Choose to Stand Out if you want to be Outstanding:
Embracing Discontinuity Requires Courage. What does that even mean?
This one's for you, high school athlete.
Do you lack the courage to do things differently (embracing discontinuity)? Does it give you anxiety to think about changing?
Cool story...In 1975 there was a film company named Kodak. They were the best in the business. EVERYONE had a Kodak camera and used Kodak film.
Kodak had this guy named Steve Sassen who believed in “standing out”...doing things differently...
He created the first ever electronic camera. However, his silly bosses hated the idea of change, doing things differently (that requires work after all, why fix it if it is not broke?). Things were going so well. So what did they do? They push away his idea, put it in a box, and stuck it on the shelf.
Meanwhile, other smart people in the world were working on electronic cameras. By the early to mid 2000’s, just about every single consumer had switched from film to electronic/digital cameras. Kodak scrambled to try and keep with the competition, but it was too late. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012 :-(
By choosing to stay the same and not change how you do things, what could it be costing you?
Maybe things seem “fine” now, but how can you tap into your TRUE potential if you aren’t willing to try new things or do things differently?
Tom Brady is going to another Superbowl. He is 40 years old! In 2005, he was eating potato chips and drinking soda. A few years later, he decided to eat only vegetables, whole grains, and organic beef, duck, chicken. For dessert, he mashes up avocados, he does not eat chunky monkey ice cream.
Why did he change? He was already AMAZING at football when he ate garbage. Why change Tom?
He knew that they only way to get to a place he had never been, was to do something he had never done.
He knew that he would never reach his full potential unless he gave his best effort in ALL areas of his life.
Somebody in your group of friends is going to choose to be different...why not let that someone be you?
For some reason or another you are lacking the courage to be different. Why?
This applies to sports and to life.
As a high-school student I honestly feared not being liked or accepted. You would not have known it because I was a “popular kid”, lots of friends and good at sports.
But in the back of my mind I was always wondering, “If I don’t act a certain way, would my “friends” still like me and want to hang around me?”
My friends cursed, a lot. If I didn’t talk like they talked, I feared that I would stand out (and I was convinced I would stand out in a bad way).
If I gave it my absolute BEST at practice, while many of my friends thought trying hard at practice was beneath them, I would most certainly stand out (again, convinced that it would be in a bad way).
If I chose to share my worries, doubts, and insecurities with my friends, coaches, or teammates, I would definitely stand out.
If I chose to eat better and order chicken, veggies, and a water rather than a double bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a soda...there is no doubt that I would stand out like a sore thumb. It would make me uncomfortable.
If I chose to say only kind words to and about my girlfriend, and treat her like a gentleman would treat her, there is no doubt I would stand out. I would be called some names that I will not repeat.
This one would NOT be easy...most guys my age put on a show when it came to girls, because they wanted other guys to think they were “the man”. Side note: Real men open the door for girls, apologize quickly and sincerely when they are wrong, and give them compliments, both to their face and to their friends.
Guys my age were always saying derogatory things about girls, even their own girlfriend! Lots of guys in our friend group bragged about how they hooked up with this girl and that girl. (But it was interesting that those same guys rarely bragged about how they WOULD be that girls biggest regret in her life 10-15 years from now when she was married and had kids).
Here is the news flash...you ready?
If you wait for courage to stand out, you will wait FOREVER. Courage is developed from the inside out when you decide to take action, stand out and be different.
I waited for courage to happen to me. I did not embrace change, nor did I choose to be different, until college.
As a result, I did not reach my full potential as a high-school student.
Your choice. Will you decide to be out-standing? What changes do you need to make? Who do you need help from to make them?
If we can help, give us a shout.
Dedicated to your athlete’s success,
Coach Andrew
