Monday Motivation, 1.11.2021

Written by: Dawn Paciocco

Every Monday, The Rogers-Long Team meets for one of its two weekly meetings. The Monday meeting always ends with “Monday Motivation” in which a few minutes are spent listening to one team member presenting a quote, a quick reading from a book, a scene from a movie, or anything else they find motivating to provide a “spark” to the whole team on a Monday morning.

If you know me then you know that I am a HUGE VCU Men’s Basketball fan. So when I come across an article that has to do with VCU, I am going to read it.  There was an article written about how the coach of the Cleveland Browns was on a Zoom call with in March, and one of them was Coach Mike Rhodes, the head coach for VCU.  While it was Coach Rhodes who reached out to Coach Stefanski to pick his brain, it was Coach Stefanski who received something that has proven to be more valuable. 

Coach Rhodes shared with Coach Stefanski his 4 H’s exercise that he does with his team.

The 4 H’s are History, Heartbreak, Heroes and Hope.

Coach Rhodes has the team share personal stories. These can be of hardship or revelations of those that have helped them in their lives. Coach Rhodes tells his players to be ready to share stories, normally the night before a game. Coaches, players and managers all participate. The idea behind this is that you are trying to develop a trust between the players that can ultimately help them in a tight game.  You can look a teammate in the eye and you know what they are made of and know that you can really count on them. The Brown’s put this into action, and based on the playoff game I am watching them play right now, IT HAS WORKED!

As I read this article, I of course geeked out because of a mention of VCU and it was Coach Rhoades giving advice to an NFL team. But ultimately, I thought how cool is it that Coach wants them to be a family first.  Because let’s face it, that is really what the 4 H’s are. Think about who you share your 4 H’s with in your life. Who do you share your history with, who do you cry with, talk about your Heroes with, share your Hopes and Dreams with. Your family!

Take a look at your Family, your team at work, your friends. These are the people who you trust enough to share the 4H’s! I mean you really trust them. Because of this trust, isn’t your team going to work harder together, as a family. They care for you more because you’ve opened up, and trusted them with these things. They truly know where you come from.  The 4H’s just build your relationship even stronger and takes you to where you wanna be in so many ways.

Browns Running Back Karrem Hunt when asked about the exercise said -“I was able to learn things about people I probably would not talk to that much. That was a good way to do it. It brought us closer as a team. I have those guys’ backs.”

Do I think the Browns won last night because of the 4H’s? Yes I do! Just look at where the Browns started and where they have gone this year. I don’t just think it’s a coincidence that this is the year that the Browns have made it to the playoffs for the first time since 1994. Y’all, they didn’t even have their head coach on the sidelines last night. They hadn’t practiced in weeks. But they had the 4 H’s, so they had a bond and trust that pushed them to do what they hadn’t done in years, win. And, of course because Coach Mike Rhodes gave them the tool to make it happen…. ha ha I’m just kidding. Go Browns!

Take the time to thank your “family” today for being there for you and giving you the ability to share your 4H’s with them, because without them you’d be all alone.

Dawn Paciocco joined The Rogers-Long Team in September 2018 as the team’s Client Care Coordinator. Dawn spent 17 years in the financial services industry and much like Stacy, was first a client of Ben & Kevin’s before joining the team. After a couple years discussing the possibility of Dawn joining, The RLT excitedly brought her on due to her fun-loving attitude and belief in the team’s mission to build an army of people that does good, becomes better, and strives to be the best.