Opportunities come along every day, but are you ready for them when they happen? It would be great if you could predict what to know and when to be ready, but you can’t. All you can do is to prepare yourself as much as you can, be ready to learn on the job and from others who can mentor you.
Let me share a story with you that illustrates this point. A football player named Jordan Howard played the running back position in high school. Although he did fairly well in his junior and senior years, he wasn’t recruited by any major colleges. He ended up going to a college near his hometown. He was doing pretty well there, but they decided to shut down the football program after his sophomore year. In order to play football, he had to transfer schools and ended up at Indiana University. He played well there and after his junior year, he declared for the NFL draft. He wasn’t the top player drafted, but instead was chosen in the 5th round by the Chicago Bears.
At the beginning of the season, he was listed as the 3rd string player. This meant that he had to compete with two other players to even get in the game. In the second game of the season, the top running back sprained his ankle and the 3rd string running back got his chance. He couldn’t have predicted this, but he was ready. Jordan was named the starter a short time later. He ended the season ranked in second place with over 1300 rushing yards and averaged 5 yards per carry. This accomplishment is something that the great Chicago Bear Walter Payton did only one time. What is also impressive is that he is only one of 5 running backs in NFL history to have rushed for over a 1000 yards in their rookie season.
What I love about his story is that he could have given up along the way, but he didn’t. His father passed away from Pulmonary Fibrosis at the young age of 52 and Jordan has worn a shirt with his father’s picture on it for his last 80 games. He supports the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation and quietly does what he needs to every week to help the team win. He believed in himself and when the opportunities happened for him at each stage along the way, he was ready. He accomplished so much in his first year and is now in the history books with a great future ahead of him.
What accomplishments are ahead for you? What will you do to prepare yourself for your big opportunity? Will you surround yourself with people that you can learn from and continue to focus on improving yourself every day? Think about this as you are planning what you will accomplish in 2017. Consider joining the ReVISION program where we can help you focus on getting ready for your opportunities. Here is the link to learn more: ReVISION Program
(My disclaimer: For those who don’t know me that well, I am a huge Chicago Bears fan and cheer them on week after week, win or lose. I chose the Blue and Orange Chicago Bear colors for the image of the blog. Jordan was my running back on my fantasy football team and scored a lot of points for my team! Thanks to Jordan I had my highest finish this year!)
