How are those New Year resolutions coming along y’all? I’m hoping that this post helps recommit to those goals!
With the passing of NBA great Kobe Bryant, everyone is discussing his skills on the court, his work with Mamba Sports Academy, his philanthropy, his multimedia company Granity Studios, etc. He was doing so much and working his tail off even after his “retirement.”
When it comes down to it, Kobe was great at what he did on and off the court because HE PUT IN THE TIME TO BE GREAT. He was committed to excellence even when he probably didn’t feel like it. Getting to practice hours before everyone else to work on his shots. Putting in the time to coach his teams. Working on his Oscar-winning short. That stuff takes time and effort. But to be great means going above and beyond the normal.
It all comes down to just how HUNGRY you are for what you want.
I find, in working with people, that many talk a big game about what they want to do and accomplish. I even have had to check myself on a few occasions for running my mouth and then not doing anything to really change my circumstances. But, if you want to do great things with your work and life, it requires a serious appetite to do well. In order to get there, you have to push yourself to do more than you thought you could. You have to (a lot of times) start early and finish late.
When you see people getting ahead or “passing you by,” it’s not always that they are more talented than you but it really comes down to how bad they want it. The fact that they’re willing to do what you don’t always want to do or believe in yourself enough to do. The fact that they take the time to work on becoming better while you rest on your talent and slack off. The fact that they just do what they feel that they are able to do while you hang back. Maybe I’m just speaking to myself, but I know somebody else has to feel that!
In order to really get to a new level, you have to develop this fight in you, this hunger. This mentality that says “I’m going to work my butt off to be the best that I can personally be. I’m going to make things happen because there is no other option for me.”
It’s not always that they are more talented than you but it really comes down to how bad they want it.
It’s that commitment, that drive, that work ethic that goes beyond what a regular person is willing to do that will get you ahead. You may have to change up your habits or your processes. You may have to make some sacrifices and difficult choices. You may not even see the light at the end of the tunnel right now and feel like all of the effort is all for naught. But trust, if what you are doing is your purpose in life, you will make it. But it’s keeping that hunger for your goals that is going to help you get there.
Imperfectly B 