Dan Green’s book, “Finish Strong,” credited with some for inspiring the New Orleans Saints this season with its inspiring message, began humbly enough for Green.

His defining “Finish Strong” moment came when he was in sales. He said, “as a method of goal setting, I would start my day in the office by taking out 25 paper clips.” Green said that with each call, he would put away a paper clip, the goal being to make 25 calls each day. “I knew that if I created 25 selling conversations each day, that my ultimate sales goals would be reached.”

One particular day, everyone else was leaving the office for the weekend. He had one paper clip left on a coaster. He was young at the time and was tempted to leave; after all, he could make an extra call the next work day. Instead, he chose to stay and make that last call and finish strong. His reward? Within two years he tripled his income because, he said, he stayed the course and chose to finish strong,

Maria Burkhardt of Covington gets Finish Strong books signed by author Dan Green ay Friday’s book signing at Anne Dale Jewelers. (Staff Photo by Debbie Glover)

He trademarked the phrase in 1996. Since then he reminds himself of the mantra, the attitude, whenever faced with a challenge or adversity.

Green’s book is full of inspirational stories, but perhaps the most incredible one has yet to written — the New Orleans Saints.

Drew Brees was a customer of Green’s publishing company, always ordering books. One day last spring, they received a call from Brees to order 90 copies of Finish Strong.

“We were thrilled,” said Lance Vanderhagen, Green’s sales manager. He added, “I think it’s a great message for the entire region.”

Everyone in New Orleans knows what happened-each of the players were asked to read the book over their break. Whether the attitude defined in the book really carried the team to the World Championship or not may be debatable; however, they did win for the first time in the franchise’s 43-plus year history.

Although Green has had many professions and has been in the publishing business for the past few years, this is his first book as an author.

The book isn’t normally wholesaled to bookstores, but Anne Dale Jewelers had obtained permission to design jewelry using the phrase from Green and hosted a book signing at the store Friday afternoon.

They also sold the jewelry with the phrase, including dog tags, rubber bracelets, car magnets and their new jewelry.

The sensation the book has caused was evident as the line to buy the books and have them signed was rarely shorter than a dozen people. The book and its link to the Saints have certainly hit home for the people in the region. Many of those present were buying multiple copies for an opportunity to have an autographed copy from the Napierville, Ill., based author.

The book is easy to read, well illustrated and full of anecdotal stories and philosophy. Many of the stories are familiar, Helen Keller; Jim Braddock, The Cinderella Man; Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s; and the 1980 Olympics gold-medal winning U. S. hockey team, probably the best analogy to the Saints.

His own mantra set into words, Green states in the introduction that is has become a driving force in his life, no matter the adversity or challenge.

He said that, “For most of the champions, their great accomplishment was not the end of their greatness; rather it was the beginning of greater things to come. Each used their moment in time to propel them forward in life.

“Regardless of what came before or of what has yet to come, what matters most right now is how I choose to respond to the challenge before me. Will I lie down or will I fight? The choice is mine and I choose to Finish Strong,” ended Green.