TAKE CHARGE!

Now that your fall sport season is over or drawing to a close, what do you do now? You are either preparing for a new sport season or moving on to another stage of life. But, I am asking: what do you<

By Dr. Greg Shepard
Published: Winter 2003
Take Charge! On a scale of one to ten: Be An Eleven! You are responsible for your own greatness. Take charge now of everything in your life. A person operating at a five level just kind of goes with the flow without direction or commitment. A true Eleven takes charge and proceeds forward with focus and direction. To be a true Eleven, you must choose greatness and take charge.
The Difference in Greatness: Choosing greatness means setting goals and engaging in precise and intense preparation. Byron V. Garrett stated, "Until you make a conscious decision to do something different, your life will never change." A true Eleven understands the difference in greatness and it is not very much. Just look at the following statistics between two great golfers:
Davis Love, as of September 2003, was ranked first in money earnings on the PGA tour with $5.5 million. His scoring average was 69.20 per round. Dicky Pride was ranked 110th with earnings of $422,000. His scoring average was 69.55. That means, if you played three 18-hole rounds of golf, Davis might make one more putt than Dicky out of 107 putts or Davis might be 10 degrees more accurate on one out of 107 iron or wood shots. An incredibly small difference in skill, but that difference was worth five million dollars!
And so it is with sports and life. The difference between average and great is small. The difference between good and great is very small. When you really take charge of your destiny, you create a difference. How are you going to prepare differently this year? How are you going to practice differently this year? How are you going to get better grades? How is your team going to do better or remain champions?
I absolutely guarantee you that if you consciously create a plan on how to raise your own personal bar of excellence, you will soon see that little improvements will make a big difference in everything that you do. Take charge. Choose greatness. This is how you play the song you came on earth to play.
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