How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as a victim of circumstances? Many people do. They're just waiting for the next problem and hoping that they'll survive it.
I want to encourage you to change how you see yourself.
There was this high school football coach who was looking to recruit some new players. He had all the prospective recruits sitting on the field in front of him.
He said, "Guys, I want to thank you all for coming out and trying out for the team. Before I let you go out and show me your skills on the field, I want to first give you an idea of what kind of player I'm looking for. I can't just take anybody. I want to have a winning team, and to do this, I need the best players."
The boys just sat silently listening to him.
"Now there are some players," the coach continued, "who will get hit and go down and stay down. Is that the kind of player I'm looking for?"
All the boys shouted, "NO!"
"Then there are players who will get hit and go down, but then they'll get back up again. Then they'll get hit a second time, go down, and stay down. Is that the kind of player I'm looking for?"
Again, all the boys shouted, "NO!"
Then the coach said, "Then there are players who will get hit, go down, and get back up. Then they'll get hit again, go down, and get back up again. They'll get hit over and over again, but each time they get hit, they'll bounce back up again. Is that the kind of player I'm looking for?"
All the boys, even louder shouted, "YES!"
And the coach shouted back, "NO!"
The boys were stunned into silence.
Then the coach shouted, "I want the player that's doing the HITTING!"
Sometimes we see ourselves just trying to survive life. I believe that life is what we decide it to be. We have the power to cause life to change. What are we doing to cause our future to be a successful one? We can't be like the millions of people who are just trying to make it through another day – getting hit over and over again by life, and barely getting back on their feet – just to get hit again. It's time to do some hitting. This takes a conscious effort on our part to see ourselves as the ones in control of our destiny. It's decision time. What are we going to do to improve our situation? Learn a new trade? Take some online classes? Volunteer our time in a job where we want to eventually work? See yourself as the HITTER and not the one being hit.
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Samuel Rangel
