I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of your summer. The summer is THE time to take your game to previously unchartered waters.

This is also the time where high school seniors are now high school graduates! Of course, college seniors have graduated some time ago, but this valuable message is to both sets of graduates today. Many of you college graduates already have a job, but there is also a good chance that you are still looking for one. This message applies to you. Those of you that already have a job, this STILL applies to you. And those of you just wrapping up HS and embarking upon your college experience, this DEFINITELY applies to you.

The question takes many forms…
-What should I major in?
-What field should I look to be in?
-What type of job should I pursue?
-What is my career going to be?

The answer is a simple one (notice I didn’t say easy. Simple and easy are not the same)…

Do whatever makes you come alive.

It’s a simple answer, yes, but by no means easy. It’s true, nothing in this world that is worth doing is a piece of cake. If you are going to pursue greatness, it will be difficult. That’s part of the challenge. That’s part of the fun. That’s part of life.

I hear some of you saying right now, “Well I’m not sure what makes me come alive”. I believe you. And it’s ok. Here’s a quick story. On January 4th of my senior year in college in a game that was in the middle of the first half with a packed house, I lay crumpled in a heap, in the paint, right near the basket, looking up at the sky with the trainers and teammates around me, wondering if this was the last moment of my college career. You see, I had just beat my guy backdoor, caught a great pass from my teammate at the top of the key. I exploded up to score, except my ACL ripped in two. This was the 2nd ACL injury suffered in 2 1/2 years. Yet this time, we were almost into the 2nd semester of my senior year. I was on track to graduate in a few months. So I had a big, big decision to make.

Do I hang up the kicks and call it a career and start my “real world” life? Or do I find a way to come back once again. Well to me, that wasn’t much of a decision. Of course I wanted to come back. For a couple of reasons. Here’s what I knew to be absolutes in my world at the time…

-After all the work I had put into the game of basketball over the years, I couldn’t stomach the thought of my last memory being carried off the floor, no way buddy.

-I had no idea what I wanted to do upon graduating.

-I LOVED not only playing the game of basketball, but the CHALLENGE that lay ahead in recovering from a 2nd torn ACL.

Since I had a year of eligibility left from a few years earlier when I tore my other knee up, I was able to finagle a few things and come back for a final year. And let me tell you, I stretched 16 credits (4 classes) out over that final year haha not a bad senior year academically ( I only had 1 class the 2nd semester of my senior year!).

I knew I had it good. I remember specifically telling people that part of my decision was that I knew the real world was different from college life and that if all of these circumstances came together to push that a year off into the future, well that was just fine. Because I honestly wasn’t sure what to do upon graduation. I knew I would be receiving a Psychology degree, but not sure I really wanted to do anything with that. I obviously knew that I loved the game of basketball, but I wasn’t 100% convinced that I would love coaching, for various reasons.

So let’s get back to the point. If you don’t know what makes you come alive, yet, I get it. Trust me, I get it. So what’s the solution? Simple. While pursuing whatever it is that you know DOESN’T make you come alive, always have your antennas up for what DOES. It may come along when you least expect it. It may even surprise you. But if you keep it in the back of your head that it’s out there, it will come…

So I graduated college, got the Grad Assistant spot at Montclair State and enjoyed my 2 years there. But in the back of my head, I knew it wasn’t what made me live and breathe. A separate business opportunity came along that I pursued for the next 10 years or so. I trained kids here and there, spoke at camps, stayed involved in the game just enough to give me my fix. But you know what? After a number of different events, it smacked me upside the head. Training kids to become better basketball players, and all that this entails, is what makes ME come alive. No matter what is going on during that day, or in the rest of my life, when I step on that court and see those faces ready to learn and work, all else melts away and the only thing that matters is taking those kids to the next level.

Is it easy? Nope. Is it challenging? Yup. Is there anything else I’d rather be doing? Heck no.

So if you don’t know at the young age of HS or college, no sweat. Just know and trust that it’s out there. Once you get it, throw your heart and soul into it. It will give you back the same in return.

And if you already do know what that is? Shoot, count yourself as extremely fortunate at such a young age, and attack it with everything you’ve got.

The world is full of people stuck in a routine of doing something that is not their true passion, that doesn’t make their heart race with excitement. The world doesn’t need more of those people. What the world needs more of, graduates, are people that are in pursuit of something special, even if only to that individual. Because whatever is most special to a single individual and pursued with a passionate heart, can then be transferred to others in a spread of positive energy that simply cannot be found, created, or manufactured anywhere else but in the hearts of those attacking what makes them truly and honeslty come ALIVE.

So congrats, good luck, and get after it!

 

If this mesage resonates with you, or you know someone that could benefit from it, please click any of the share buttons below and pass it along. Thanks!

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