“Learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable. Learn to be peaceful, not bored. Learn to be inspired, not scared.”

— Maxime Lagacé,

Professional Hockey player

Maxime Lagacé (born January 12, 1993) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently playing with the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Lagacé began his junior years with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2010. His first team was the P.E.I. Rocket for three years, finishing with a total record of 33–80–6 in 107 games and a .873 save percentage average. Lagacé also appeared in his only junior playoff game with the Rocket.

On July 23, 2012, Lagacé signed a three-year, $1.83 million entry level contract with the Dallas Stars. Lagacé had participated in the Stars’ Development Camp earlier that summer.^[2][3]Lagacé was transferred to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in 2013, where he only played eight games with a 3–3–1 record and a .887 save percentage. He was then traded to the Shawinigan Cataractes and the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the same season.

Source: Wikipedia

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”

— Albert Einstein,

Theoretical physicist & Nobel Prize recipient

Albert Einstein (/ˈaɪnstaɪn/ EYEN-styne;^[4] German: [ˈalbɛʁt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] (listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist^[5] who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).^[3][6]:274 His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.^[7][8] He is best known to the general public for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc², which has been dubbed “the world’s most famous equation”.^[9] He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect“,^[10] a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.

The son of a salesman who later operated an electrochemical factory, Einstein was born in the German Empire but moved to Switzerland in 1895 and renounced his German citizenship in 1896.^[5] Specializing in physics and mathematics, he received his academic teaching diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School (German: eidgenössische polytechnische Schule, later ETH) in Zürich in 1900. The following year, he acquired Swiss citizenship, which he kept for his entire life. After initially struggling to find work, from 1902 to 1909 he was employed as a patent examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern.

Source: Wikipedia

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

— Herman Melville,

novelist, short story writer, & poet

Herman Melville (born Melvill;^[a] August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the centennial of his birth in 1919 was the starting point of a Melville revival and Moby-Dick grew to be considered one of the great American novels.

Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847) were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the island. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of a prominent Boston family. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.

Source: Wikipedia

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

— John D. Rockefeller,

business magnate & philanthropist

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time,^[4][5] and the richest person in modern history.^[6][7]

Rockefeller was born into a large family in upstate New York that moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. Rockefeller became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897, and remained its largest shareholder.

Rockefeller’s wealth soared as kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak.^[c] Oil was used throughout the country as a light source until the introduction of electricity, and as a fuel after the invention of the automobile. Furthermore, Rockefeller gained enormous influence over the railroad industry which transported his oil around the country. Standard Oil was the first great business trust in the United States. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and, through corporate and technological innovations, was instrumental in both widely disseminating and drastically reducing the production cost of oil.

Source: Wikipedia

“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.”

— Sir Colin R. Davis,

London Symphony Orchestra Conductor

Sir Colin Rex Davis CH CBE (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom he was particularly associated were Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett.

He studied as a clarinettist, but was intent on becoming a conductor. After struggles as a freelance conductor from 1949 to 1957, he gained a series of appointments with orchestras including the BBC Scottish Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also held the musical directorships of Sadler’s Wells Opera and the Royal Opera House, where he was principal conductor for over fifteen years. His guest conductorships included the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle, among many others.

As a teacher, Davis held posts at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and the Landesgymnasium für Musik “Carl Maria von Weber” (preparatory school for music) in Dresden. He made his first gramophone recordings in 1958, and his discography over the next five decades was extensive, with many studio recordings for Philips Records and a substantial catalogue of live recordings for the London Symphony Orchestra’s own label.

Source: Wikipedia

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

— Winston S. Churchill,

Politician, Army officer, & Writer

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill^[1] (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965)^[2] was a British politician, army officer, and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, when he led the country to victory in the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, Churchill was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, as leader from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.

Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire to a wealthy, aristocratic family. He joined the British Army in 1895, and saw action in British India, the Anglo-Sudan War, and the Second Boer War, gaining fame as a war correspondent and writing books about his campaigns. Elected an MP in 1900, initially as a Conservative, he defected to the Liberals in 1904. In H. H. Asquith‘s Liberal government, Churchill served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and First Lord of the Admiralty, championing prison reform and workers’ social security. As First Lord during the First World War, he oversaw the Gallipoli Campaign; after it proved a disaster, he resigned from government and served in the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front. In 1917, he returned to government under David Lloyd George and served successively as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, and Secretary of State for the Colonies, overseeing the Anglo-Irish Treaty and British foreign policy in the Middle East. After two years out of Parliament, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin‘s Conservative government, returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-war parity, a move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure and depressing the UK economy.

Source: Wikipedia

Happy Father’s Day!

In honor of all the wonderful fathers that have impacted our lives, we are sharing thoughts from our own dads. These small pieces of wisdom were often repeated in our homes as we grew up and still serve as valuable reminders of lessons learned.

“You can be right, or you can be dead right.”

-Kristen Dyson’s father

“My dog ain’t in that hunt.”

-Eric Poerschke’s father

“Let it ride.”

-Tara Lockhart’s father

“The difference between a good day and a bad day is…attitude.”

-Eric Poerschke, father of three, coach of many & founder of NextLevel Thinking

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”

This is just one of many Muhammad Ali quotes. For 29 more of his most popular quotes, head over to USA Today.

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Civil Rights Activist and Christian Minister

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Christian minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.

King led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, he then led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty, capitalism, and the Vietnam War. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover considered him a radical and made him an object of the FBI’s COINTELPRO from 1963 on. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, recorded his extramarital liaisons and reported on them to government officials, and, in 1964, mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.^[1]

Before his death, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People’s Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. His death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities. Allegations that James Earl Ray, the man convicted of killing King, had been framed or acted in concert with government agents persisted for decades after the shooting.

King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the holiday was enacted at the federal level by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington was rededicated for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.

In recent years activists have made efforts on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to reclaim the radical legacy of King.

Source: Wikipedia

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” — Chris Grosser, salesman and photographer

What opportunities are you creating for your business and clients in 2020? Nextlevel Thinking can help position you to reach your goals this year and beyond!

“A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”

-John Wooden, Former UCLA Basketball Coach

Many of the players Coach Richardson impacted were on hand to celebrate the naming of the Nolan Richardson Basketball Court at the University of Arkansas last weekend. Next Level Thinking’s Founder, Eric Poerschke, played under Richardson his junior and senior years at Arkansas.

Congratulations Coach Richardson!

Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is a former American basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. Elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014,^[7] Richardson coached teams to winning a Division I Basketball National Championship, an NIT championship, and a Junior College National Championship, making him the only coach to win all three championships. During his 22 seasons of coaching in NCAA Division I, Richardson made a post-season tournament appearance 20 times. Click here to read more about Coach Nolan Richardson, Junior.

Source: Wikipedia