What's Going On Here?
Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.
I am using this space as my motivational journal for evolving past an ordinary existence and providing its readers and myself with inspiration for situations as they arise. It has long been known that journaling has many therapeutic benefits. I plan to create a very broad kind of personal writing that I know will have benefits for the writer and I believe there will be benefits for the reader as well.
Magnificent Mondays
There will be a new journal entry every Monday. I ask readers to understand that there's no one way to write. I don’t plan to follow the same approach every week, but I do plan to enjoy the process and the journey.
Thought-filled Thursdays
Every Thursday our paid subscribers will receive additional quotes, images, videos, and inspiration to further help you change the way you look at things. Also, there will be a Q&A section where questions and comments are answered.
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
About me
I’m Dan Spainhour and I was involved in the athletic profession my entire adult life. I coached my first team when I was 15 years old. It was a Pee Wee baseball team. I couldn't even drive so my mom would drive me to the practices. I still remember when I got the knowing to choose coaching as my profession. I was sixteen and I was coaching youth basketball. I went to talk to the team before the game and I could feel chills running down my spine. There was a complete knowing and calmness that came over me that let me know that this was what I was supposed to do. That memory has stayed with me.
I began my professional career as a teacher/coach at a Catholic High School in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Starting out I coached baseball and basketball. After eight years and three state championships, I gave up baseball. I also served as athletic director at two different high schools. My teams won over 600 games, and I have had the wonderful opportunity to work at the University of Miami and Florida State University. If you want to know more about my background, you can check out my LinkedIn page or my About me page from my company.
I never really considered myself an excellent x and o coach. I always believed in the power of the “buy-in” factor. I spent my entire career taking teams with lesser talent and ability and getting them to buy-in to something larger than themselves. I believe there are a lot of coaches who don’t understand how important buying in, chemistry, communications and culture are. The coaches who do understand those things get it and they have a voice that resonates with their teams. These coaches and programs may not win a championship every year, but they will always be consistent regardless of their talent level. That is what I consider myself to be. I am a culture creator, a team builder, and a communicator.
Along the way, I have authored several books and even started my own company. Also, as I have matured, I have begun to focus more on the importance of imparting some things I’ve learned to other people. I started The Coaching and Leadership Journal in 2012 which is published monthly. Each month as I put together the journal, I am inundated with all things leadership. This has been a terrific experience which has led to a sense of evolving for me both personally and professionally.
I am an avid reader and I consider myself a student of life. Over the years, I have read countless books, watched, and listened to everything I could find about the secrets of life. Each time I read or heard something I thought was helpful I would make a note of it. The purpose of this blog/journal is to share some of the things I have learned from my own experiences and research.
All the material written is my own unless I state or attribute otherwise. Thank you for reading and I encourage you to subscribe. It should be a fun, game-changing ride.
--DS