Posts Tagged ‘Bamboo Rule’


What does Water The Bamboo® have to do with a Heisman candidate?

November 10th, 2010 // No Comments

Seeing LaMichael James on the cover of Sports Illustrated today highlights how important recovery is to success.

Bamboo Rule: Whoever recovers first wins (page 136 of Water The Bamboo®).

Check out this video of LaMichael James talking about Water The Bamboo® and what he planned to do after the 2010 Rose Bowl, regardless of the outcome.


Use One of The Bamboo Farmer’s Tools: Self-Discipline

July 26th, 2010 // 2 Comments

Successful people have a habit of doing what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.

“With self-discipline most anything is possible.” ~Theodore Roosevelt

The following section offers some insight and tips on self-discipline. More is offered in Chapter 7, Self-Discipline, of Water The Bamboo®: Unleashing the Potential of Teams and Individuals.

Great achievement and success are largely the consequence of self-discipline.  Of course, circumstances and ability play a role as well, but research has shown that your daily actions will have a much greater impact on whether your bamboo grows than talent or luck.  It really boils down to your own self-discipline.

Bamboo Rule: Get out of your own way.

10 Tips to Develop Your Self-Discipline

  1. Create your own Self-Discipline Development Program.
  2. Make it a goal to stretch beyond your current level of self-discipline.
  3. Start small.  Take small doable steps and work your way up to more challenging ones.
  4. Stop the blame game. Instead, put more effort and energy into your own behaviors and actions.
  5. Visualize yourself performing effortlessly.
  6. Focus on the relief and sense of accomplishment not the difficulty of the challenge.
  7. Identify support: find a mentor or coach that can help you.
  8. Focus on one task at a time. Don’t scatter your attention and energy.
  9. Avoid the temptation to do what feels good instead of what is good for you.
  10. Identify ways to work on your self-discipline throughout the day.

Stretch Your “Courage Zone”

July 23rd, 2010 // No Comments

The following section offers tips to become more courageous.  More can be found in Chapter 9 of Water The Bamboo®: Unleashing the Potential of Teams and Individuals.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

The word courage in Old French, “corage,” is defined as “heart and spirit.”

Courageous leadership is a combination of action and behavior, not status. Most people want to follow the path of least resistance. However, leadership requires you to move from your comfort zone. Courage is having fear and acting anyway. It is the exercise of courage that moves leaders into more productive relationships and better results.

Bamboo Rule: The highest form of courage is to be true to yourself.

In what areas of your life do you need to stretch your courage? Do you need to:

  • speak up?
  • do the right thing?
  • do the unpopular thing?
  • participate?

Courage can help you:

  • express your ideas and thoughts
  • lead your team in a different direction
  • learn new skills
  • be your authentic self
  • make decisions with limited information
  • move beyond a plateau
  • change a habit that’s not serving you well

6 Strategies to Move out of Your Comfort Zone

  1. Recall your past courageous acts
  2. Find a role model
  3. Get a coach
  4. Spend time with people who encourage you
  5. Start a courage journal
  6. Start with small steps

Develop Persistence to Reach Your Bamboo

June 9th, 2010 // No Comments

“The price of success comes from dedication, hard work and unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen. Nothing worthwhile comes easily.” ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Successful people and teams simply find a way to persist, despite the same hardships of life that others blame for their demise. What makes the bamboo watering metaphor so powerful is that persistence is a universal struggle.

Five Tips to Develop Perseverance and Willpower

  1. Recover from a win or a loss. Setbacks are guaranteed; long-term success is more about how you recover. We’re all in recovery from something. In this very moment every one of us is recovering from either a win or a loss. For example, it could be a promotion won or a job lost, the birth of a baby or the loss of a loved one or the “win” of a new job, client, or new marriage. The idea that everyone is in recovery normalizes your challenges and successes. After a win or loss, one should ask, “What’s important now?”

Bamboo Rule: Whoever recovers first, wins.

  1. Find support.Spend time with people who will help you stay on task, who believe in you, and who themselves embody a spirit of persistence. Find yourself a coach or a mentor who will share his or her experiences with you and remind you that you too can be persistent. Find support from your Bamboo Circle™.
  1. Reclaim the persistence of a child. Have you ever noticed that young kids rarely take no for an answer? In fact, you could call them unreasonable. If you don’t have kids of your own, listen to a two- or three-year-old in the candy aisle of the store. They are persistent. Not only do they ask multiple times, but will ask a variety of ways if their first attempts are rejected.
  1. Expect resistance. Resistance is a sign that you may be on the right track for growth. View resistance as an exciting challenge rather than a threat or annoyance. Some obstacles we have no control over, so stop worrying about them and get on with watering your bamboo.

“That which you obtain easily, you esteem too lightly.” ~ Thomas Paine

  1. Re-evaluate your efforts from time to time. Check in periodically with your values and vision to make sure what you’re pursuing still matters to you. Be sure you are focusing only on those things that are fundamental to your vision and values.