SUPERSTARS

SUPERSTARS ARE MADE IN THE OFF SEASON,
NOT BY GOING TO PRACTICE EVERYDAY
LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!

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For the purpose of driving home some important points throughout this book I want to explain my view of the difference between:

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(1) ACHIEVING A HIGH DEGREE OF SUCCESS...
IN YOUR FIELD OF ENDEAVOR... AND...

(2) BECOMING A SUPERSTAR...

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...at whatever it is that you are undertaking. In my opinion there is a big, BIG difference in the two. The first, achieving a high degree of success, is something over which you can have a great deal of control. The second, becoming a superstar, depends to a large extent on the God-given gifts that you have been given, therefore, you have less control over that.

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In other words, no matter what your God-given talents and gifts are, if you give 100% effort in any endeavor, you can become as good as you are capable of becoming at that endeavor, but you will still be limited by the gifts you have or have not been given by God.

For example, if I devoted 100% of my time and effort my whole life to being a good basketball player and Michael Jordan devoted 100% of his time and effort, I would not be as good a basketball player as Michael. Michael's genes and other God-given gifts combined with his 100% effort allow him to almost jump over the backboard and I'm limited because we all know that "white men can't jump."* And...

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• Michael is five or six inches taller than me.

• He is naturally quicker than me.

• His hands are bigger than mine.

• His overall bodily muscle structure and makeup are more amenable to excellence in the game of basketball than are mine.

• He can jump over the backboard... I can't!

• Etc., etc.!                                   

Those are the facts of life and the facts of the differences in the individual anatomies of God-given gifts.

AND, THOSE ARE ALL MY EXCUSES... AND I'M STICKING TO THEM. There is obviously a lot of truth to this concept.

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These also illustrate what best-selling author Malcom Gladwell, in his book David and Goliath, refers to as the "advantages of disadvantages" and the "disadvantages of advantages." In the introduction of the book, then in pages 19-99, he tells some very interesting stories on this subject. Anyone who wants to Win Big at anything, should read that section of Gladwell's book. If you want to read a really good book (best seller by a great author), read the whole book.

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My genes, no matter how hard I work, will not allow me to do the same stuff in basketball as Michael... not even if I gave it 100%. But, I could get as good as I am capable of getting... and that could still be very, very good. I could still achieve a HIGH DEGREE OF SUCCESS, but the basketball-loving world would not refer to me as a SUPERSTAR. Although Michael and I, in this example, both gave it a...

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100% SUPERSTAR EFFORT!

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So, when I say ...

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SUPERSTARS ARE MADE IN THE OFF SEASON,
NOT BY GOING TO PRACTICE EVERY DAY
LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE...

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I am OVERSTATING the challenge to you to become the best that you can be at whatever you are pursuing. Why am I saying it that way? Well, simply because it sounds better than saying HIGH ACHIEVERS ARE MADE IN THE OFF SEASON, which sounds kinda boring and dull to me. Also, by saying it that way, it is more of a motivational challenge that will stir you to action BY EXAGGERATING AND OVER-STATING MY POINT! And, because if you give a great effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming, you will feel like a genuine SUPERSTAR. Because you will feel like you gave it your best effort... a SUPERSTAR EFFORT!

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And, if you give it a "SUPERSTAR EFFORT" along with your teammates and you win a championship, or finish highly rated in your field of endeavor, you will, in fact, feel like a superstar and so will all the other teammates who gave a superstar effort with you on your championship team. You and they will feel very much like champions on a championship team, not like just another player who showed up and gave average effort... on a team that did not win a championship... and you didn't feel like a champion.

YOU'LL FEEL LIKE A...

...GENUINE...

REAL SUPERSTAR

AND RIGHTLY SO!

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* From Wikipedia: "White Men Can't Jump is a 1992 American sports buddy comedy film written and directed by Ron Shelton, starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as streetball hustlers. The film was released in the United States on March 27, 1992 by 20th Century Fox."
Read more about the movie at the Wikipedia article: White Men Can't Jump.

White Men Can't Jump (2017, June 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:25, June 23, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_Men_Can%27t_Jump&oldid=786218511