ANOTHER KOBE WORK EHTIC STORY

Kobe's professional trainer was fast asleep. Could you blame him? It was 3:30 am in the morning. All a sudden his phone starts ringing. It's Kobe. He must be in trouble, or in some kind of emergency. His trainer is freaking out, and nervously picks up the phone.

Kobe says that he's doing some conditioning work and could use his trainer's help. The trainer then proceeds to get ready and head over to the gym. He arrives around 4:30 am. 

What did he see? He saw Kobe by himself practicing. Drenched in sweat, it looked like he just jumped in a pool. It wasn't even 5am in the morning yet.

From "4 Stories About Work Ethic" written by A. J. Agrawal for INC.com

THE FOUR INGREDIENTS OF GRIT

The following is the four ingredients of grit as outlined by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval in their book "Grit to Great." There's a lot of great passages in this book to share with a team or an organization including this one:

Failure is how we learn -- it's how we develop and acquire grit.  From our own experiences, and those of the countless successful people we have worked with across a wide array of industries, from writers and CEOs to lawyers and Broadway performers, we can say it is grit that got them, and us, where we are.  Our research and experience tell us that grit can be broken down into four essential components:

Guts -- Grit begins with the courage to take on a tough challenge, and not falter in the face of adversity.  General George S. Patton famously defined courage as "fear holding on a minute longer."  Guts is what gives you the confidence to take a calculated risk, to be daring (without being reckless).  Guts is about putting yourself out there, declaring your intention to triumph, even if victory appears to be nowhere in sight.

Resilience -- Some of the world's most notable high achievers have flunked or dropped out of school, been fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, or dealt some other major setback that forced them to hit bottom.  But they bounced back.  Jerry Seinfeld got booed off the stage during his first stand-up gig.  It took three attempts before Stephen Spielberg was accepted by a film school.

Initiative -- By definition, initiative -- being a self-starter -- is what makes grit dynamic, what sets it in motion.  Leaders are often judged by their ability to take the initiative.

Tenacity -- Tenacity is the relentless ability to stay focused on a goal.  This is perhaps the most recognizable trait associated with grit...tenacity requires industriousness and determination.

THE WORK ETHIC OF TED WILLIAMS

One of the problems with young athletes today is that when they see the best they believe in large part that they have achieved greatness naturally -- though their talent.  The great ones can at times make it look easy. I spend a lot of times sharing stories of hard work and sacrifices of sports finest with my teams so that they hopefully realize that greatness comes with a price and that it must be earned.

One of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball is Ted Williams.  What made him great was a tremendous desire to be the best.  In the book "The Kid" written by Ben Bradlee, Jr., there was a story of someone who told Ted when he was young that he went to see too many movies and that it might strain his eyes.  Ted stopped going to the movies.

In 1936, Ted signed a minor league contract with San Diego.  Here is story from the book:

Frank Shellenback (William's manager) was impressed early on by Williams's work ethic, drive and determination.  After home games Ted would ask Shellenback for a couple of old baseballs.  When the manager asked what he did with them, Ted said he used them for extra batting practice after dinner at the park near his house. Shellenback found that hard to believe, having seen Ted come in to Lane Field at ten in the morning for extra hitting in addition to the regular workout every day.  As Shellenback told the Boston Herald's Arthur Sampson in 1949, one evening he drove to Williams's neighborhood to investigate and saw the rookie "driving those two battered baseballs off over the field.  Ted was standing close to a rock which served as home plate.  One kid was pitching to I'm.  A half dozen others were shagging drives.  The field was rough and stony.  The baseball I had given him were already showing signs of wear.  The stitching was falling apart.  The covers were rough as sandpaper.  Blood was trickling from Williams's hands as he dripped a chipped bat.  But he kept swinging.  And hitting.  Ted made himself the great baseball players he is today."