Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Diligence is the mother of good fortune.” Buddha sat all of the homies down and said, “Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.” Then Confucius says, “The expectations of life depends on diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”
As I get older I’ve come to realize that the only place that you need extraordinary skill and ability is in professional sports. Only the most talented people are able to play at the highest level. Why? Because they’ve got the DNA to do so pimpin’! Now don’t get me wrong, pro athletes have to have an enormous work ethic and diligence to even get to that level but without the DNA they’d be like every other dun watchin’ from the sideline. However, when I look at what it takes to be successful in every other area of life skill level isn’t as relevant as diligence.
You don’t have to be highly skilled to be one of the best in your particular field. Have you ever just stepped back and watched the world move around you? Have you ever made the comment, “How did that guy get that job or promotion”. The key to success is diligence and favor.
God constantly references diligence in his word and his favor over your life is what opens doors of opportunity. Of course that is always the case in pro sports too. However, those guys have an enormous amount of DNA along with the work ethic and favor. In the real world talent isn’t as important.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I know people that don’t have any talent at all that are Mid-level managers, VP’s, Principals, Supervisors etc. Many of them don’t have a clue but possess great work ethic. You can’t fake it at the highest level of sports however. You either have it or you don’t and coaches, GM’s and player personnel people can see it in less than a minute. There’s no masqueradin’ skill at that level playa.
The great thing here is that 99.9 percent of us don’t play pro sports so we have a greater opportunity to succeed. I’ll take those numbers every time. I’m glad that I don’t have to possess more natural ability than my peers because I wouldn’t be successful today.
When I graduated from high school I could barely read and scored only 642 total points on the SAT. My stats said that I should’ve been ridin’ the bench in life. Instead, I’ve consistently been a leader both nationally and globally in the field of sales and marketing throughout my 26 years in Corporate America. It’s not about your ability to do somethin’, it’s about your willingness to succeed at doin’ somethin’ playboy. Six years ago I started writin’ this sports blog and now I’ve got a huge audience from all over the world that reads it daily and I cover the NBA, Pacers specifically, with season media credentials playboy.
When I enrolled in Purdue University I took a placement exam like every freshman does. The results came back that I wasn’t qualified to be in college at all and that I was better suited to be a bus driver. The only problem with that theory was that they made the mistake of admittin’ Ya Boy before I took the exam and secondly, I didn’t care what it said about me. I was in the buildin’ from The G (Gary,In.)and wasn’t leavin’ without that paper. I later transferred to Indiana University, graduated on the five year plan and have been highly successful ever since.
I didn’t care that I was on the five year plan playboy. I was in no rush to be anywhere and I knew that if I’d taken more than 12 hours a semester I would have flunked out of the joint. I was bein’ smart while bein’ diligent.
Skill is important but work ethic and diligence supersedes it! Don’t let other people put restrictions on your life because remember what I always say about the 100 percent of duns out here. Only 25 percent are real and 75 percent are haters. The key is bein’ able to distinguish between the two and not listenin’ to what they may have to say about what you’re tryin’ to accomplish. It’s very hard sometimes to figure out who’s real and who’s a hater.
So just don’t listen to anybody and you’ll be fine. Your success will be determined by your ability to believe in what you can accomplish not by what some dun thinks that’s hatin’ anyway. The Word of God says it better with, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, girl,etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about playa and it’s non-gender specific.
The caption under the photo is real today playa!