Category Archives: Life, Leadership, Business, Coaching, Success
What Christmas Means To Me
Christmas is a day that is meant to be shared. My earliest memories of Christmas as a child are of a house full of family (about 15 people from my Dad’s side), a huge dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, and enough good conversation and card games to carry us into the evening, when we would go to my Grandmother’s (mom’s side) house for more good Christmas cheer.
This would all take place on Christmas Eve. Later it would be off to bed because bright and early the next morning (usually 6am) we’d be right back up to open the gifts that had appeared under the tree.
Now, my cousins next door used to open their gifts on Christmas Eve and I decided one year that this idea would work well in the Baker house, too. So I plotted to convince my parents to go along with it. I woke up at 1:45am on Christmas Day morning, went into the bathroom and set my watch ahead to 6am. Then I went in and woke up my parents and showed them the time.
Looking back across the years and reflecting on this dastardly plot I have no idea why they didn’t look at the clock radio in their bedroom, because had they done this, my plan would have been foiled. I do remember my Dad saying “Already? It seems like we just got to bed!”
But downstairs we went (my brother was still sleeping!) and I got two or three gifts opened before my father looked at his watch and saw the real time. He and my mom exchanged looks and just smiled and shook their heads. They let me finish the job before we went back to bed. One year later, we were opening our gifts on Christmas Eve.
Mission accomplished!
As I got older though, and life’s natural cycle started reducing the size of our family (we’ve now lost everyone on my father’s side including my dad and a whole generation on my mom’s side), the annual Christmas Eve dinner party began shrinking from a bustling house full of adults (and my brother and me), to a much smaller and more intimate gathering.
That’s when I realized the true meaning and spirit of Christmas. The day is still special in its own way, but it’s not the same. I miss the controlled chaos of all the people being around the house, talking and sharing the day with each other. The memories are priceless though.
I have learned from that to never take people in my life for granted and to appreciate giving much more than receiving.
When you’re young, you just assume your family and friends are always going to be a part of your life. As time goes on and reality sets in, you start to understand how important it is to spend as much time with those you love as possible and to always remind them of how you feel about them because you never know how long you’re going to have them around.
Christmas time for me now carries a much deeper meaning. I have taken some major steps in my spiritual walk over the past couple of years, rededicating my life to Jesus Christ and being baptized in my Christian church.
I have always understood the true meaning of the day to the extent that my Catholic upbringing instilled in me and I have always loved the old hymns of faith more than the “Santa songs”. I will treasure the memories of My Dad and I listening and singing to Connie Francis’ Christmas album when I was young. I am moved to this day by the choir in the background and her amazing voice.
I still have that on CD, and it brings me back to the old days of snow coming down outside my house and all the decorations we had being lit. I now enjoy many of the more contemporary singers and Christmas songs and I really enjoy hearing our worship band at church as they lead us each and every Sunday.
This year though, I believe my heart, soul, and mind are more right with what December 25th signifies than ever, and I am humbled daily by God’s power and his love for us. The pastors and my church family at Christ Community Church mean everything to me, and my eyes have been truly opened to the awesome wonder of the journey that God takes us on if we simply believe and activate our faith on a daily basis.
I thank God every day for his blessings, and for the lessons he teaches me through my trials and tough times in life. I thank him for my family and for my church family. I thank him for giving me the talents and skills to make a difference for others and put a smile on their faces.
I thank him for the opportunities to help others throughout the year, especially at Christmas time. It’s hard to put into the words the feeling that I get knowing I’ve given someone else the chance to feel as loved and blessed as I do in this time of joy and celebration.
Material things mean little without people in your life who love and care about you. You will be judged not on what you have, but on who you are and what you’ve done in service to others…in service to God.
I have a long way still to go in the growth of my faith, but I will take that journey one day at a time, one step at a time.
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining! It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Tragedy In Motorsports – The White Elephant In The Room
Our Father in Heaven,
Thank you for this day and for being there for us. You tell us never to tremble or be afraid, for you are always with us and will never forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). We love you for the way you care for us, and we know that you have a plan for each of us in this life.
Coach Tom
But Lord, all of us in the motorsports community are grieving today. Our hearts are hurting. We are all trying to understand what happened at Las Vegas on Sunday, why it happened, and we are struggling to grapple with the loss of our racing brother Dan Wheldon.
Lord, we ask for your help as we sort through all of our anger, frustration, and sadness. We ask you to help us to be able to focus on what we can do to support the Wheldon family, the Indy Car community, and each other.
Help us to avoid the human tendency to rush to judgment about why this happened, or what could have or should have been done differently to avoid it. Let us leave those judgments to those whom you have blessed with the wisdom and experience to make them.
Help us instead, to look to you for strength and guidance as we move forward in our lives and our racing careers, and to learn from the example Dan set for us with his positive attitude, passionate enthusiasm, and undying spirit and love for his family, his sport, and his life.
We pray, Lord, that you will help us glorify your name in everything we do, and to remember that it is your will and not ours that should be done. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
All over the world, the motorsports community is in a state of shock, mourning, and numbness. I’m sure many are doing as I am, seeking the strength of our Lord to guide us and help us in this time. It is never easy to understand why things happen the way they do in life, but having the faith that our God is in control even in the worst of times becomes a source of strength and a lifeline to help us get through the pain.
The truth is, racing is a dangerous sport. Every driver who straps into any type of vehicle with the intent of racing on any surface anywhere runs the risk of crashing, and with that risk comes the potential of serious injury, or perhaps even death. It’s always the “white elephant” in the room that none of us like to talk about, but all of us who are involved in the sport know it’s there.
Racers put a camouflage cover over the white elephant and go chase checkered flags in much the same way as journalists venturing into hostile territories to cover news, specialists trained in high-voltage power lines standing high in bucket trucks to restore power, firefighters charging into a burning building, or police responding to cracks of gunfire have to do. They take every precaution they can to minimize the risk, set the fear aside and go do the job.
Over the last 20 years or so I believe our sport has become much better at learning from tragedy and using it to make improvements in safety at all levels.
We did it in the 80′s when several deaths in short-track modified cars led to the determination that the cars were built too rigid causing drivers to absorb too much of the impact from a crash. We did it after Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001 with improvements in crash barriers, drivers seats, and seat belt technology. I have great faith that those in the know will find a way to do it again, beginning today.
It seems almost eerily ironic that Dan Wheldon spent much of this year assisting a team of people working on the new Indy Car design for 2012, a car that is supposed to be somewhat safer than the current one. After winning the Indy 500 for a second time, he spent much of the rest of the last year of his life using his God-given talents and life’s experience to help create a better, and perhaps safer car for future Indy Car racers.
Then he drove off into glory, and the angels took him home. (Charlie Daniels – High Speed Heroes).
The Making Of A Champion
I ran across a brilliant quote the other day from legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. The quote said, “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire… a dream… a vision.”
Pausing to think about that quote for a moment, I realized this applies to any profession, not just boxing. It really applies
Coach Tom
to life as a whole. Think about it… the mental and physical act of teaching your body and mind to do something successfully is just that – it is developing proper learning technique. The difference between being good at something and being the best comes down to how you see yourself in relation to what you’re doing.
I was at a race track some time ago coaching at a test session with one of our Team Full Throttle racers when a touring series late model racer pulled in to do some testing of his own. The first thing the race team did when they rolled the car out of the hauler is change the rear end.
I thought, “Didn’t they know they had to do that before they left the shop?” Obviously you should always come to the track prepared to test or race at your highest level. They wasted nearly an hour of their available track time doing work that could have already been done before they left home.
That racer was not operating in the mindset of someone who has the goal of being “in the race” and becoming a champion. That’s the mindset of someone whose goal is being “at the race” and just making laps.
You have to treat your racing as a business. You need to prepare to be the best before you can actually be the best. That means going the extra mile to not only prepare the race car, but to prepare yourself as well. Think ahead. Know where your weaknesses are and seek the proper help to overcome them.
The difference between being average and being the best comes down to having a plan. Make a decision to maximize your potential and then have the discipline to make it a part of your daily existence. Tiger Woods’ former Golf instructor, John Encelmo, once commented about Tiger, “He had what I call inner talent. He started practicing every night at a very young age and just kept doing it for years. He wanted to achieve something.” That’s the discipline I’m talking about.
Being physically fit is understood by most high-level racers to be critical. You have to work out regularly and put the right “fuel” (food and drink) into your body on a daily basis. But fewer racers think about being mentally and emotionally fit.
If you have not taken the time to learn the proper fundamentals and technique for practicing and learning a new track, for example, you won’t be mentally prepared to be successful in a touring series. You only get a limited amount of practice time at each race in many series, so you have to have a system to get up to speed quickly but smoothly and be able to communicate the right adjustments to your crew in order to be successful.
That system is not instinctive. It’s a learned skill.
If you find yourself getting frustrated when things don’t go as well as you expected, you probably won’t get past the level you’re at now. You have to adjust your emotion detector to “neutral” if you want to perform your best on race day.
Winning a race or a points title will not in and of itself make you a champion. Thinking and preparing like a champion is what allows you to have the mental, physical, and emotional competence to win those races and points titles and be successful at the highest levels for the longest period of time.
Champions are built from the inside out.
ABOUT COACH TOM:
Tom’s non-judgmental and patient approach to coaching helps him to develop the type of long-term relationships that are necessary for championship results in both teenagers and adults in personal and professional environments.
“Coach Tom” (Tom Baker) is a full-time coach/trainer/communications expert, passionately lending his God-given talents and expertise to clients in several industries across the United States and Canada through his company Team Full Throttle.
If you’d like Tom’s help in becoming a champion in your professional and personal life, you can reach him via email at AskCoachTom@yahoo.com.
Three Ways A Performance Coach Helps Your Racer
“Coach Tom has taught Trey how to channel his intensity and mental focus, and the publicity through the press releases, personal appearances, and radio interviews has been phenomenal. He has laid out a plan for us and is supporting us in our effort to make it happen.” – Roger Jarrell, father of 14-year-old coaching client Trey Jarrell.
People ask me all the time what I actually do for my clients. It seems a bit mysterious, but it really is simple. As a performance coach, I show people like Trey learn how to get better results at what they do.
Coach Tom
Weather I am coaching a small business owner wanting to improve his time management and decision-making, a high school wrestler wanting to develop the right counter-moves, or a racer wanting to increase speed and improve passing technique, the common workspace we are playing in is the client’s mind.
We learn by building “programs” – repeating an activity mentally or physically enough times to make it a habit. Learning to do something without the proper coaching and guidance can build bad habits from the get-go and hinder your progress. Coaches can show you how to do it right the first time.
If you consider racers to be athletes, then you would understand that athletes benefit from coaches to help them develop the correct techniques to utilize the skills they have.
You wouldn’t send your young football player into a game without the proper coaching on fundamental things like tackling, blocking, or throwing the football, would you?
So why would you send your racer on the track (to go over 100mph in some cases) without proper training on how to master and control their car and reduce driver error that leads to crashes and possible injuries?
Here are three ways a performance coach like me can help your racer…
1 – Improve their fundamentals so that good habits are built from the very beginning and improvement is continuous.
2 – Show them how to really learn from their mistakes and not repeat them, and to hold them accountable for completing the steps necessary to achieve their goals and maximize their (or your) investment in the sport.
Coaching Racer Trey Jarrell
3 – To increase their confidence by developing superior processes for learning, overcoming limiting beliefs, and visualizing outcomes so they start seeing improved performance and better results on the track, in the classroom, and in their relationships with family, peers, and professional colleagues.
Here is a bonus reason that I will give you based upon my own past experience, training, and successes…
4 – If you or your racer are going to need funding to support the racing, I can help develop the proper attitude, speaking and selling skills, appearance, and marketing techniques you will need as you present yourself to prospective companies.
When is the best time to hire a performance coach? The moment you decide you want to take your performance to the next level!
Email me today and let’s talk!
” Tom is more than just a coach. He has been there for me during times of stress when I’ve thought the only option I had was failure. He coached me through the process of preaching my first sermon in my youth group at church, giving me valuable advice about speaking techniques, managing my time, and challenging me to improve in a positive way. He is an awesome mentor.” – Client Dalton Reynolds.
ABOUT COACH TOM:
Tom’s non-judgmental and patient approach to coaching helps him to develop the type of long-term relationships that are necessary for the best results in both teenagers and adults in personal and professional environments.
“Coach Tom” (Tom Baker) is a full-time coach/trainer/communications expert, passionately lending his God-given talents and expertise to clients in several industries across the United States and Canada through his company Team Full Throttle.
Tom can be reached via email at AskCoachTom@yahoo.com
Parents: It Takes Attitude AND Technique To Create Success
This column is for parents who have children in any type of sport or athletic activity. It is especially for those parents who also “coach” or advise them in their endeavors.
I am blessed to have the opportunity to share my years of experience as a performance coach with young racers and 
athletes in other sports. In my work I come across a wide variety of different types of parental involvement in these activities.
I believe parents generally do a fine job of guiding and instructing their children when they fill the role of “coach” in addition to “parent” in sport. I admire their efforts, and I know it can be very difficult to straddle the invisible line between the two roles. It requires “kid gloves” to handle with care.
But sometimes I think they forget that it’s their child’s dream, not theirs.
Even as a coach and mentor, I have to constantly monitor my emotion detector, because there are so many times in sport when you feel like your athlete has been wronged, either by another competitor or an official, and you want to “react” in some sort of way.
WARNING! Your athlete is watching your reaction, and it is very likely they will model it.
Since we know it’s not OK to use foul language, verbal, or physical abuse to people in real life, why would any of us think it’s OK in sport? It’s not OK, it’s poor sportsmanship – and we need to remind ourselves of that every time we hit the gym, field, or track. It’s also important for parents to keep in mind that sometimes it can be their child’s fault, so it’s critical to not only be objective, but to allow the child to play the lead role in resolving conflicts when they arise. This gives them confidence in themselves and builds a skill set they can use throughout their lives.
On the other hand, I also see parents try to use the power of positive thinking with their athletes all the time. I like seeing that, because it’s much better to build someone up than it is to tear them down. But it’s very important when teaching a child how or what to think to also teach them the skills they need to actually back up their attitude. Otherwise, the result can still end up being negative.
For example, if you’re going to explain to your young athlete that they should always think and believe they are going to win, then you need to also explain to them that they shouldn’t evaluate the success or failure of their day on whether or not they won, because there are so many circumstances that have to fall into place just right in order for that win to happen.
Many of those circumstances are beyond their control, and they can easily develop a negative perspective of their abilities if they isn’t able to live up to the beliefs and results-driven expectations instilled in them.
An experienced performance coach or mentor will understand how to combine “realistic thinking” with “positive thinking” in just the right chemistry for the situation and the individual. Believe in yourself, but set realistic goals, and don’t forget to work on the right things everyday to help you achieve those goals.
I’ve seen athletes who excel in their sport at one level move to the next level and struggle to stay on top. Meanwhile the parents are still giving them the same “focus on winning” advice.
I’d suggest focusing instead on what changes or modifications to their technique or skill set need to be made in order for them to be successful in this new environment.
See the difference?
Positive thinking without focused, specific instruction on skills and techniques can result in burnout and frustration. This is where an experienced performance coach or mentor who can deal individually with your athlete can be so valuable.
When I work with an athlete, I focus first on making sure they have a process for learning, because I know that without that process, they won’t retain any type of detailed instruction on skill set with any consistency. Then I keep their mind on the basics, and help them to visualize the things they need to do in order to improve.
I don’t need to excel at their sport or profession. I just need to understand how to teach them to do that. And that process never ends, because as long as there are higher levels of success to achieve, the athlete needs to keep learning.
Parents – please sit down and give some thought to the type of encouragement and instruction that you will be giving to your young athletes, and how you are going to model that for them. If you’re going to hire a performance coach or mentor, make sure you stay on the same page with that person in terms of not just what you say to your child, but how you say it.
After all, communication is a key to success, but it can also be a key to failure if it isn’t well thought-out and based upon a definitive process for skills development.
About Coach Tom
Tom Baker is a performance coach and communications specialist who owns and operates a communications and development company called Team Full Throttle.
Team Full Throttle (TFT) has been successfully providing expert performance coaching, media, and communications services for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Currently, TFT’s client list serves the U.S. and Canada.
Individual and small business coaching, youth coaching, performance coaching, freelance writing, blogging, media and PR coaching, website development and maintenance, individual and company bios, and voice talent work are all a part of TFT’s menu of services.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Team Full Throttle’s motorsports division has been improving racers’ on-track and off-track performance with coaching and public relations services for racers at every level. The organization had over 60 feature wins and multiple championships to its credit in 2010.
My Mother
I would like to begin by thanking our Pastor, Jack Homesley of Christ Community Church in Huntersville, N.C. for the inspiration to write this tribute to my amazing mother.
Every single human being who has, is, or will inhabit God’s earth was entrusted to a mother. Isn’t that incredible? Until Pastor Jack pointed that out to us during an emotional, heartfelt mother’s day service, I hadn’t ever really thought of it that way.
Coach Tom
I have the world’s most awesome mother. I am not ashamed to say that because it’s true.
My mother was reading books and playing games and teaching me nursery rhymes from the time I was old enough to remember. Thanks to her my reading skills were so far ahead of my age that when I started Kindergarten the teacher didn’t have enough reading work in class to keep me challenged. Thank you mom!
My mother agreed to go on her first date with my father – an auto race at the hometown Oswego Speedway – and they took me there for the first time at age 5 (1973). Now I make a large part of my living coaching, promoting, and mentoring young racers in the south. My passion born at five years old has become my avocation. Thank you mom!
My mother stayed at home with my younger brother and me to make sure we were nurtured and loved and had a parent with us all day while our dad worked, until we were both in school full-time. Then she went to work at our school (some kids would say this was bad, but it turned out to be a blessing in many ways for her and for us). Thank you mom.
My mother retired from school after my father began having heart issues, and she stood by him, spent time together with him, and took care of him (and us) until he went to be with our Lord on Thanksgiving weekend of 1999. She was always strong and vigilant, ever the caregiver. Thank you mom.
My mother didn’t stop caring for others after my father died, she just shifted the focus of it. She had always been active in our school system, serving over 20 years in PTA’s and on committees. Needing something now to provide her a purpose and fill the free time she now had, she made a decision to shift her focus of caring to the students of our school district. She ran for the school board, and won.
My mother served our community and its students for the next three years at a time when there was a lot of division and tension among the board’s members. She stood proudly for her values in the face of attack and never let anyone get in the way of her doing the right thing. Thank you mom.
My mother decided not to serve on the board again, but she didn’t stop serving the Lord through service to others. Now it was her mother (our beloved Grandma Turner) who needed her, and she didn’t miss a beat.
Taking Grandma out of the nursing home she so clearly didn’t belong in, mom spent the next couple of years of her life sleeping on her sofa so Grandma could live out her final days with her in her one bedroom apartment. She gave her bedroom to Grandma.
Mom loved on and doted on Grandma around the clock, and showed the kind of compassion and patience that God’s children should until Grandma died at the age of 98 in February of 2005.
Soon after our God called Grandma to his kingdom, he blessed my mother with the opportunity to move across the river to a better senior high-rise building into an upper floor apartment with a deck that overlooked the river. Mom was overwhelmed with joy, but still she kept on putting others before herself.
My mother was the one who stepped up when my Uncle Don (her brother) lost his wife and then began to experience hardships with daily life due to the progression of his Parkinson’s disease. She took him to the doctor, to lunch, or wherever he needed or wanted to go whenever those times came, and she never thought twice about it.
My mother cared for my Uncle until he went to be with our Lord last year, and since then she has shifted the focus of her service to Christ to caring for those in her apartment building who may need a ride to an appointment, or just someone to have lunch with and spend some time. She volunteers at her church and helps out community organizations needing hands for things like stuffing envelopes for mailings.
Through all of that other service, my mother has never, ever stopped doing whatever she could to make sure my brother and I knew she was there for us and that she loved us, helping us whenever we have needed her. She has continued to write letters to the editor of the hometown paper on issues she was passionate about, usually related to the school district and the welfare of its students.
My mother is a giver, not a taker. My mother is a strong, stable woman with a beautiful, hopeful mind and a super-sized servant’s heart.
My Mother is a leader, a provider, a thinker, a survivor, and a positive influence on everyone whose life she touches.
My mother is popular in the community, loved by more people than I’m sure I’ll ever know about, and has been a radiant example of what a mother is supposed to look, think, and act like for over 40 years.
All that I am, and all that I will ever be as a leader, coach, mentor, and giver comes from our God through my extraordinary mother.
I cherish the long conversations on the phone my mother and I have, and treasure the time she spends with me in my home in the south, or in her apartment up north. I still learn every day from my mother, but don’t tell her I said so.
No words could ever possibly describe the depth of the love and absolute admiration I have for my mother.
But still…I try.
Thank you mom! I love you, and God Bless you.
About Coach Tom
Tom Baker is a performance coach and communications specialist who owns and operates a communications and development company called Team Full Throttle.
Team Full Throttle (TFT) has been successfully providing expert performance coaching, media, and communications services for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Currently, TFT’s client list serves the U.S. and Canada.
Individual and small business coaching, youth coaching, performance coaching, freelance writing, blogging, media and PR coaching, website development and maintenance, individual and company bios, and voice talent work are all a part of TFT’s menu of services.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Team Full Throttle’s motorsports division has been improving racers’ on-track and off-track performance with coaching and public relations services for racers at every level. The organization had over 60 feature wins and multiple championships to its credit in 2010.
If You Work Your Passion, Your Passion Will Work!
If I were a betting man, I would be willing to place a wager on the idea that about half of you who are reading this column right now do not enjoy your work very much. You are working a “job” because you need to be able to make a living , and maybe because you want a certain type of lifestyle that dictates the amount of money you have to make in order to sustain.
Coach Tom
Those of you who are nodding right now saying “that’s me!” should get a little closer to your computer screen and slowly soak in what I’m about to say.
It is never too late to turn your aspiration into your avocation! Translation – It is never too late to make something that is your passion into something that is your profession. Now, I know what you’re going to say…”But I’ve been 30 years with this company. I can’t leave now I’ll lose my retirement!”
That may be true. But you can prepare to leave at the earliest possible point and have a smooth transition into enjoying your retirement while still accomplishing some of your life’s earlier goals or aspirations. One of the finest gentlemen I have had the pleasure of calling a friend was a nuclear engineer who is enjoying his retirement with his wife by staying in physical shape and working as a handyman.
He accepts light painting work, does odd jobs for those who just need some help, and even does some remodeling on occasion. He works a few days a week for just a few hours a day, leaving him plenty of time to spend with his wife going to shag dances and visiting with his adult children.
I asked him one time why he was doing this work when he could simply be enjoying his retirement. “I have always enjoyed doing it,” he told me. “Now I have time to make a little extra money with it without giving up all of my days. I can work when I want, accept the jobs I want, and set my own schedule around the things my wife and I enjoy doing. I love it!”
If you lack a little education to make your passion work for you after retirement (or if you want to transition out of your current job before retirement), there are plenty of adult education courses at local colleges all over the country that can help you gain the knowledge you need. There are also online courses that are fully accredited and can be done at your own pace, around your work schedule.
For those who are still in high school or college, making your passion into your profession is much easier. You can set that goal now and start working with your guidance counselor or a personal coach to design a pathway to achieving it. Here is an easy outline you can follow…
What unique talents or skills do I have?
What would get me out of bed every morning with a smile if I were being paid to do it?
What education or knowledge do I need in order to do it?
What can I do in the next 30, 60, and 90, and 180 days to move forward toward being able to do it?
Who can I ask to get involved and help me with this process, to hold me accountable for completing my goals?
If you will spend some quality time pondering those questions, and put answers to them on paper, you will probably start to see that you have more possibilities than you ever have before. Take them to a coach or career counselor, and ask them to provide you some analysis.
I have worked several “jobs” in my life. I now spend my days working my “passion”. In fact, I’ve found a way to involve several of my “passions” in the work I do. Writing, speaking, helping others grow and succeed, motorsports, ministry, and debate are all things I absolutely love, and I use them all in various forms every day in my work!
If you feel “trapped” by your job, or would like some direction about how to develop or change your career into one that is passion-based, contact me at askcoachtom@yahoo.com and let’s talk!
About Coach Tom
Tom Baker is a performance coach and communications specialist who owns and operates a communications and development company called Team Full Throttle.
Team Full Throttle (TFT) has been successfully providing expert performance coaching, media, and communications services for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Currently, TFT’s client list serves the U.S. and Canada.
Individual and small business coaching, youth coaching, performance coaching, freelance writing, blogging, media and PR coaching, website development and maintenance, individual and company bios, and voice talent work are all a part of TFT’s menu of services.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Team Full Throttle’s motorsports division has been improving racers’ on-track and off-track performance with coaching and public relations services for racers at every level. The organization had over 60 feature wins and multiple championships to its credit in 2010.
Five Easy Ways To Improve Your Life Today!
I never fail to be amazed at how the simplest things in life can make such a difference.
Sometimes that difference is a physical one (a more comfortable office chair, for example), sometimes it is a mental one (meeting someone special, perhaps?), and sometimes it is a financial one (a promotion at work or possibly the right investment).
Are you looking for something to put that spark back into your daily existence? Have you felt like you’re stuck in one of life’s many ruts? Spring is always a good time to clean out your garage, your basement, and your closet. But have you thought about spring being a good time to clean out the junk in your life as well?
Here are five easy things you can do to improve your daily life today.
1. Clean out your address book. I’m not just talking email or facebook here. I mean get rid of those friends who are either constant sources of negative karma, or who are always asking for your time or money and giving you nothing in return.
A relationship has to be a two-way street in order to grow, and both parties have to give and take equally. That doesn’t mean you should keep score. It simply means the relationship should “feel” good and enrich the lives of both parties in some sort of way. If someone is a constant rain shower on your sunny day, it may be time to move on.
2. Clean out your workspace. For me this is a never-ending process, but it is of particular importance at this time of year, with taxes and new strategies for success taking up space in my workscape.
No matter what your work is, where it is, or who you are working for, it is important that you keep clutter away from your viewpoint at all times so you can focus on productivity. Clutter isn’t limited to physical stuff either. Think about all those useless things you do during a day’s work that don’t directly impact productivity, and move them off your to-do list or at least to the end of the day after all the critical tasks have been completed.
3. Move. I am not asking you to relocate your family to some far off destination. I just mean, literally, get up and make your body do something strenuous for about 20 to 30 minutes a day. Get outside and walk, jog, or ride a bike. The fresh air, especially when coupled with sunshine, lifts your spirits as much as it keeps your body in shape.
I either walk or walk/run for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, and I do my best to make that a five to six day a week routine. I take Sundays off due to church commitments and the desire to have a much needed rest and recharge day, but even at that I find myself sometimes walking in a park or involved in some sort of outdoor activity with friends. If it rains, exercise inside. It’s the best medicine for a lot more than just staying trim.
4. Laugh. This is as important to our mental well-being as anything else we can do for ourselves. Let’s face facts here – life is getting harder and harder by the day. Prices of almost everything seem to be going up, more and more people are out of work, and we seem to have difficulty believing in a lot of our leaders these days.
I know that sometimes keeping your spirits up is a lot easier said than done when times are tough. But what good does it do to be miserable? It only makes our problems worse. Watch something funny on TV, read a funny story, or seek out someone you know who makes you laugh and cling to them like saran-wrap on a bowl. Laughter sets off a series of chemical reactions in our bodies that boost our spirits and reduce stress.
I’m all for stress-reduction, aren’t you?
Finally, and most importantly…
5. Pray. Developing a strong spiritual relationship is paramount to reaching the highest degree of peace and tranquility in your life. If you are agnostic (not sure a God exists) or Atheist (convinced no God exists) then maybe you just need to focus on positive people and events. Or, perhaps it’s time for you to sit down with someone of faith and start asking some hard questions.
With the help of some of the finest, most amazing people I have ever met, I have regained my spiritual focus after several years of allowing it to lag behind some of the other spokes in my wheel of life. It has literally transformed my daily existence from one of survival to one of true peace and a never-ending thirst for growth in my faith, my relationships, and my work.
If you take action today on these five steps, I guarantee you that you will feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally almost immediately. Just doing one or two of them will give you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that will have you excited about your life again.
Good luck and God Bless!
Coach Tom
About Coach Tom
Tom Baker is a performance coach and communications specialist who owns and operates a communications and development company called Team Full Throttle.
Team Full Throttle (TFT) has been successfully providing expert performance coaching, media, and communications services for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Currently, TFT’s client list serves the U.S. and Canada.
Individual and small business coaching, youth coaching, performance coaching, freelance writing, blogging, media and PR coaching, website development and maintenance, individual and company bios, and voice talent work are all a part of TFT’s menu of services.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Team Full Throttle’s motorsports division has been improving racers’ on-track and off-track performance with coaching and public relations services for racers at every level. The organization had over 60 feature wins and multiple championships to its credit in 2010.
Don’t Beat Yourself
Why do so many of us beat ourselves at the game of life?
I’ve wondered about that for a long time, and it seems that the older (and hopefully wiser) I become in my role as performance coach, mentor, and advisor to youth and adults alike, I become more troubled by watching people fall short of their potential for self-inflicted reasons.
We all go through peaks and valleys in our lives, and it is true that many times the culprit for the valleys is an external force that we cannot control.
But what about the internal forces we can control?
I recently had a motorsports client who was told by a friend who works in the sport that he was wasting his time chasing his son’s racing dream because they are not financially independent and there is no sponsorship money out there for race teams right now.
So should my client just give up? Those kinds of negative comments from influential members of our inner circle may be well-intentioned, but they can shatter even the strongest walls of hope.
I worked with a young racer a few years back who had all the resources necessary to position himself for a shot at achieving his dream of big-time motorsports.
But one day he decided to try using cocaine he got from a relative’s stash.
That decision would end up costing him, literally, everything.
When his habit was discovered, his dream turned to powder in a heartbeat. He teetered perilously between darkness and light for over two years, taking one step forward then two back.
Finally, addicted to (brace yourselves) turpentine, he took his own life.
Stories like these take place every day.
Life seems to get more and more challenging as we get older. Sometimes it seems as though it takes all we have just to get through the day.
Here are five things we can do every day to help us overcome life’s toughest challenges.
1. Keep away from negative influences – This is critical. In a world full of violence, hatred, greed, and a growing belief that anything is OK as long as we think it is, it takes a great deal of discipline to not allow ourselves and our attitudes to be swayed by things we see and hear on TV, in the newspaper, or on the internet.
It gets even worse if the people we must interact with every day are negative in nature, but we have to keep our guard up and not allow their poison to seep into our belief systems.
2. Get up every morning and thank God for another chance to make the right impression. You can choose to live your life any way you want, but you can only live it once. Each new day is full of opportunities for success and happiness.
Think positive and surround yourself with positive people and influences as much as possible.
3. Stop making enemies and start making friends – Friendships can last a lifetime if we work at them, and can lead to opportunities in life and business. Making friends always makes us a better person. Making an enemy just makes you mad and creates tension and stress in your life.
Haven’t we all got enough of that already?
4. Put others first in everything you do. Why? Because a life led by lifting others up and helping others to succeed leads others to see the best in you and you will be rewarded with a peace and satisfaction that you cannot get living a life where “things” matter more than “people”.
Legacies are built on what you d0, not what you have.
5. Focus on the future, not on the past – Our failures teach us about how to succeed. This is called “failing forward”. We know we cannot change anything that happened yesterday, but we can learn from it and use it to become better in the future.
I see so many people who have trouble letting go of their past, and honestly my heart aches for them because I know they will never achieve their true potential in life until they can make peace with their past.
All of us have done things we are not proud of, whether due to circumstance or by design. Make amends where you can, forgive who you need to, and then forgive yourself.
Today is the first day of the best days of your life.
Believe in yourself. Don’t beat yourself.
About Coach Tom
Tom Baker is a performance coach and communications specialist who owns and operates a communications and development company called Team Full Throttle.
Team Full Throttle (TFT) has been successfully providing expert performance coaching, media, and communications services for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Currently, TFT’s client list serves the U.S. and Canada.
Individual and small business coaching, youth coaching, performance coaching, freelance writing, blogging, media and PR coaching, website development and maintenance, individual and company bios, and voice talent work are all a part of TFT’s menu of services.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Team Full Throttle’s motorsports division has been improving racers’ on-track and off-track performance with coaching and public relations services for racers at every level. The organization had over 60 feature wins and multiple championships to its credit in 2010.
Grammar Can Be Such A Helpful Lady!
In the course of doing my job as a performance coach and mentor for young racers and athletes (and serving as a volunteer in my church’s youth ministry), I encounter many situations where I see highly intelligent and talented
Coach Tom
young people who are unwittingly paying the price for our increasing lack of attention to teaching and enforcing proper grammar in our homes and schools.
This frustrates me to no end, because I see the effect our sloppiness has on these young men and women when they apply for jobs, have to deliver speeches, or try to carry on formal conversations with adults. Many employers are now starting to lean on schools to get “back to basics” with grammar, vocabulary, and verbal communication skills.
I’d strongly suggest that we re-introduce our young people to their grammar immediately. She can be such a helpful lady!
I know of a first grade teacher who for many years allowed her students to spell by sound in the first half of the school year, and then started to correct them when they got it wrong in the second half. I believe this was her way of combining the modern “whole language” approach to teaching her students to read and then adding the more traditional “phonics” teaching method in after Christmas break.
Let me illustrate in a literal sense what this “spell by sound” method would look like.
Those who teech this way fale to sea that letting the stoodents spell a word by its sound hawnts the stoodents later wen thay have to rite storees or blogs or cuver letters latur in life.
I am sure her intentions were noble. But I have to wonder if this is really the best approach for our students?
Our failure to pay attention to how students learn to speak, spell and write has become an epidemic, and it’s deducting IQ points at the speed of sound.
Why do teachers, parents, and other influential adults in a child’s life not take the time to correct what I call “speech ticks”? Examples of speech ticks would be inserting “like”, “um”, or “you know” into sentences where they clearly don’t belong.
“Like, it was so cold outside that like, my nose just like started forming icicles as soon as I walked out the door and then you know like, I just said dude this is nuts and I like went back in the house and like chilled out for the day.”
Why do we allow our children to program this type of poor grammar and speech construction into their brains and repeat it over and over for years? When did it become OK to just dismiss this as “It’s just the way kids talk these days”?
I have even heard some of the most well-known young actors and musicians speak that way in interviews, and I wonder why their handlers fail to find this important enough to warrant correction.
I have been pointing out incorrect grammar in my young clients’ verbal communication for years, and working with them to overcome their “ticks” and elevate their skills. I want them to be able to speak intelligently with adults in media and business settings so they will be judged for the bright young minds that they are.
Our society’s trend toward communicating with a keyboard instead of through written or verbal means has no doubt led to the deterioration of our young people’s skills in those areas. They simply don’t get the practice.
I totally understand the pressure that our teachers find themselves under in this technology filled world we live in to teach so much more than “readin, writin, and rithmetic”, but can we really afford to ignore this simple yet serious issue that ends up hindering our young men and women in colleges and in the workplace?
I believe it’s up to every influential adult in a child’s life to be positively persistent about helping that child to learn to communicate properly in all ways.
If we don’t do our jobs as their parents, teachers, mentors, and coaches, who will?+
About Coach Tom
Tom Baker is a performance coach and communications specialist who owns and operates a communications and development company called Team Full Throttle.
Team Full Throttle (TFT) has been successfully providing expert performance coaching, media, and communications services for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Currently, TFT’s client list serves the U.S. and Canada.
Individual and small business coaching, youth coaching, performance coaching, freelance writing, blogging, media and PR coaching, website development and maintenance, individual and company bios, and voice talent work are all a part of TFT’s menu of services.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Team Full Throttle’s motorsports division has been improving racers’ on-track and off-track performance with coaching and public relations services for racers at every level. The organization had over 60 feature wins and multiple championships to its credit in 2010.
