音频下载[点击右键另存为][00:00.34]Passage 61 It’s Never Too Late to Change

[00:06.47]Age is no criterion when it comes to changing your life.

[00:10.84]In fact, it might be just the opposite.

[00:14.56]The older we get, the more we must change.

[00:18.39]Change is what keeps us fresh and innovative.

[00:22.33]Change is what keeps us from getting stale and stuck in a rut.

[00:27.47]Change is what keeps us young.

[00:30.65]This is not easy.

[00:32.50]When we are young it's easy to change and experiment with different things.

[00:37.76]The older we get the more set in our ways we become.

[00:41.91]We've found out what our comfort level is, and we all want to stay in it.

[00:47.27]We don't want to be risk takers anymore, because risk frightens us,

[00:53.18]and simply not changing seems so easy.

[00:56.69]We must fight through this.

[00:59.20]We must look fear straight in the eye and take it on.

[01:03.25]We must tell ourselves that we have too much talent, too much wisdom,

[01:09.71]too much value not to change.

[01:13.10]I believe that Jim, who is on my staff,

[01:16.92]is one of the best assistant coaches in the country.

[01:20.64]But I almost didn't hire him three years ago

[01:24.59]because I thought that psychologically he was too "old,"

[01:28.96]that he had lost the drive and passion that an assistant coach needs.

[01:34.75]Three years ago he was forty, and I thought

[01:38.59]he might have spent too many Saturday afternoons at the country club,

[01:42.75]that he wasn't going to get in the trenches anymore,

[01:46.02]like the younger assistant coaches do.

[01:48.77]But Jim told me that he couldn't wait to get down in the trenches again.

[01:53.58]So I hired him, and he's been an integral part of our success.

[01:59.37]There is a conventional wisdom in coaching that once you've been a head coach

[02:05.39]you can't enthusiastically go back to being an assistant again

[02:10.21]and still have the same passion as before.

[02:12.61]Jim didn't buy into that.

[02:15.57]He didn't let his "old age" get in his way.

[02:19.51]He was ready when opportunity came calling.

[02:23.22]He reestablished a work ethic second to none with the eagerness of a person right out of college.

[02:30.67]And I'm thankful for what he did,

[02:32.64]because he played such an essential role in our championship season.

[02:36.90]This is what we all must do.

[02:39.64]We must realize that it's never too late to begin making changes

[02:45.00]that can transform our life.