The Simple Things in life

Most of the great lessons we can learn are seemingly the simplest ones in nature...

I was once an assistant equipment manager with the New York Jets - a job title better known as a, "Ball Boy."

It was the first job I ever had. The summer training camps held at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York were long and hot but so much fun for a teenager like me who aspired to become a football player. 

Each morning before practice began, I fed over 100 balls into a jugs ball-machine that would fire them out at speeds up to 60mph. And on the receiving end to catch those balls was a man with vision in just one eye. And half of the time, he would face the opposite direction, then turn to catch the balls, never taking the only vision he had off of each football until it arrived into his hands. He did this over, and over, and over again. He made each catch seem so natural.

I was amazed by his abilities. He was considered by many to be the best at his trade-craft at that time. I quickly learned why.

His preparation and tenacity were on an entirely different level than those of his teammates.

This man, small in stature, and one of the fastest players on that team, taught me many lessons I've come to cherish over the years, as both an athlete and a coach. And the one lesson that towers above all others is this: What we perceive as being our limitations or the limitations of others, are nothing more than our own mindset.

If a man who is blind in one eye can become one of the best Wide Receivers in the NFL, what is it that prevents me from becoming the best I can possibly be at my own trade-craft?