This story, written by Mitch Albom chronicles the death of his favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz, who is battling ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Morrie becomes Mitch’s professor again as he coaches him through his “life’s lessons” during their Tuesday sessions in his last few months.
Morrie and Mitch cover so many important but often overlooked topics and values:
- Regret and forgiveness
- Focusing on love versus fear
- Giving yourself to others
- Being the best human being you can be
- Fulfillment and detachment
- Humility
- Finding purpose and meaning in your life
- Life as a continuous learning journey
- Giving to others
- Making a difference in the world
- Having an attitude of gratitude
- Investing in others, building community
- Finding similarities in others, not just differences
According to Morrie: “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
Morrie experiences this tragedy by constantly giving to others with no sense of self pity. He embraces these emotions but doesn’t dwell on them and looks forward to each day with excitement, humility and grace.
Counter culture
Morrie describes the things he believes matter and brings us happiness. Things like love, friendships, helping others, being a pillar of your community. Sharing your gifts with others. Giving. Being fully present. Being in the moment.
Not the endless cycle of consumption and addiction to MORE that is this world.
He sees people being in such a hurry because they haven’t found meaning in their life.
Constantly searching for happiness.
Not understanding where it really comes from.
Why I think this message is important to Coaches, Players & their Parents
Character development is the building block to great people.
Great people make football better.
Focusing on the present and putting things into perspective helps us to find meaning and purpose in what we do.
There is no Joy otherwise.
Coaches who have proper aim will help a young player develop more than the coaches who collect talent and focus on winning to build their ego. Not just the fundamental football skills but life skills.
I will never forget a meeting with two of FC Barcelona’s famed La Masia Academy directors while on a trip to Barcelona during my first coaching session there in 2009. They asked all of us (in our coaching group) what we thought were the requirements to be part of this elite group of players at FC Barcelona. We answered with what was surely the correct answers: incredible technical skills, speed, great vision… The reply was “No. The most important attribute was: To Be A Good Person”. (note: in Barcelona there were a lot of really good players – character traits were what separated players)
That admission forever changed how I viewed my role as a developer of human beings who just happened to play football. For me, football development was the “what”. Building character was the “how”. Enjoying your futbol was the “why”.
Players who are fully focused on the moment, attend training and give 100% effort will get the most out of the experience. They are most likely to show visible signs of improvement, even without key metrics or data. People can just “see it”. They will go as far as their skills, their work ethic and fate will take them. As a coach, I simply want them to enjoy this game for life. Not take from it and then leave when they turn 18.
Parents who lead their children through their footballing journey by challenging them, helping them to become responsible for their development and to enjoy each moment are giving them the most beneficial gift we can give: to help them stand on their own and become strong. To help them SHINE!
This is not easy in our world. We all love our children and want what’s best for them. We want them to succeed (sometimes more than they want to). Nurturing them to do it for themselves takes a strong sense of character, self confidence and maturity which is often quite contradictory to our short term view/reactionary society.
I believe the benefits of playing the long game outweigh the instant gratification of the short game. Life is short. We speed through it faster than you think. You see this as you get older. Morrie certainly attested to that.
A few years ago was the 25th anniversary of the book being published. According to the author, it has sold over 18 million copies. It appears that such a simple message of hope and love that Morrie gave to us can be popular despite what society tells us.
What a powerful impact he has had on so many lives.
And so does every single person when they live with meaning and purpose!
Click here to get the book (Amazon)
Enjoy your futbol!
-Coach Eddie