In my final season of baseball in high school, I took a few trips down to USC to attend pitching camps with a very famous coach named Tom House.
What made Tom House definitely wasn't his baseball career as a MLB pitcher, but rather the fact that he was the pitching coach of the most famous pitcher of all time. Nolan Ryan.
After a dead silent bullpen session that lasted about 60-80 pitches, Tom looked over at me and said words that I would never forget...and will probably never forget for the rest of my life.
He said to me, "Evan. 10% of the time you are going to be amazing, 10% of the time you are going to suck worse than imaginable, and 80% of the time you are going to be just average.
Champions are made in that 80%."
Isn't that amazing? Isn't it amazing that about 80% of your days you are going to feel completely average. Nothing special about the day. No incredible feeling in your body. Just the feeling of being average.
That may seem like a pretty bitter realization about life, but there's a final piece to all of this that really makes the lesson worthwhile.
You are 100% in control of how your day goes from that first moment you wake up. Yes, you may wake up feeling average, but you get to choose whether you go up or down in the day.
You get the choice of either rising to the challenge or sinking back down into the depths. You get to make the decision to do the hard work and grind through it all or give up completely. But that decision is completely up to you and on you to make.
Even though those decisions don't have an audience, they are the foundations to your integrity as a human being. They may seem like small choices, but eventually they add up and make a huge impact on your life.
Most of those hours you spend working your tail off on something will never be seen by anyone.
But that's the nature of the beast.
You know how much effort you are giving.
You know how much you put into something and what it really takes to get to where you want to go. If you know that, and you are willing to dedicate the time and make sacrifices, you can do anything with those 80% days and take advantage of what this life has to offer.
To make it to the end of your life knowing that you gave it your all would lead to a lot of big smiles in your final moments. You knew that you really did it and gave your heart the best chance it had to see it's wishes through.
That's really the only way to do it. Go big or go home.
So create an intention for yourself. Make a request to yourself that you are going to level up and make this year the best year of your life.
What made Tom House definitely wasn't his baseball career as a MLB pitcher, but rather the fact that he was the pitching coach of the most famous pitcher of all time. Nolan Ryan.
After a dead silent bullpen session that lasted about 60-80 pitches, Tom looked over at me and said words that I would never forget...and will probably never forget for the rest of my life.
He said to me, "Evan. 10% of the time you are going to be amazing, 10% of the time you are going to suck worse than imaginable, and 80% of the time you are going to be just average.
Champions are made in that 80%."
Isn't that amazing? Isn't it amazing that about 80% of your days you are going to feel completely average. Nothing special about the day. No incredible feeling in your body. Just the feeling of being average.
That may seem like a pretty bitter realization about life, but there's a final piece to all of this that really makes the lesson worthwhile.
You are 100% in control of how your day goes from that first moment you wake up. Yes, you may wake up feeling average, but you get to choose whether you go up or down in the day.
You get the choice of either rising to the challenge or sinking back down into the depths. You get to make the decision to do the hard work and grind through it all or give up completely. But that decision is completely up to you and on you to make.
Even though those decisions don't have an audience, they are the foundations to your integrity as a human being. They may seem like small choices, but eventually they add up and make a huge impact on your life.
Most of those hours you spend working your tail off on something will never be seen by anyone.
But that's the nature of the beast.
You know how much effort you are giving.
You know how much you put into something and what it really takes to get to where you want to go. If you know that, and you are willing to dedicate the time and make sacrifices, you can do anything with those 80% days and take advantage of what this life has to offer.
To make it to the end of your life knowing that you gave it your all would lead to a lot of big smiles in your final moments. You knew that you really did it and gave your heart the best chance it had to see it's wishes through.
That's really the only way to do it. Go big or go home.
So create an intention for yourself. Make a request to yourself that you are going to level up and make this year the best year of your life.
About the Author:
Evan Sanders is a professional life coach at AYKME coaching. Dive into these great Integrity Quotes http://thewordsofencouragement.com/integrity-meaning/ or these quotes on changing for life http://thewordsofencouragement.com/change-for-life/ to get some motivation to move forward!