Winning Every Day

A master motivator who guided Notre Dame to the 1988 national college football championship, Lou Holtz knows how to win big on and off the gridiron. For business leaders, for recent college graduates struggling on their first job, or for just about anyone who wants to get ahead, Holtz devises a game plan for success: dream, believe, and achieve. "Write down everything you hope to achieve in life," Holtz writes. "Then make sure you do something every day to realize one of your dreams. You are going to encounter adversity but you will also ... take big, satisfying bites out of life."

Holtz believes that people are capable of achieving just about anything if they learn to tap into the unrelenting powers inside themselves. He illustrates his points by drawing from moments in his rags-to-riches career as one of America's best college football coaches. Holtz's formula is simple: He calls it "WIN" or "What's Important Now." Holtz writes that if he can do it, anyone can. Despite being raised poor in a beat Ohio river town, later devastated by his parents' divorce, Holtz ended up with the best college football job in the country. Clearly, Holtz can get into the end zone. Follow his advice, and maybe you will, too. --Dan Ring