Work harder than the other guy!

Last year I had lunch with Jerry Rice the all-star football player. Unlike many professional athletes I have met he was very modest about his abilities. As a matter of fact he didn't seem to believe that he had any more natural talent than the guy next to him. The only thing that separated him from the others was his work ethic. Some of his comments went like this ---
"I could work harder than everyone." - Jerry Rice

We continued to discuss some of his other accomplishments and he kept talking about Dancing with the Stars. I didn't know it at the time but he was once of the finalists in the Dancing with the Stars competition. He talked about the challenge of learning something completely new to him and how much work he needed to put into it to accomplish it. He even went so far as to say that his hardest workdays ever where while practicing for Dancing with the Stars.

Here is a guy who by anyone’s definition has "Made It" yet he was putting in 15 hours a day learning how to dance. For what? To prove to himself that he could be better than the next guy. It’s that simple.

Another thing that struck me in this conversation was his sleeping habits. He would sleep just before the games on Sunday instead of on Saturday nights. On Saturday nights he would mentally play the game in his head. Every play over and over again. He would be up all night mentally practicing the game so that by game time it was already won.

"We had other teams beat in warm-up because we were prepared." - Jerry Rice

We don't play football so how can we use this story? If we want to be the best players in whatever we do, leasing, acquisitions, sales, management or even running an organization then we need to be constantly practicing for the big game. In our business the big game is every time a resident is on the phone with a problem, a seller needs a comparable offer, or a lender is asking for more detail on a deal. It takes knowledge to handle these game winning issues and gathering knowledge is our mandatory practice sessions.

We always have the opportunity to be better and can never stop practicing.

Good luck in the big game. And remember its you that makes it happen.

-Nick