🏆 No BCEs: A Championship Mindset

Blaming, complaining, and making excuses don’t build champions. They create victims.

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Here's what's coming: Today’s topic: NO BCE’sBlaming, complaining, and excuses don’t build champions. Learn how to eliminate BCEs and create a winning mindset.

Let’s dive in.

💭 ONE THOUGHT
No BCEs: A Championship Mindset

"Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure." 

Don Wilder

We all know the athlete who blames the refs after a loss, the coach who complains about talent, or the teammate who always has an excuse.

Like the kid who misses a game-winner, then spends five minutes explaining how the play was drawn up wrong.

Or the coach who blames the officials after every close loss.

Let’s be real; those behaviors don’t build champions.

In my mind, they build victims.

We call them BCEs: Blaming, Complaining, and Excuse Making: Three habits that sabotage greatness.

These three habits don’t just damage a team; they destroy an individual’s personal growth.

BCEs trap you in a cycle of negativity.

They create a victim mindset.

They are the habits of teams that never win.

Since the coach's #1 job is to build culture, coaches have to decide every day whether to allow BCEs to infiltrate their program.

What you allow becomes what your program is all about.

The Power of Ownership

Greatness begins when you stop blaming others, start owning your actions, and choose a positive mindset, no matter the circumstances.

  1. 🟥 Blaming: Every time you point a finger, you lose control over the situation. Champions focus on what they can control: Effort, attitude, and preparation.

  2. 🟧 Complaining: It's easy to complain, but it never changes the outcome. Instead, channel that energy into finding solutions and improving.

  3. 🟨 Excuses: Excuses give us an easy way out, but they also rob us of growth. True leaders and winners acknowledge mistakes, learn from them, and come back stronger.

Check out this video of Alan Stein discussing how to develop a Winner’s Mindset by eliminating BCEs.

Reflective Questions

If you want to build a no-excuse culture, start here:

  1. Where in your life or team environment do you see BCE creeping in?

  2. How can you shift the focus from BCE to solutions and growth?

  3. What standard or mantra can your team adopt to hold each other accountable and eliminate BCEs?

Takeaway

Eliminating BCEs isn’t just about improving performance. It’s about creating a winning mindset that impacts every area of life.

Commit to a no-BCE culture where responsibility, resilience, and relentless effort are the standards.

Because at the end of the day, champions don’t make excuses; they make progress.

Stay committed, stay positive, and keep building.

As always, let’s keep working to build great teams and become better leaders.
- Greg

P.S. Want to build a team full of leaders who take ownership and eliminate BCEs?
The Team Leader OS gives you the exact tools to develop player leadership, accountability, and a winning mindset—on and off the field.

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