Hirstein HEADlines: Go Put Bread on the Hook

A friend of mine recently shared an inspirational message from Dr. Kevin Elko. Dr. Elko has worked for numerous professional and college sports teams, including coach Nick Saban at Alabama, who has had him speak to their football team from time to time. Dr. Elko's messages are always centered on how we can control our lives to be better people. He insists that in order to achieve our goals in life, we must follow a process. Coach Saban insists on following a process, and it has worked for Alabama football. Each day in practice, on and off the field, the focus is on getting better. We can control whether or not we are getting better each day. It isn’t someone else's responsibility; we have to own it. 

One recent message from Dr. Elko that particularly resonated with me was called putting bread on the hook. In Turkey when you go to a bakery to buy a loaf of bread, they will ask you if you want to buy a second loaf of bread to put 'on the hook'. If you buy the second loaf, it is placed on the hook, and if someone comes in later that day and says, “I have no money, and I am hungry, is there bread on the hook?”, that individual is then given the bread. He says that this simple act of kindness has helped build a strong community. 

He goes on to say, “If you want to change your story, you need to change your action.” Be kind. Love. Give more than you get. Smile more than you frown. Think “we” more than “me.” Compliment more than criticize. Put bread on the hook. 

This is key to building our community. We can control our actions. We can choose to smile more than we frown. We can compliment more than we criticize. We can be kind and can give more than we get. Let’s all put bread on the hook! 

I look forward to seeing you around campus.

 

Stuart