Cleaning Up His Vocabulary
IllustrationStory★★★★Mike Ditka is one of those sports personalities who seem larger than life. Now coach of the New Orleans Saints, he recently shocked his coaching staff when he announced that he would not use profanity anymore.
According to those who have known him through the years, Ditka was in the habit of introducing colorful words in virtually every conversation, using them as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. After eight months he has kept that promise and this season told his players, “I have done a lot of stupid things in my life that I probably won’t do again and using profanity is one of them.
There is no room for it on the field. It might slip out every now and then, but I don’t want to hear it.
Now when you feel like swearing, I want you to say, ‘Praise the Lord.’ ”
The point
Mike Ditka committed to eliminating foul language and instructed players to say "Praise the Lord" instead when tempted to swear; the story illustrates the power of deliberately replacing negative habits with positive ones.