When legendary football coach and ESPN analyst Lou Holtz’s Orlando home burned to the ground last year, he gave himself and his wife a short period of time to mourn.

After that, he said, they never looked back.

“The good Lord put eyes in the front of your head and not the back for a reason,” he said.

Holtz, who led Notre Dame to an undefeated 12-win season and the 1988 National Championship, shared his tips for success during the Opening General Session of APCO 2016 on Monday, August 15.

Coach Holtz said he lives by three simple rules that apply both to his family and the football teams he’s coached:

1. Do what’s right. Holtz said a large part of this is having a positive attitude. “We all have a reason to be upset,” he said. “Don’t tell people about your problems—90 percent don’t care and the other 10 percent are glad you got ‘em.” In 1999, during his first year as head coach at the University of South Carolina, his son fell ill, his mother died, his wife was battling cancer and the team lost every football game they played.

“You pick yourself up, or you stay down,” he said. “You have no chance to succeed if you do not believe in yourself.” Twelve months later, South Carolina had one of the greatest turnarounds in football history. “Attitude is the most important choice we make every single day,” he said.

2. Do everything to the best of your ability. When Holtz was coaching at the University of Arkansas he had to suspend three star athletes who he said violated the “do-right” rule. The outlook was grim, but the team focused on its strengths, including a strong defense. The strategy paid off, and Arkansas beat Oklahoma 31-61 during the 1977 Miami Orange Bowl. “Be the best you can be,” Holtz said. “That’s all anyone can ask. And work as a team. We can’t win when you pull against each other. We need each other.”

3. Show people you care. Holtz said you’ll never meet anyone who doesn’t need a smile or a few kind words. When his wife was asked in an interview what she learned from surviving cancer, she said she realized how much her family loved her. “We didn’t love her any more [at that time],” Holtz said. “We just showed it!”

Want to be happy for a lifetime? Holtz says to make sure people would miss you if you did not show up. “The only people we miss are those we can trust, are committed to excellence and genuinely care,” he said.