How to Cultivate a Winning Mindset | Joseph Costello | TEDxInternationalSchoolofMyanmar

Summary

The speaker reflects on their life journey, emphasizing the importance of vision, determination, and controlling the controllables for success. They recount their progression from aspiring to graduate college, to becoming a community leader in sports, and finally pursuing a vision of organizational leadership. Through each stage, they highlight the role of perseverance, strategic planning, and focusing on what can be managed, as key to overcoming challenges and achieving goals.

Takeaways

• 💡 Vision is essential for success, acting as a guide to help you reach where you want to be in the future.
• 💪 Determination is crucial when challenges arise; persistence helps you stay on track toward achieving your goals.
• 🎯 Controlling the controllables means focusing on what you can influence and eliminating distractions.
• 🏆 The speaker’s first vision was to graduate college, which required getting a lacrosse scholarship to ease the financial burden.
• 🏅 Hard work and determination led the speaker to excel in lacrosse, earning multiple All-American awards and college recognition.
• 📚 After succeeding as an athlete, the speaker’s next vision was to help the community by growing youth lacrosse in Minnesota through strategic business knowledge.
• 🌍 The speaker expanded his efforts internationally, contributing to the growth of lacrosse in countries like Korea, China, Cambodia, and Myanmar.
• 🎓 The current goal is to become a school leader, with the speaker pursuing an MBA in the UK while balancing responsibilities as a lacrosse coach.
• 🌟 Determination was key during challenging times, especially when dealing with personal and academic pressures in England.
• 🗝️ The journey shaped the speaker into the person they needed to be, with no shortcuts, emphasizing the importance of resilience and determination in life.

Q & A

What are the three key stages in the speaker's life that they discuss in the script?

The speaker discusses three key stages: 1) Achieving a college education through sports scholarships, 2) Contributing to the growth of the community and sport, and 3) Becoming a school and organizational leader.

What does the speaker mean by 'Vision' in the context of their life experiences?

In the context of the speaker's life experiences, 'Vision' refers to a future goal or aspiration that is not currently within reach but can be achieved through strategy and effort.

How does the speaker define 'determination' in the script?

The speaker defines 'determination' as the ability to persevere and push through tough times, particularly when the path ahead seems unclear or challenging.

What is the significance of 'controlling the controllables' in the speaker's journey?

Controlling the controllables is significant as it helps the speaker to focus on what they can influence and manage, while ignoring external factors that are beyond their control.

How did the speaker's vision of attending college lead to their determination in sports?

The speaker's vision of attending college led to their determination in sports by recognizing the need for a scholarship and subsequently working hard to improve their lacrosse skills and leadership on the team.

What role did sports play in the speaker's initial vision of attending college?

Sports played a crucial role in the speaker's initial vision of attending college as they used their lacrosse skills to secure scholarships that eased the financial burden of higher education.

How did the speaker's experience in college contribute to their next vision of community contribution?

The speaker's experience in college, including earning All-American Awards and being part of national championship teams, provided them with the leadership skills and recognition needed to contribute to their community and grow the sport of lacrosse.

What strategies did the speaker employ to grow the sport of lacrosse in their community?

The speaker employed strategies such as studying business to understand operational knowledge, recruiting valuable contributors, and offering a range of opportunities like clinics, tournaments, and camps for youth lacrosse players.

How did the speaker's vision evolve from community contribution to international involvement?

The speaker's vision evolved from community contribution to international involvement by recognizing the potential to grow the sport globally and taking steps to contribute to lacrosse's development in countries like Korea, China, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

What challenges did the speaker face while pursuing their MBA in the UK and how did they overcome them?

The speaker faced challenges such as managing two lacrosse teams, completing MBA assignments, and maintaining a social media presence. They overcame these challenges through determination, relying on support systems, and focusing on the controllable aspects of their situation.

What is the key message or quote that the speaker leaves the audience with?

The key message is a quote from Asha TI, emphasizing that there are no shortcuts in life and that both the good and bad times shape us into who we need to be, and it's time to get to work.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Pursuing Higher Education Through Lacrosse

The speaker reflects on their journey to achieve a college education, which was not guaranteed for them. They highlight the importance of vision, determination, and controlling the controllables as key to their success. In eighth grade, the speaker aspired to graduate college and recognized the need for financial aid. They leveraged their lacrosse skills, worked hard to improve, and eventually earned a scholarship, which allowed them to attend college and excel in both academics and sports, earning multiple All-American Awards and contributing to national championships. The speaker emphasizes the role of a positive attitude and perseverance in overcoming challenges and achieving their goals.

05:02

🏆 Building a Community Through Lacrosse

After achieving their initial vision, the speaker set a new goal to contribute to their community by growing the sport of lacrosse. They recognized that their past success as an athlete was not enough and decided to study business to develop strategies and operational knowledge. Despite the challenges of entering a market unfamiliar with lacrosse, particularly in Minnesota, the speaker's determination and the support of a strong team led to the establishment of a successful youth lacrosse organization. They expanded their offerings to include clinics, tournaments, and camps, providing opportunities for young athletes to develop their skills and secure scholarships for college education. The speaker stresses the importance of focusing on controllable aspects and maintaining a positive and energetic approach to inspire their team and community.

🌏 Expanding Lacrosse Globally and Pursuing Leadership

The speaker's next vision involved international growth, contributing to the development of lacrosse in countries like Korea, China, Cambodia, and Myanmar. They share an anecdote about a teacher from Myanmar who invited them to teach lacrosse, highlighting the global impact of their work. The speaker also discusses their pursuit of becoming a school and organizational leader, which involved obtaining an MBA in the UK through a lacrosse scholarship. This phase was particularly challenging, as they had to balance academic responsibilities with coaching duties. They relied on determination and support from their family to overcome the difficulties. The speaker concludes with a quote from Asha T., emphasizing that life's journey, with all its ups and downs, shapes individuals into who they need to be, and it's time to work towards one's goals.

Keywords

💡Vision

Vision in the context of the video refers to a clear mental image of what one wants to achieve in the future. It's not something currently within reach but is attainable through strategic planning and effort. The speaker uses his own journey to illustrate this, starting from wanting to graduate college to becoming a community member and helping others. Vision serves as a guiding light, propelling the speaker towards success.

💡Determination

Determination is defined as the quality of being determined to do something; resolve. In the video, it is exemplified by the speaker's commitment to his goals, especially during challenging times. The phrase 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going' encapsulates this concept, as the speaker had to work hard to earn a scholarship, excel in sports, and later in business, demonstrating unwavering determination.

💡Controlling the Controllables

This concept refers to the practice of focusing on aspects of a situation that one can influence or change, rather than wasting energy on things beyond one's control. The speaker emphasizes the importance of this mindset in achieving success. For instance, while pursuing his vision, he maintained a positive attitude and worked hard, which were within his control, to overcome obstacles and achieve his goals.

💡Scholarship

A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students on the basis of academic merit or other criteria. In the video, the speaker mentions using a scholarship to ease the financial burden of attending college. This highlights the role of scholarships in enabling access to education and how they can be a part of one's vision to achieve greater goals.

💡All-American Awards

All-American Awards are given to student-athletes who excel in their sports and academics in the United States. The speaker mentions receiving three All-American Awards, which signifies his high level of performance and dedication in lacrosse. These awards are a testament to his hard work and determination in achieving his vision.

💡National Champions

National Champions refer to the title given to the winners of the highest level of competition in a particular sport. The speaker's mention of being part of back-to-back national championship teams underscores his commitment and the high level of success he achieved through his athletic endeavors.

💡Community Member

A community member is an individual who is actively involved in and contributes to the well-being of a community. The speaker's vision to become a community member and help grow the sport of lacrosse in his community reflects his desire to give back and create opportunities for others, showcasing the evolution of his vision.

💡Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is the process of defining goals and determining how to achieve them. The speaker's journey from being an athlete to a business student and then to a community leader involves strategic planning. He had to study business, develop key strategies, and understand operational knowledge to grow his organization, which is a clear example of strategic planning in action.

💡Organizational Leader

An organizational leader is someone who guides and directs an organization towards achieving its goals. The speaker's current vision is to become a school and organizational leader, which signifies his ambition to take on a leadership role and influence the direction of an institution. This goal is a culmination of his experiences and learnings from his previous visions.

💡Support Systems

Support systems refer to the network of personal relationships and resources that provide emotional, financial, or practical assistance. The speaker mentions leaning on his support systems, like his parents, during challenging times. This highlights the importance of having a support system to help maintain determination and overcome obstacles in the pursuit of one's vision.

Highlights

The speaker reflects on the importance of vision, determination, and controlling the controllables in achieving success.

Vision is defined as a future goal that is not currently within reach but can be attained through strategy.

Determination is illustrated by the quote 'when the going gets tough, the tough gets going', emphasizing perseverance in difficult times.

Controlling the controllables involves focusing on what can be managed and ignoring what cannot.

The speaker shares personal experiences from three key stages in life, starting with the desire to graduate college in eighth grade.

The importance of securing a scholarship to ease the financial burden of attending college is highlighted.

Determination led to becoming a better lacrosse player, earning All-American Awards, and eventually attending college.

Maintaining a positive attitude and controlling the controllables were key during the challenging college years.

The second vision was to become a community member and contribute to the growth of lacrosse, offering opportunities to others.

The speaker pursued further education in business to develop strategies and operational knowledge for community growth.

Determination helped overcome the challenges of entering a market that did not understand lacrosse, leading to the expansion of the organization.

Controlling the controllables during this phase involved maintaining high energy and a positive attitude despite increasing complexities.

The speaker's current mission is to become a school leader and an organizational leader, which is a new challenge outside of their reach.

Attending an MBA in the UK and coaching lacrosse teams exemplifies the speaker's determination to develop leadership skills.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of relying on support systems and maintaining determination during difficult times.

Controlling the controllables in the pursuit of school leadership meant focusing on what was within the scope of control.

The speaker concludes with a quote from Asha TI, emphasizing that life's journey, with all its ups and downs, shapes us into who we need to be.

The message encourages the audience to embrace their journey and to get to work, acknowledging that now is the right time to act.

Transcripts

thinking about the topic create your

tomorrow led me to reflect on my own

life reach out to friends and family and

consult colleagues to determine the best

possible message that I could offer to

you all

today upon thinking about this led me to

look at three key stages in my life and

how Vision determination and controlling

the controllables help guide me to

Success

Vision is like where you want to be in

the future it's not currently within

your reach but using a

strategy utilizing strategy you're going

to be able to reach

that determination summed up in a quote

is when the going gets tough the tough

gets going when times are dark and the

path ahead doesn't look like it's going

to lead you where it's going to go you

need to dig in and find

determination to see out your vision and

lastly controlling the controllables

helps you to realize what to focus on

and what to remove from your life and

ignore these these three things have

been incredibly helpful for me and I'm

going to share three stages with you

starting with the first in eighth grade

I wanted to graduate college for for me

this wasn't a

given in order to attend college I was

going to need to you know get the

finances in order and be able to afford

to

go at the time the only thing that I had

the only core capability was that I was

an okay lacrosse player and seeing a

little bit of uh playing time on the

varsity team as an eighth

grader in order to fulfill my vision I

knew that I needed to get a scholarship

of sorts to help ease that finan cial

burden of attending college this is when

determination kicked in at that early

age I hit the gym honed my skills and

developed myself into a better lacrosse

player and eventually a leader on the

team throughout that course I was able

to capture three All-American Awards get

noticed by those colleges looking for

athletes and attend a

college that determination carried me in

College to earn three more national

champ sorry three more All-American

Awards and two back-to-back national

champions all the while I was

controlling the controllables that is

maintaining a positive attitude when

times were tough and my workload was

heavy or my body was sore fatigued and I

still needed to go into the gym and

train more to lead in practice and in

games so that we can Edge out victories

Visions often times roll into one

another and evolve from one to the next

so after completing my first Vision led

me to think about my next in my next

Vision I wanted to become a Community

member and help that Community grow in

sport and hopefully offer the same

opportunities that I've received to

others in order to do this being good in

my past career as an athlete wasn't

going to cut it so I went back into the

libraries and began studying business so

that I could understand how to develop

key strategies operational knowledge and

and and recruit valuable contributors

into our organization as well as deal

with the obstacles of trying to enter

into a market that really didn't

understand lacrosse in

Minnesota determination helped me in

this because going back to school after

just graduating you know opening books

and reading and and trying to apply that

it just seemed like I was going in the

wrong direction but thanks to a a you

know strong team of people we are able

to uh bear down and and get it

done basically taking our organization

from one Clinic to the largest regional

provider of Youth Lacrosse and offering

tournaments for all ages overnight camps

for all ages

and offering the opportunity to allow

motans to travel to the east coast where

they too can get noticed and secure

scholarship money that will help them

get into

college controlling the controllables

during this journey was an important

piece for me as my life became much more

complex many more issues to deal with on

a daily basis and understanding that

maintaining a positive attitude high

energy and applying maximum effort was

going to help in ire my team and others

around us others around us in order to

achieve our goals with that success I

was able to move on into international

territory contributing to growth in

Korea China Cambodia and soon in Myanmar

just last week I met a man from yis a

teacher there who is running a lacrosse

clinic and invited me over to come and

and teach their students and eventually

we're going to be able to bring those

equipments to ISM and teach some of our

students here which is

amazing lastly the current mission that

I'm on the current Vision really is to

become a school leader become an

organizational leader and right now it's

outside of my reach in order to develop

those skills I attended a MBA in the UK

again utilizing a scholarship through

LaCrosse

this journey was very difficult and it

took a lot of

determination because that scholarship

was to coach the men's and women's

lacrosse team there so on top of the MBA

on top of the assignments and the

reading that was required I also needed

to manage two full teams travel you know

maintain the social media presence and

just be an inspiration on the S side

line those were some of the longest days

that I've ever experienced and the the

darkness was real both metaphorically

and literally because in England it

rarely ever you know you never see the

sun it's always gray so very difficult

time and determination was key to

maintain determination I leaned on my

support systems and continually called

home to my mother and father for support

and for guidance in order so that I

could dig in Stand My Ground And

complete this this journey that I had

set on myself that one day would lead to

school leadership

controlling the controllables there

meant again looking at the things in the

scope of my control taking out all of

the other things that didn't matter what

other teams were doing uh issues with

buses and things like this right we just

moved on and focused on the next

thing in closing I want to leave you

with the quote that I think is is is

very relevant to everybody here in the

audience today the quotes from Asha TI

an American born in poverty homelessness

and dealt with many

abuses she used Vision determination and

controlling the controllables to help

leader to become a successful and happy

person your journey has molded you into

exactly who you need to

be there are no shortcuts in life there

are no ways around the

darkness the good times the bad times

have shaped you to become exactly who

you needed to be who you are now and now

is right on time and now it's time to

get to work