Life advice from Russ Rose

On Thursday night I attended the Women's Symposium honor all women leaders at Penn State. It was a fun night with a great program, and the all-woman singing group Savoir Faire showcased a small fraction of the great amount of female talent at Penn State.  There were just as many men in attendance as well (which I thought was really cool). One of the most important men in attendance was Russ Rose, the Penn State Women's Volleyball coach. He led his team to their 4th national championship this year and spoke about the 10 keys to success at the symposium.  Though this does not completely align with my political blog, I see this as a current event relating to our campus, a way to honor all women leaders, and a great source of encouragement as we reach the halfway point of our semester.

Russ took the mic and began to speak in a confident and relate-able manner, and I began to feel like I was being transported to the Women's Volleyball team's locker room. He clearly outlined ten keys to success, gave some comment on each point, and left his audience feeling uplifted, motivated and happy.


Here are Russ Rose's 10 keys to success:


1.  Dare to Dream.
         - No dream is ever out of your reach. He said jokingly, that out of his 36 years coaching, the girls on his volleyball team have had higher SAT scores than him for about the last 35 years, but he still got to where he is because of hard work and a dream to follow.

2.  Confidence is contagious.
        - He continued by saying that insecurities are contagious as well and that you must project yourself the way you want your peers to see you and behave.

3. Set a lot of goals.
        - In order to reach your dream in life you must set a lot of short term and long term goals along the way to stay on track to success.

4.  Work the hardest you can.
        - He explained that at the end of your life you wont be remembered for how well you did for yourself, but how many people you helped. You'll be remembered for how hard you worked for others.

5.  Don't be afraid of failure.
        -  He said he doesn't think about the 5 times they have won the national championship. He doesn't focus on whether they failed or not, but instead focuses on always getting better and performing stronger than they did the previous year.

6.  Don't procrastinate, and don't blame others
        - This is the one that hit home for me the most, and that I need the most work on:)  I find myself always procrastinating and doing work at the last minute, and as Coach Rose said, this can be an impediment to success.  Blaming others is just excusing yourself for not working as hard as you can.

7.  Have a game-plan each day.
        - This is another one of his points that deals with time management. He says it's important to have a plan for each day so you know what you need to do and so that you can get as much done as you possibly can.

8.  Read, listen and learn.
        - Greater knowledge comes from both reading and listening and both are important for becoming a well-rounded person.

9.  Surround yourself with quality people.
        - Here he gave an example of a trip he took to a coaching conference in which he was stuck in the Denver airport for seven hours and was forced to stay in a bad hotel. When he got to the conference he was happy when people asked him how his trip was. He jokingly told them fine, and explained his journey. He said that you want to be the person that people are happy to see enter a room, instead of being the person who creates groans of agony on their arrival.

10.  Be positive and enthusiastic.
        -He closed his speech by addressing his audience saying that they are seeking a positive and enthusiastic change for Penn State.  He said that he was proud of all the woman leaders and all the leaders at Penn State who could effectively bring positive change to the school.


The program ended with an inspiring speech by the Panhellenic Council President, Paige Rothaus. Each speaker gave motivating speeches on hard work and success, and I think Russ Rose is a great example of the success you can reach with hard work. Whether its advice from a locker room or at a symposium, these are great keys to success, which can be helpful as we get deeper into the semester.