Crossing Delta’s – You might be surprised

We all cut corners.  

There is no question that we will all continue to cut corners.  We all want to cross our delta as quickly as possible and not go back.  

For years as a teenager I worked for $5.00 an hour.  There is no doubt I griped and moaned when plugging in golf carts, or weed eating, or threading pipe (I still hate that machine) to use in irrigation.  My mom and dad always reminded me, “Well if you don’t want to do that the rest of your life you had better get a good education.”  At the time, I just didn’t think the use of my time working for $5 an hour was helping much of anything:  my golf, my back pocket, or even my back for that matter.  

To this day I don’t think the time spent working was much a benefit to me for the reasons I was doing it.  The $150 or so dollars I made each week is long since spent.  Rarely do I ever need to clean out a golf cart, weed eat around a lake, crank up a tri-plex and mow a green.  I met no one of inspiration during my teen working years and to be honest, probably learned more about cutting corners than doing it right.

My offspring is now 18 and 16 years of age.  They have never held a part time or full time job at place of employment.  No Subway Sandwich Shop.  No Piggly Wiggly grocery store.  No agronomy crew at 6:00 am.  No waiting tables.  

Most of the athletes I coach share a similar teen lifestyle as my two boys.  Their jobs are a sport.  Their position inside the company plays many roles. Early on they are just hourly workers.  Running, kicking, swinging and throwing as a coach looks on.  As they progress in age and ability they become a shop foreman or department head.  They do their own homework, show up on time for the sport themselves, pack their gym bags, and keep up with their schedules.  Eventually, as they reach an age and ability level they become “nearly” the boss.  They have experienced competition on many levels and learned from the trials of winning and attempting to win.  They now know what it takes to be prepared for an event and how to perform to their expectations.  

In essence, they have gone through the same sort of positions, emotions, and feelings that I went through.  Much of what they did they probably now  feel was not of much value to them presently.  Rarely do they need to dribble a soccer ball between cones, or catch a football.  The difference is they probably have met someone of value and competing has taught them not to cut corners (or in most examples what happens if you do).

It is not so much what you have to do; it is much more what all the doing does to you.  As you cross your delta and become a different athlete you are also becoming a different person.  My summer jobs taught me appreciation and the difference between working on a better VJ vs working to make a better product.  Playing Div 1 golf or mini tour golf was not a bed of roses, but it was much different than weed eating or cleaning out beer cans from the back of a golf cart.  Somewhere I figured out along the way that I would take my chance on bettering myself.  What I learned from it was that each individual I coach will be better if they really try to better themselves as well.   

Ultimately the better each of us are, the more we have learned, won, loss, and gone back to the task…………………………the better product we can produce.  

So keep grinding and working to break through….you may be surprised who you are after you do.