if we give them enough of our attention.
   I will close by saying, yes, there are times you should warn of the pitfalls, and the dangers. That, too, is part of coaching. But, be wary of being wary. There will be times, there is no good reason to even voice the negative. When you don't need to, don't do it. And, when you do offer up warnings, hasten in before and behind with the positive.