Blogs

  • Planning: My Path to Success

    Jim Rohn once said, “Don’t start the day until you have it finished,” emphasizing the importance of planning things out. It’s something I agree with and definitely need to do more.

    Planning things out, especially writing them down, makes a great difference. It may not sound like it would make a difference, but have you ever gone grocery shopping with a strict list of items to buy and a budget, versus just going to the grocery store with no plan and buying anything?

    I have. I spend far too much money when I go to the grocery store with no plan. When I look at what’s on sale, then create a list of items to buy and stick to that list, my trip to the grocery store is far cheaper and more successful. In return, that brings me a sense of satisfaction and saves me money.

    So, that can be applied to planning our day, week, month, and year. Plan things out and stick to it, and watch the results come.

    ,

  • Embrace Imperfect Progress

    No matter what it is, the rough draft is often more important than the final draft.

    Sometimes, we become so fixated on perfection that it hinders our progress in completing a task.

    The rough draft doesn’t have to be flawless; it simply needs to be finished. You can make necessary adjustments once you reach that stage; you just need to give yourself something to work with.

    By completing a rough draft, you’re already ahead of those who haven’t accomplished anything. So, regardless of your goal, focus on finishing that rough draft and proceed from there. Fortunately, it won’t be the final version.

    ,

  • The Dynamics of Self-Belief

    Where does self-belief come from?

    Is it derived from a lot of practice, which, in return, gives us confidence? Or is it simply having confidence in general? Can belief be an internal feeling? Does others’ belief in us affect our belief in ourselves?

    There are some things I just know I can do well, even if I’m new to them. Maybe those are just God-given gifts, or perhaps my confidence has built up over time. There are things I don’t believe I can do, but I think that’s mostly because I have never done them, or I haven’t put in the work required to excel, which would lead to me believing I can do it. Sometimes, when others don’t believe in us, we agree with them and lose belief in ourselves.

    Whether we believe or don’t believe we can do or achieve something, it’s beneficial to reflect on why we feel that way. If we genuinely believe we can do something, maybe we were simply born to do it, so we should go ahead and do it. If we don’t believe we can do something, perhaps we just aren’t as prepared as we should be, or we have been influenced by others to believe that we can’t do it.

    Maybe Henry Ford was right when he said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

  • Mistakes to Mastery

    One of the biggest sayings that I learned and always told myself when playing football was, “That’s not like me.”

    Whenever I made a mistake, such as dropping a pass, missing a block, or messing up on my assignment, I would tell myself, “That’s not like me,” and then I would move on to the next play with confidence in my ability to perform at my highest level.

    It’s easy to make mistakes in life and get caught up in that mistake, which can lead to more mistakes in the future. If I dropped the ball once, I didn’t have to accept myself as a bad catcher. I could still think of myself as a great catcher, and the dropped ball was not characteristic of me.

    In life, we all make mistakes; it’s inevitable. What we can do is decide how we respond to those mistakes. Never let your mistakes define who you are. Tell yourself, “That’s not like me,” and move on from the mistake, striving to be better in the future, just as you know you can be.

  • Running Towards Personal Growth

    Sometimes, personal growth feels like training for track and field or something similar. At first, you invest the effort and do what is necessary to grow.

    Just like running, you often don’t realize how much you’ve grown until you’re next to others. That can be bittersweet. You might see yourself growing apart from certain people or activities.

    For me, I wouldn’t realize how much I grew while away at college until I went back home to visit. Nowadays, I sometimes don’t realize how much I’ve grown until I interact with certain people, or when I’m in situations where I would have acted or thought differently in the past.

    We often feel a certain way about certain situations that we once did not feel that way. Or we may respond to certain situations in ways that we would not have in the past. We may not be able to put our finger on the weird feeling that we have I those moments, but the reason could be because you grew in some type of way.

    Just like training for track, you can put the work in to deliberately grow. In fact, we should do that. If you’re not getting faster, you’re getting slower. If you aren’t growing, you’re shrinking.

    ,

  • Life’s Natural Process

    When you pull out a loose tooth prematurely, the new tooth may not have enough space to grow straight, potentially causing it to come in crooked. My mom always told me this as a child.

    Whenever I had a loose tooth, I would heed my mom’s advice and allow the tooth to naturally fall out. As a result, I have never needed braces, and my teeth are reasonably straight.

    Regardless of the situation, you cannot rush the process. We must allow things to unfold naturally for the best outcomes. Dr. Myles Munroe once said, “The longest way to success is a shortcut.”

    Whatever you aspire to achieve in life, thoroughly understand the process for optimal success and follow it.

    My mom taught me more than just how to deal with loose teeth; she taught me about life.

    ,

  • Embracing Your Talents: The Power of Humility and Confidence

    We are always taught to be humble.

    If you have too much confidence, people may begin to dislike you or think you’re cocky.

    However, I believe there are times when we are overly humble, to the point where we hesitate to fully utilize our skills and gifts. We may have talents that surpass others’, but we are hesitant to embrace them fully. This often leads to imposter syndrome.

    However, in reality, you are genuinely talented. You may actually be the best at what you do or better than your peers. If that’s the case, embrace it.

    All the greats in any field became great because they had self-worth and knew they were exceptional. They consistently proved this time and again, whether in sports, academics, arts, language, or any other domain.

    Don’t be excessively humble. Own your talents and unique advantages and utilize them to the fullest.

    You are the best.

    And if you currently aren’t the best, have the confidence and work ethic to believe that one day you will be.

    Stay humble, but not excessively so. Don’t aim to compete—aim to dominate.

  • Scaling Success: Milestones

    Big goals often need smaller goals or steps to reach them. Breaking a large goal into smaller parts makes it easier to see progress and stay motivated. These smaller goals are like stepping stones that help us achieve the main goal.

    If we want to reach a big goal or live a certain way, we should also think about the other things we need to do or change to make it happen.

    Sometimes, it takes longer to reach a big goal if we’re not aware of all the smaller steps. And even when we do achieve a big goal, the smaller milestones along the way help us maintain it. We might go back to where we started if we’re not fully prepared.

    So, it’s important to appreciate and celebrate each small goal we achieve on the path to our big goal. By understanding the smaller steps needed and being ready for them, we can reach our goals and continue to thrive.

    ,

  • Graceful Acceptance: Embracing Human Error

    Human error is generally inevitable in various aspects of life, including jobs, sports, and other areas, despite efforts to minimize and mitigate mistakes.

    That’s something to be mindful of when interacting with people. Someone’s words or actions that seem negative or hurtful could potentially stem from a lack of awareness or understanding rather than intentional malice.

    We should have a sense of understanding and patience—know that we all make errors, regardless of the situation. Give others grace and don’t be too hard on them for mistakes or perceived wrongdoings.

    Perhaps that McDonald’s worker is a great employee who accidentally messed up your order; there’s no need to get overly upset about it. In football, players are evaluated every play, and sometimes missed assignments are explainable or simply human errors. A good coach understands this and keeps it in mind when coaching players.

    While there are certain things we should not tolerate as “fatal errors,” which may be irreparable, many times it’s just simple human errors that occur in various situations, tasks, or relationships.

    , ,

  • Keeping Your Word

    If someone consistently fails to keep their word or do what they say they will, we would eventually view them as unreliable and untrustworthy. We would likely distance ourselves and lower our expectations of their reliability.

    Now, imagine the impact when we make promises to ourselves but fail to follow through and keep our word. The effect is just as negative, if not worse.

    With others, we consciously feel a certain way about those who don’t keep their word. However, when we consistently fail to keep our word with ourselves, the effects may be subconscious, yet they can still affect our confidence and self-esteem.

    If we’re unhappy or things aren’t going as we want them to, it’s worth checking whether we’ve been keeping our word with ourselves.

    So, it’s important to keep our word in general, but even more so with ourselves. We need to do what we promised ourselves we would do.

    After all, how can someone else rely on us if we can’t even rely on ourselves? Just something to think about.

    ,