Good luck to one who tries this on for size: Keep your Eyes on the Prize

EYES ON THE PRIZE (COACHING & PARENTING)‏
(Sent to us from one of our loyal readers Big Ray Crawford. This looks like the perfect Father’s Day plan.)

Why Being a Parent Is Like Being a Coach

Parenting and coaching are not jobs for the faint of heart. Each requires patience, confidence and a killer pair of shoes — since you’re always on your feet. You’ll be loved and hated in the process, but reaching the right outcome is what’s most important. The beauty is that both are challenging and insanely rewarding.

Here are four ways that parenting resembles coaching:

1) You need to make unpopular decisions: You’re not a cheesy sales guy looking for contacts here; you’re trying to mold the best people and athletes you can. As a coach you might have to bench kids because they can’t handle the pressure of a two-minute drill and, as a parent, learning to say no for the good of your children is a must. They don’t need another buddy — they need someone looking after their best interests, and the best interests of the team or family.

2) You need a plan: You can’t go into either parenthood or coaching without a good plan. Have you ever seen an NFL playbook? Some bills from Congress aren’t even that big. The best coaches and parents always map out a flexible plan for the team. If life throws a curveball, both are poised to alter that plan and find the best way to reset and get back on the right path. You always need to know where you’re going.

3) You must keep the final goal in sight: Both parents and coaches have to make decisions that in the short term may be unpopular or even insane, but are necessary when kids and players need to learn the hard way. Letting them find their way out of a situation they’ve gotten themselves into will seem puzzling and unpopular in the beginning, but everyone will reap benefits in the long run. Your final goal is to mold great people and players.

4) You must teach: This might be the most important similarity — at the heart of both parenting and coaching is teaching, and that’s something you can never forget. From day one, parents begin to teach their kids how to survive in the real world, and those lessons are never forgotten, no matter how hard kids resist. As for coaches, they begin teaching players the fundamentals of a sport when the athletes are young so they can progress into the players they want to be. Both coaches and parents are laying a foundation that players and kids will be building on for years to come — even after they’ve left the team, or left the house on their way to college.