Years ago, when my then 13-year old son’s tackle football team, the Rockville Wolverines began their summer training. Their head coach brought all the players and parents together and held up the game ball from their Superbowl winning performance from the previous December and all of us cheered.
He then said, “You’ve had 8 months to celebrate, now we start completely over.”
It was a very profound statement. This Wolverine team, once the “whipping boys” of the league went from worst to first in one season, but winning doesn’t necessarily translate from season to season. The champs were now in the crosshairs of every other RFL team who wanted that trophy! As it happened, the team only won half of their games that season and went out in the first round of the playoffs.
What have you done for me lately?
I’ve come to realize that while great accomplishments are fun to celebrate and even brag on a little, they really mean nothing when it comes to future performance. If you’re not working hard every day to surpass what you did yesterday, mediocrity will find you.
What have you done for me lately?
Have you ever run into people who still talk about past accomplishments while doing nothing meaningful today? I wonder if they realize that the past really doesn’t matter all that much. Heck, I used to weigh 170 lbs in High School. Is it relevant 27 years later? Do I look any less scary in a bathing suit at the pool? Not really!
The good news is that mediocre performance in the past is also no guarantee of future success. What you did previously, even though you still may suffer some consequences, doesn’t need to dictate the future. Everything depends on what you’ll do starting today.
What have you done for me lately?
This is the question for the week. Take some time today to map out your future and take some steps to positively impact it. What you did yesterday, successfully or unsuccessfully has no bearing on today. Get out there and get it done!
