by David DeFord

The most successful people are not necessarily the brightest or the most talented.

The most gifted athletes do not necessarily achieve the highest feats.

The top 1% of a graduating class probably will not achieve more than many of the next 29%.

So how can you determine who will reach their potentials?

Let me take you back to my athletic days. I was never a gifted athlete. No one ever said, “That kid has it all. He’ll be a superstar.” But I always made the team. I was recognized as an all-star every year I played baseball. I contributed to several championships.

What did I have that some of the other more gifted athletes didn’t?

I had no fear.

The huge fastball pitchers didn’t scare me. I wasn’t afraid to steal second or third base on the best catchers. I got in front of the hardest-hit grounders. I loved playing defense against the most gifted basketball opponents.

Twenty-five years or so after my last baseball game, my old coach told me that my most outstanding athletic gift was my “meanness.” I choose to think he meant guts and courage.

Athletic recruiters don’t limit their evaluation of prospective players to their natural gifts. They look for competitive hearts. They want athletes obsessed with winning. They know that high achievement springs out of heart—not necessarily from talent.

Professional recruiters do the same. Academic achievements and experience are important. Hirers pay particular attention to the candidate’s hunger for success.

Opportunity comes to everyone. But we must shed our fears to claim it. We must be willing to take bold risks. We must reach out and seize opportunity when it comes close to us.

We must seek out opportunity. Then we must wrestle it to the ground.

If we have great talent mixed with paralyzing fear, we’ll never reach our dreams. We must learn to conquer our fears and aggressively chase those dreams.

Of course I’m not urging you to take senseless risks. No one will reach their full potential without measuring their risks.

I challenge you to make this year the one in which you pursued your dreams. Channel your guts and courage and chase down the elusive achievements you’ve always wanted.

Create your own luck.

Quotes

To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done. Richard G. Scott

All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of experience. Henry Miller

Luck is predictable; the harder you work, the luckier you get. Brian Tracy

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all. Helen Keller

The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become. Harold Taylor

It’s never crowded along the extra mile. Dr. Wayne Dyer

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Thanks.
By the way, there's no hype in that paragraph. That's exactly how it was. Eric Garner

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