It's Supposed to be Hard

You've heard all the clichés.  "No pain, no gain."  I guess that means that if it doesn't hurt, it isn't good for you.  Not sure I agree with that.

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."   Well...maybe most of the time.  Although Randall Cobb could take a decade off and still beat me at anything, at any age, at any time.

"Nothing worth having comes easy."   I can't completely agree with that one either.  Maybe this one is a lot deeper than I'm willing to go while sitting at my keyboard this morning.

"Success isn't given.  It's earned with blood, sweat, and tears."   Ahhh, getting closer.  I suppose you could argue that the son or daughter that inherits their parent's successful company didn't really earn it.  Maybe it becomes their job not to mess it up.

"Nothing works unless you do."  Oh yeah, now we're getting there.  You gotta put in the work.  Whatever arena you happen to be in. 

School?   I didn't really know what work was.  School was always easy for me.  I could make B's with little effort.  I sort of floated along.  But then B's wouldn't cut it anymore and it had to be all A's or I wasn't going to be able to pursue my dream to become a physical therapist. 

That's when I learned to work. 

Career?  You might get your dream job for all the right reasons but there is a whole lot of separation between doing your job and being excellent.   When they're getting started, nobody aspires to be mediocre.

But then "stuff" gets in the way and you find yourself clocking in, putting in the hours, then clocking out and going home.  You do the work but so does everyone else.

If you want to be the best, you've got to put in the work.  Reach for the stars and even if you don't quite make it, you will like where you land.

Sports?  This is where I learned what work was all about.  You've heard me quote my high school coach.  "If he works at it, he can be a good one."

After watching literally thousands of athletes grow up in this community, I can tell you that a lot of the time, the ones that I admire the most are those that might not have all the talent in the world but had great successes on the courts and playing fields because they worked hard.

I'll not embarrass anybody by calling names.  But I've seen a lot of undersized football linemen with tons of heart and huge work ethics win championships.

The best of those then take that on to real life and become champions at life too.

Sports reward hard work.  You can't do anything about your talent level, that came from your gene pool.  But you can do something about your work habits.

So if you want to be good, here's my advice.  Show up on time.  Work hard every time.  Don't take any shortcuts. Work hardest on what you don't like.  Stay coachable.  Finish what you do.