DO YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO?

After 7 months of waking up every day with one goal in mind it all comes down to Sunday’s Super Bowl game.  The Super Bowl is the biggest stage and even the unlikeliest of players have an opportunity to be the hero.  That may seem obvious but many of us, within our own lives, fail to realize that we have the power to change the course of our life each and every day.  This brings me back to the mid ’90’s when I was either a junior or a senior in high school.  I was in the car with my mom driving home from basketball practice and we came to a construction crew working at an intersection.  There was a lady holding a Stop & Go sign directing traffic through the construction zone who seemed to be on the verge of falling over from boredom.  I noticed right away that she didn’t care about her job much and I didn’t blame her.  After all, I could relate to her as I too was bored out of my mind with my after school job stocking shelves at our local grocery store.  My mom noticed this woman as well and when I said “that job must suck” she replied “it probably does, but she doesn’t have to show it to the world, plus she should be grateful that she has a job when many don’t.”

I didn’t really understand why my mom was being so harsh so I stuck up for the construction worker and argued that if her job sucks, and we all know it does, then she should be allowed to show her displeasure.  My mom immediately looked at me and and said something to the tune of if she ever saw me conduct myself like that I would be in a load of trouble.  Let’s just say, the tone of her voice must have struck a nerve.

I would take this lesson learned and apply it to all aspects of my life.  Athletically, I was never the most skilled player on the court or field but I did all the dirty work that the team needed.  In basketball, I learned to love to rebound, take charges and dive on the floor every chance I had (thank you Dennis Rodman). Combine this with a hardcore work ethic in the weight room, my efforts allowed me to go on and play University Basketball.

In my professional life, I have had my share of crappy jobs and I would always revisit that time with my mom in the car to make sure, at the very least, I was always acting professional.  After all, the work environment is often a team and I didn’t want to bring the other members of my team down because I was disgruntled with my position.  As it turns out, on may occasions I have catapulted in the ranks of my job status because I was so willing to do the unpleasant tasks others weren’t willing to do.  I also took pride in doing such tasks with a smile on my face despite how much I really wanted to do something else.  In time, doors were opened to me not because I was lucky but because I built the door on my own to begin with.  Once opportunity came knocking all I had to do was decide if I wanted to walk through the doorway.

How does this relate to the Super Bowl, well….the Super Bowl was on TV while I was writing this blog post but now that the game is over there are a few examples to pull from it.  First, how about the lesser known wide receivers from the Packers who started the game off by catching a lot of balls and opening up the field for Donald Driver and Greg Jennings.  These same players also had a rough Third Quarter and early Fourth as each of them dropped a few key balls that would have been huge plays.  However, as Champions do, they both bounced back and made impact plays down the stretch to lead their team to victory.  Green Bay also lost their starting corner backs within two plays of one another which caused the second string guys to be thrust into the thick of the action.  They held down the fort and again, another example of people who built doors and were just waiting for the opportunity to walk through the doorway.