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Rowe: Tressel's words of wisdom
Ohio State football coach says we all need a ‘sense of connectedness.’
By KERMIT ROWE COMMENTARY
One thing you quickly discover about Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is he can see “the big picture.” Many go through life thinking about nothing but their desires and what is in front of their eyes.
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<!--begintext--> Not Tressel.
This was evident during his speech at the sixth annual Opportunities Industrialization Center of Clark County Breakfast of Champions at the Clark County Fairgrounds’ Champion Center on Friday morning.
Tressel, heading into his sixth season as Buckeyes coach, was sharing a four-step journey to true happiness in life, and he kept coming back to “the big picture.”
“What things must be in place for you to feel good about your role in the big picture and who you are?” he asked the audience rhetorically. Then he shared four things he has built his life around, discovered in an article he once read some 20 years ago.
“First of all, we all need a sense of connectedness,” said Tressel. “This is innate. It’s why family is so important, and friends are so important, and church is so important.
“We feel good about ourselves if we feel good about our connections.
“But,” he warned, “we need to choose well who are connected with. One of my players recently told me his dad said, ‘You don’t have to tell me who you are, just tell me who you are hanging out with an I’ll tell you who you are.’ ”
The second requirement for true happiness is autonomy.
“We all need something that is ours, that we can feel good about working on, something that’s ‘our thing.’ The size or perception is not as important.”
The third step is where many of us fall short.
“It is very important to feel good about yourself physically,” Tressel said. “That’s why we must have the proper exercise, the proper rest, the proper diet.”
Then lastly, and probably most importantly, is perspective.
“Where does this fit in in the big picture?“ he asked. “One of the crowning things in an athlete’s career is making the hall of fame.
“But the hall of fame is only as good as long as time is going to be. God’s hall of fame is for eternity. The hall of fame I would like to achieve is God’s hall of fame.
“That’s why it is all about service, all about doing something special, all about taking care of God’s temple.
“If we don’t win the game, it’s not that important,” Tressel continued. “I know our task is to be the best we can be. And if we don’t win, I won’t be coaching at that place anymore. But when you have perspective, it makes all the difference.”
Difference-making, now that’s something Tressel has proven he knows about.
:osu:
