Consistency is Key

It was my sophomore year of high school.

I can still picture Coach standing on the three-point line with her arms crossed, shaking her head and looking down at her watch as we ran another set of down-and-backs.

I can't tell you how many down-and-backs we ran that day, but I can tell you how many sentences it took for us to realize why we were running:

"Don't be a frontrunner. It's all about consistency! You HAVE to be consistent."

For those of you who are unsure what a "frontrunner" is, it's somebody who gives 100% only when things are going their way. They are inconsistent with their contribution to the game. They play well when their team is ahead but slack off if and when their team falls behind. When facing adversity, they retreat. 

To put it bluntly, you did NOT want to be labeled a frontrunner!

Coach told us it wasn't about winning or losing, it was about being consistent with our efforts, and she made it very clear that consistency was a characteristic we should all strive to possess.

I walked out of practice a different person that day. 

Not because of the running (which we deserved every bit of...and we knew it, too) but because it was in that moment, as I stood motionless on the baseline taking in every word Coach said, that I decided I would NEVER be a frontrunner, not in basketball and not in life. 

My junior year of high school, the Ladynecks were playing Elysian Fields AT Elysian Fields, so we already didn't have home-court advantage. At one point during the 3rd quarter, we were down 27 points. That's right, 27. None of our shots were going in, the referees weren't calling the game fairly, we were in foul trouble, the list goes on. 

Although nothing seemed to be going our way, we never eased up. We were relentless in our efforts. The desire to win burned deep within us, and even though our opponents tried to put out the flames, that fire only continued to grow. 

We were determined to take what was ours...and we did. 

The comeback was unreal. They had outscored us every quarter (16-14, 19-13, 17-12) up until the 4th. 

We could've easily thrown in the towel and accepted the loss, but we didn't...because we had been taught otherwise. 

We ended up outscoring Elysian Fields 29-11 in the 4th quarter for a final score of 68-63.

The White Oak Ladynecks may have been a lot of things that night, but there was one thing we weren't: frontrunners.

We didn't need perfect circumstances to give perfect effort...and by "perfect effort" I simply mean giving 100% of ourselves. 

All we needed was a ball and a net. We came to compete, and we weren't going down without a fight. 

Even if we had lost that game, I know Coach would have been proud of us...because throughout those four years of basketball, there was only one thing she asked of us - that we give consistent effort - and that's exactly what we did.

I think about that game every time I find myself facing adversity. I then think about that day in practice where it all began and how different my life would be had I let those words go in one ear and out the other.

Three sentences changed the way I lived the rest of my life.

As you know, life does not always go according to plan. We face one challenge, one disappointment, after another. We spend days, weeks, and even MONTHS preparing for a certain moment only for it to arrive and not go the way we'd hoped. It is in that moment we have a choice to make. Will we retreat, or will we be relentless in our efforts, regardless of our circumstances? 

Even if you fall short, there is satisfaction in knowing you gave it everything you had. 

If we want something bad enough, we must be willing to fight for it. Our actions should prove that the end goal we're chasing means something to us. We should be racing full-speed towards adversity, preparing for a head-on collision, because we know there is something of great value waiting for us on the other side of that crash.

I approach life (specifically my dreams) the same way I approach basketball games, with a desire to compete. I am too passionate, the end goal is too valuable, for me to give anything less than my best effort. I will NEVER not try because, oftentimes, there are no second chances. 

One of my favorite quotes says, "Do it with passion or not at all." 

If we're truly passionate about the goal we're after, we will give the same amount of effort in the valley as we did on the mountaintop. 

The effort we give in the valley determines our success on the mountaintop. In other words, unless we know how to handle adversity in the valley, we will never be able to prosper on the mountaintop...and the climb to the mountaintop is no easy task! 

There is much hard work, persistence, and discipline required of us in the valley. Success is NOT convenient. It's actually inconvenient. We will never achieve our goals unless we're willing to go beyond what is convenient. This means doing what needs to be done in the valley, even when we don't feel like it, even when it's hard, so we can prolong our mountaintop experience. Frontrunners never flourish because they're never willing to go beyond what comes easy. 

Either "break through the obstacles or let the obstacles break you." It's that simple. 

Success doesn't happen overnight. Success happens over time as a result of the day-to-day diligent effort we give. Our energy and our effort must remain consistent throughout the entire journey, whether things are going really, really good or really, really bad. 

DON'T BE A FRONTRUNNER! 

Nothing worth having will ever be spoon-fed to us or handed to us on a silver platter. WE HAVE TO GO GET IT!

Win or lose, there is victory in knowing you gave it everything you had.