Posts by Travis Wyckoff

Focus on less to be great. Or to put it another way, do less better. As a leader, it can be tempting to want your program/team to excel in many areas. So you come up with a list of things that you want to stress, work on, talk about, drill, and grow in. I don’t know…

We have this weird internal dynamic going on in our minds. When we say it out loud, it makes no sense, but everyone I know (including me!) does it. On one hand, we are self-critical, often beating ourselves up internally. We can be insecure and doubt ourselves. On the other hand, we are constantly looking for…

Your perspective is everything. That might seem like a brash claim, and it may be. But perspective is radically important. When you look at the picture below, what do you see?   *In the above picture…some will see a young lady facing away with a bonnet on. Others will see an old lady with a big…

Very few people, if any, achieve great things apart from someone speaking life into them. One of the leader’s greatest privileges is to observe someone, identify where they are gifted, where they thrive, and call it out to them. Most people have high levels of self-doubt and question themselves. Don’t underestimate the power of calling out the gold…

Leaders get in trouble when treating things you can only influence as something you can control. There is a difference between what we can influence and what we can control. Make sure you have clarity on what you really control…so you don’t try to control that which you can only influence. When a leader tries to control…

Big issues start off as small issues that go unaddressed. The best leaders create elite environments…and one huge key to this is knowing when or if to have a hard conversation (address an issue) and do it in an empathetically, direct, and candid way. Fear of man prevents us from being honest when we need to…

Building your identity on what you do for a living is a house of cards. + Don’t win enough..house of cards collapses. + Get criticized by parents, fans, media, etc…house of cards collapses. + Don’t climb the professional ‘ladder’ fast enough…house of cards collapses. + Get fired…house of cards collapses. Building your identity on ‘what’ you do instead of ‘who’ you are…is…

The Happiness & Fulfillment Paradox:  Focusing too much on self will result in unhappiness and a lack of fulfillment. There are two key ways to be happy and fulfilled. 1. focusing on others will result in happiness and fulfillment. 2. Growing, striving, and chasing a goal will result in happiness and fulfillment. (The goal is not the key…

Your program, like families, has a distinct environment. The environment is always driven by the leader. Whether they know it or not. For example…dad’s who are edgy and harsh, create an environment in their home that are edgy and harsh. This then leads to the rest of the family walking on eggshells. As a leader……

In life, criticism is inevitable. In leadership, a lot of criticism is inevitable. How to respond to criticism  First off, if it stings too deeply, ask yourself these questions: – Is my identity tied too closely to my job? – And is my identity tied too closely to how I’m doing in my job? We often find our identity in our…