Mark Sherman's Blog

A little over a week ago, I was watching the 2010 NFL (National Football League) Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on tv. It was one of the strongest groups ever inducted and included Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, John Randle, Dick LeBeau, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm and Floyd Little. All the inductees accomplished amazing things in their NFL careers and that is why they are Hall of Famers.

I got to thinking about these men and what they had accomplished in life.  What separates them from others?  I know that God has blessed them with a lot of talent, but there was more to it than that.

I don’t know what all of these men do outside of football, but I know that several have done some pretty amazing things.  Jerry Rice and Emmit Smith, for example, participated in Dancing With the Stars.  They had never done this type of dancing before, but they had the athleticism, dedication and work ethic to become very good at something else besides football.

Emmit and his partner won Dancing with the Stars and Jerry and his partner were runner-ups. I am sure they had to put in their all to accomplish this amazing dancing, as anyone who has ever watched this show would attest.  I am sure they can be great at anything in life they set their minds to!

All of the Hall of Fame Inductees had great speeches, but Emmit Smith had a speech that was awesome and summed up what I was thinking. What is it that made, or shall I say, “makes him so special”?  He shared his CRITICAL LIFE PRINCIPALS:

1. “The first and most important principle is to be of service“.
2. “The second principle is we all need a championship strategy to guide us to help make those dreams come true“.
3. “The third principle is , claim your inner champion.  When you claim your inner champion, you will learn to see, hear, and feel differently than others”.

Emmit said. “So what I most want to convey here is, never, never let others define you; you define yourself.  Now let’s talk about some specific steps I took that were critical to sustaining my vision.  There’s a difference between merely having a dream and fulfilling a vision.  Most people only dream.  I not only had my childhood dream, but I did everything in my power to fulfill it.  I wrote down my goals and how I was going to achieve them. It’s only a dream until you write it down, and then it becomes a goal.  I know that writing down my goals was an essential strategy”.

“Another critical principal is consistency.  Consistency shows value.  Consistency is necessary for trust, durability, and longevity.  You have to show up every week no matter how difficult the game of life might be.  I not only showed consistency, but I did everything in my power to be the best that I possibly could.  Over time consistency will allow you to achieve your goals”.

“Next is balance.  Balance is the key to success.  I exhibit balance in my personal life when I put my family in it’s proper place, and that is number one.  Standing before you today, I know this is real.  I know it’s not a dream.  But it almost feels surreal”.

In summing up this post; I think we all can learn a thing or two from Emmit’s speech.  If we use these critical life principals in our own lives, we can achieve great things as well.  Write down your goals and how you will achieve them.  Be of service, develop your strategy guide and claim your inner champion.  Stay consistent and have balance in your life and anything is possible!  How well you follow these principals will most likely correlate to your level of success.

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