Video of the Day: GROW Yourself INTO The BEST OF YOURSELF

Oprah Winfrey: Grow Yourself Into The Best of Yourself

Evan Carmichael

Video of the Day: Elon Musk's Top 10 Rules For Success

Elon Musk's Top 10 Rules For Success

Evan Carmichael

1. Act Despite Fear

2. Focus On The Customers

3. Have A High Pain Threshold

4. Be Rigorous In Self Analysis

5. Expect To Fail

6. Have A Sense Of Humor

7. Aim For Perfection

8. Do Your Chores

9. Be An Adventurer

10. Inspire Greatness

Bonus 

Drive Innovation

Video of the Day: 6 Problems With Our School System

Six Problems With Our School System

Next School

1. Industrial Age Values

2. Lack of Autonomy and Control

3. Inauthentic Learning

4. No Room For Passions and Interests

5. Differences In How We Learn

6. Lecturing

Video of the Day: Jeff Bezo's Top 10 Rules For Success

Jeff Bezo's Top 10 Rules For Success

Evan Carmichael

1. Have No Regrets

2. Follow Your Heart Not Your Head

3. Invest More In Product Than In Marketing It

4. Pick A Good Name

5. Stand For Something

6. Focus On The Customer

7. Focus On Your Passion

8. Build A Culture

9. Premium Prices At Non-Premium Prices

10. Take A Risk

Video of the Day: What Makes Popular Kids?

What Makes Popular Kids Popular?

The Infographics Show

SID HELP BLOG: Helping Coaches, Help Their Teams

This is the first blog post in a weekly series of blogs that will be titled "SID Help." It's primary objective is to provide fellow athletic communications professionals with some tips and tricks. As member of both Facebook groups: "Things About Being An SID That Are Awesome" and "Things That Annoy SIDs," reading some posts were upsetting, and I felt they were aimed more at venting frustrations, than actually finding a solution to the problem. Here I attempt to create solutions. 

First a little bit about myself. I have 10-plus years in collegiate athletics from Division III to Division I, and spanning multiple departments. Starting out at an unpaid volunteer at a tiny, Division III institution in Boston provided me the opportunity to learn different skills, and I quickly rose to become the Director of Sports Information where I built its athletic communications office (one part-time assistant, surrounded by one intern, and two student assistants). All along the way I continued to educate myself in learning the ropes of Division, working numerous games at Boston College. Fast forward to the present day, where I've spent the past nine months at Harvard. 

After a decade in the profession, it is unbelievable how much it has changed - for the better. Technology makes our lives easier, but to quote the man who inspired this blog, Randy Pausch, "only use technology if it's worth it." But as all the advancement in technology has made the profession easier, it still has not changed the value we bring to coaching staffs. 

With the demands on coaches time becoming greater and greater, it is even more important for them to have someone to help them keep things in perspective. This is where athletic communications comes in. It is called athletic communications for a reason, we are are the people to increase communication between our student-athletes, coaches and administrators. That's the profession. 

Video of the Day: One Life, No Regrets

One Life, No Regrets

Gary Vee

Video of the Day: "If You Want A Hobby ... Collect Stamps"

How Jerry Springer Beat Oprah For 65 Weeks

Valuetainment

The conversation between Jerry and Patrick Bet-David is very interesting, and drives home a very important fact that we, as a society, should not lose sight of. Not everyone has the same opportunities. 

If you grow up surrounded by smart, intelligent, and successful people, who speak well, then more likely than not you will be the same. But there are only few people who have that type of background, and it is up to those people to bring up the others. Present others with those same opportunities. 

It's not easy because a lot of the times those "smart, intelligent, and successful" committees are the one's that have the money, and the other side can see it as resentment. But they should not resent it, they need to see it as a step towards equality. It's a challenge, but it's rewarding to give people the same opportunities you had had. 

Video of the Day: How To Be Productive - The 80/20 Rule

How To Be Productive: The 80/20 Principle

The Better Man Project

In terms of money, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your clients. 

Or when it comes to social media, 80% of your interactions and engagement come from 20% of your posts. 

You have to figure out where that 20% is, focus hard on that and through everything else out the window. 

Video of the Day: STOP Making EXCUSES

Barack Obama: STOP Making EXCUSES

Evan Carmichael

Video of the Day: 12 Habits of Millionaires

12 Habits of Millionaires 

Practical Psychology

1. They Have a Budget

2. They Are Proactive

3. They Read A Lot

4. Be Super Curious

5. Pursue Your Curiousity

6. They Find A Mentor

7. They Have Goals

8. Make Daily Lists

9. Have Multiple Streams of Income

10. Don't Diversify

Focus on one thing! 

11. Avoid Time Wasters

12. Focus On Highest Earning Activities

Video of the Day: 20 Things That Motivate People

20 Things That Motivate People

Valuetainment

Everything in BOLD are the things that resonate with me. What do you resonate with? 

ADVANCEMENT

1. The Next Promotion

2. Completing a Task

3. Meeting A Deadline

4. Reaching A Milestone As A Team

SELFISH

5. Lifestyle

6. Recognition 

7. Security

MADNESS

8. Opposition

9. Competition

10. Control

11. Power & Fame

12. Proving Others Wrong

13. The Need To Avoid Embarrasment

14. Mastery

15. Be The Best - Break Records

PURPOSE

16. History

17. Serving Others

18. Change

19. Impact

20. Enlightenment

BLOG: Brock Holt Is NOT A Good Player

Brock Holt's choice of walk-up music this season is interesting, but he had to do it. He claims that he was "inspired" by Whitney Houston over the off-season, and while that may be true, but it's not the whole story.

The reason behind Holt's choice of music to be played as he steps to plate about 400 times this season is simple. He's not a great player, so he had to pick something that would get people talking.

Sorry Brock Holt fans, but he's simply not a good player.  He's a utility player. He's Lou Merloni. Nothing against Merloni, but the only reason he played for the Sox as long as he did was not only was he a local boy, the pride of Framingham, but he kept the superstar, at the time, Nomar Garciaparra, happy. Brock Holt is no different.

Holt is a a career .264 hitter, who has never played for more than 129 games in a season. His best year was his rookie campaign in 2014, where he posted a. 281 average with a .711 OPS. The only season his OPS was higher was his sophomore season (.727), but that was because he saw his on-base percentage jump to .349. But other than 2014 and 2015, Holt's average has plummeted. In 2016, in only 94 games, Holt hit .255, while last year in less than 40% of the games, he batted a measly .200.

Granted, Holt has battled concussions the past two years, and bouts of vertigo last year, it's not an excuse for his mediocre play. He's not a superstar. He's a role player that's just good enough to give the a starter a day off, here and there, but he's not an everyday player.

But fans love Holt. They love him because he is so versatile, he can play anywhere, infield or outfield. Fans love his locks, and when he wears his shades he looks like one of those high school "cool kids." Very James Dean. And before Holt deleted his Twitter account, because of its negativity, his handle was something to expect from a teenage girl, "BrockStar4Lyf." He is just one of the "cool kids" sitting at the "cool kids table."

And don't think management hadn't paid attention. He became unofficial spokesperson, representing the team at different non-baseball events such as visiting patients at the JimmyFund Clinic, or making various appearances in public service announcements.

He is a great guy overall, but great guys don't win ballgames for you. With Xander Bogaerts out for at least the next three-to-four weeks, we'll be seeing a lot of Holt, but if his first game since Bogaerts going on the D.L. is any indication, it's going to a long four weeks. First two at bats against Yankees starter Luis Severino, Holt watched strike three, then put his bat on his shoulder as he walked back to the dugout like a five-year old in tee-ball.

On another note: Everyone's talking about Holt's at bat music selection this year, but what about Hanley Ramirez's? Ramirez also has an intriguing song from the year he was born, the Norwegian synthpop song"Take On Me" by A-ha, but nobody mentions that. 

Video of the Day: 6 Productivity Strategies

The Six Productivity Strategies: How To Be Productive

The Better Man Project

1. The Pomodoro Technique

a. Select a Task to Focus On

b. Grab a Timer and Set for 25 Minutes

c. Get To Work

d. When Timer Ends, Take a Break (5 minutes)

e. Once Complete Four Cycles, Take a Longer Breaks (25-30 minutes)

2. The Power Hour

3. Block Your Time

4. Assign $$$ Value To Time

People are REALLY bad at dealing with time as a commodity, but they are REALLY good at dealing with money as a commodity. Sure some aren't which is what makes the credit card industry possible.

5. Sleep/Rest

6. Avoid Time Vampires

Video of the Day: Don't WASTE Your Minutes

Bob Proctor: Don't WASTE Your Minutes

Evan Carmichael 

The people that win are the people who make up their mind they are not going to waste their precious minutes.