By Chris Polek – All Pro NFL Defenseman JJ Watt recently stopped by a youth football game, and gave some words of advice.
Although he was talking with young kids, his advice was meant to be for what you do throughout life.
Here are some of the highlights:
“Play because you love the game.” If you don’t love what you do, then get out of the game and find a new one. When you love what you do, it shows. When you don’t love what you do, it shows. Love it, or leave it.
“Work hard.” Pretty simple, not much explanation required. I would also add don’t get discouraged, when other people are doing better than you. Just know in your heart that you have done your best, and that you will strive to get incrementally better every day.
“Listen to your coaches, parents, and teachers.” People want to help you succeed. Whether it is family, friends, employees, peers, teachers, or mentors; listen to them and accept their help. JJ fully admits that he didn’t get where he was today, just because he was better than anyone else. He had great coaches, parents, teachers, and friends that challenged and encouraged him to do his best, and sometimes it meant doing things that were hard.
“Take the right road.” I don’t think JJ could have put this any plainer, whether talking to a child, or an adult. He simply says: “You know the difference between right and wrong. You will have chances in life when you will reach a road where there is the right way and the wrong way. Take the right way every time.”
“Do your homework.” Your parents told you all through your school years. Once you grew up and got your business cards, you may not have had homework. Your real homework is to be prepared. Are you prepared everyday you go out to that business meeting, or sales appointment? People today are busier than ever. Be prepared, and don’t waste their time.
People appreciate when you are prepared, and bring value to the time you schedule with them. People don’t want to do business with people that waste their time.
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Here is a simple rule for sales on what customers want:
Customers are looking for you to help them accomplish something they are not, or they are looking for you to help them avoid something they are going through. If you cannot be prepared to do this for customers on your appointments, you may want to think about getting out of sales.
“Eat your vegetables.” I would guess that your doctor would support that comment no matter what age you are.
“Listen to the people who are trying to help you, and avoid the people who are trying to bring you down.” Hang around positive people that want nothing but the best for you. They will help you succeed.
Don’t let negative people rain on your parade; move past them. They will only bring you self doubt, and lower your self-esteem.
Here is the actual video, which is about 2 minutes. The video is not well lit, due to the time of day. However it is more important for you to listen to it versus what you see:
https://youtu.be/3nFpDNEKDNY
