The 4 things everyone needs: you're either growing or dying--'maintaining' doesn't count.

• Author: Holtz, Lou
• Position: ENDNOTE - Wins, Losses and Lessons - Excerpt

Ed. Note: Lou Holtz has had one of the most storied careers as a college football coach from the 1960s into the 2000s. It's been said that few people in the history of college sports have been more influential or had a bigger impact. The following is an excerpt from his book, Wins, Losses and Lessons, in which he recounts an important transition in his life and the realizations that came with it. Among his current activities, he serves as a corporate director (see page 79), a sports analyst, and a motivational speaker.

WHEN I RETIRED from Notre Dame [in 1996 after 11 seasons] I thought I was tired of coaching. In fact, I was tired of maintaining.

After 10 winning seasons, nine bowl appearances, a national championship, and a decade of being ranked in the top 20, I felt as though I had done all I could do, so it was the right time for me to retire.

My mistake was confusing my unwillingness to maintain the status quo (even though the status quo at Notre Dame was pretty high) with a desire to get out of coaching altogether. I was in my early sixties, and I still believed I had enough energy to go back and coach a few more years, and enough enthusiasm for teaching to influence another group of student-athletes.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

There is a rule of life that you are either growing or dying. Grass is either growing or dying and so is a person, a marriage, and a business. The minute we try to maintain, we start dying. When I left Notre Dame, I wasn't tired of coaching, I was tired of maintaining and I wasn't smart enough to know the difference.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

My wife, Beth, saw it. She knew that I had to get out. She also knew, as I did, that everyone needs four things in life:

* First, you have to have something to do. Stories of healthy individuals who die within a few years of retiring are too numerous to list. It's also true that prisoners serving life sentences sleep for 12-14 hours a day because they have nothing in their lives that compels them to get out of bed.

* The second thing you have to have is someone to love. We are put on earth to love other people. Those who don't have anyone exist without happiness.

* Third, you have to have something to believe in. I've always said that not believing in a god is not an option for humans. You might not believe in the Heavenly Father, as I do, but everyone has a god. It might be the quest for power or material gains; it might be a cause--environmentalism, conservationism, global...