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Anyone who tried out for a team of any kind is familiar with the process. At the end of try-outs, they tape a list of who made the cut on the wall for all to see. If you find your name on the list, you celebrate! If not, you make the long walk home holding back the tears…

But the story didn’t end that way for one teenager after Laney High School basketball try-outs in the late ‘70s. Instead of believing that basketball wasn’t ‘his thing,’ the dejected player went home, had a good cry with his mother, and made a decision that changed history—to commit himself to improve.

“I started working on my game the day after I was cut,” he says. “Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I’d close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it. And that usually got me going again.”

For the next year, he worked out day after day, month after month. While his 5-foot-11-inch body gained four more inches, he practiced shot after shot and dribble after dribble, showing up early to school and using the hoop in his driveway to prepare for next year’s try-outs and the season that would follow.

The dejected teenager made his Laney High School Varsity team the next year and eventually led them to a state championship.

Thus began the legend of Michael Jordan.

Long before his sixth NBA Championship season, his fifth MVP award or any of his postseason scoring records, Michael Jordan learned that “some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” Great athletes and great business builders can, almost without exception, point to moments in their lives when they realized that simply being interested or doing the average won’t make a difference. They had to make the choice to commit!

Some become discouraged and shy away from the challenge of making the choice and seeing it through. Others seize the situation, make a commitment and take control of the steering wheels in their lives. For Michael Jordan, that moment came when he saw a blank space where his name belonged. Have you had YOUR moment yet?

If so, and you choose to commit it is because you have understood one very important principle: successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Therefore, you decided to do what it takes to become successful.

Are you willing to pay the price of success? True commitments are followed by sacrifice—dedicating more time and effort to achieving the goal. That can also mean taking time away from other things—sometimes even good things—to fulfill your commitment.
Sometimes ‘making the decision’ involves working smarter as well as working harder.

What is your message? In consumer-direct marketing, you are the message you’re sharing with potential customers. Before customer buy your product or service, they must buy YOU. Successful people know their weaknesses and strengths, and they are committed to resolving those weaknesses. Why? It’s because they know they will then deliver a better message because they took the time for personal development.

Michael Jordan’s long-time coach, Phil Jackson, says of Jordan’s work ethic: “The thing about Michael is he takes nothing for granted. When he first came into the league in 1984, he was primarily a penetrator. His outside shooting wasn’t up to professional standards. So he put in his gym time in the off-season, shooting hundreds of shots each day. Eventually, he became a deadly three-point shooter.”

Urgency Counts! When you have the urgency to really pursue your goals, you’re quick to make changes to improve your business and yourself. You know that some prospective customers will only give you one chance to share, and you know that you need to make that one chance count. Successful people are willing to “look in the mirror,” to change elements of themselves in order to become better business owners and in turn, foster growth of their business.

Team Up for Success. Do you have a strong team? Are you the leader that others want to follow? If not, what can you do to improve? Reach out to others who have walked in your shoes and watch them closely because success always leaves clues!

Whatever you do, don’t back down from your business. Imagine how things would’ve been different if Michael Jordan had decided to quit basketball after he was cut from his high school team—surely most NBA fans and citizens of Chicago alike would agree that would have been a tragedy. Now imagine the tragedy of your business left untapped. Don’t back down; make a commitment for the long haul and then be prepared to reap the benefits.

Sources:
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan
2 http://www.quotes-famous.com/person/Michael-Jordan-quotes.html

Tags: Business Growth, Challenges, Commitment

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 6:09 pm and is filed under The Sydney Andrews Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.