“Be on fire, for them,” -Coach Martin Rooney

Have you ever had one of those days where you’re up, you’re out to finish the task at hand, but, still just a little, uhm, bogged down? Like you’re there, you’re present in the moment, but it lacks meaning. It’s just another thing to do on a long list of stuff. That overall enthusiasm is just not there. You’re not sad, or anything, it’s just, you’re not all the way committed to it. Just ready for it to be over.

Of course we have all been there. That’s part of life. Sometimes we just lack the oomph to power through the day. So where do you find it? How do you get there? Can you create your own enthusiasm?

I want to tell you, YOU CAN!

On this week’s episode of the Overcome+Conquer podcast, we sat down with Coach Martin Rooney. This guy is enthusiasm personified. If you can’t find excitement about something after being around him, well, check your pulse.

We talked about some of the things vital to being a great coach. The 1st one was always being willing to learn. Coach Rooney says, “Well, never forget, just because it says coach either on the back of your shirt or on your chest, doesn’t mean that it’s time to stop learning.”

Sometimes it’s called being coachable, or teachable, the willingness to learn from others will determine the type of example you set for those you coach or lead. No matter how that comes to be, family, work, or the community.

Coach Rooney has worked with many high-level amateur and professional athletes across many different sports, but his most impactful work has been in track and field. He’s coached MMA fighters and he’s helped guys get ready for the NFL Combine. Martin has also just released his newest book Coach to Coach, which outlines what it takes to be a great coach and a great leader, not just in sports, but in life as well.

“To be a great coach, you have to be on fire about them,” he says in our interview. What he is referring to is the people you’re around, whether coaching sports, or leading in business. The word coach often gets pigeon-holed to meaning athletics, but it’s much more than that.

You’re a coach in your family, at your job, and in your community. How you lead, determines how great of a coach you are. Your enthusiasm for the ones around you is vital in leadership. Rooney goes into more detail on this aspect, saying, “…if you’re on fire about them, they get on fire about them also. That’s what a great coach did for me. He was so on fire about me, that I started to get on fire about me. Like, maybe I can do this, this is something possible.”

Rooney has also founded the Training for Warriors program. It’s a fitness regimen for those serious about making positive change in their physical lives, which also bleeds over into their mental lives too. Positive mindset can begin anywhere in the body, but often how we feel physically, affects our mind more than how our mind can affect the body.

So if you’re wanting to create enthusiasm, that positive outlook and extra energy in your life, doing things to better yourself physically can be a great first step.

Coach Rooney talks about his secrets to coaching, and passing on that enthusiasm to others. Whether through physical training, or positive influence. We can either raise the enthusiasm in others, or drag it down. He talks about his father’s influence on him:

My dad always had this line. He’d say, ‘Son, you got to be on fire first before anybody’s going to burn.’ I have just always taken that one, that so what enthusiastic means to me is before I can ever fire somebody up about something, I got to be enthusiastic about it first. If I am, I’ve got a greater opportunity. If they are two and I’m a 10, maybe I can make a six. But most of the people that I see out there, they might know a whole lot of stuff, but unfortunately, they’re missing that enthusiasm component, and then they make a bunch of twos and threes, because they were three or a four.”

Many times it’s that enthusiasm for the day, or the task that we’re doing that gets us through it. It may be a mundane thing like going through the grocery, but if we’re trying to do everything enthusiastically, we are passing on that feeling to those around us. Whether it’s our kids, our coworkers, or complete strangers, attitudes are contagious. Passing on the right ones, are part of what makes us great coaches.

Coach Rooney shared with us all the things he believes will make us great coaches, or leaders in all aspects of our lives. Be on fire for those we lead. Remain coachable, always being willing to learn. And bring enthusiasm to whatever it is we are doing. Raise the level of those around us.

How will you raise the level of performance for those you lead?