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Good Evening. Here is a great thought for the day:

When we make a commitment, in essence, we're making a decision to do something. Now, the Latin root for decision is to cut-away-from as an incision during surgery. So when we commit to something, what we're really doing is cutting away all our other options, all our other possibilities. When we commit to something, we cut away all the excuses, all the rationalizations.

Coach Vince Lombardi expected 100% effort, 100% of the time.

Leaders make commitment a clear priority, leaving no room for misunderstanding. When Lombardi arrived in Green Bay, he found very few Pro-Bowl caliber players. There was one such player, a wide receiver with considerable talent. But when Coach Lombardi spoke with the player, he got strong signals that the player's commitment was limited and would not be affected by anything the coach said or did. Before that player ever stepped on the field, he was traded to another team. The message to the other Packer players was clear. If you are going to play for Vince Lombardi, you are going to do it at a high level of commitment.

Sometimes Coach Lombardi's level of commitment was breathtaking. Once, as the Packers were preparing for a Championship game to be played the day after Christmas, an assistant coach asked Lombardi for a few hours off to do some shopping. He growled, "Do you want to be Santa Claus or a football coach? You can't be both."

When you commit to being an assistant coach at the professional level, you make a decision and you cut away all the other options and possibilities. Banning Santa Claus may be an extreme example, but this incident is consistent with Coach Lombardi's sense of commitment.

Here it is in his own words: "Winning is not a some time thing: it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place and it is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.

"Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up — from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's OK. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization — an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win — to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

"It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there — to compete. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules, but to win.

"And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head-to-head combat.

"I don't say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour — his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear — is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle — victorious."

Have a wonderful day.

"Each morning is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When the sun rises tomorrow this day will be gone forever, in its place will be something you have left — may it be something good. Follow your heart, it knows what to do."

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