(Bobby Plump of Milan fame and me, picture doesn't have anything to do with the article other than these 4 things describe Plump and how he has attacked sports and his businesses since before and after"The Shot")
I tell my students and players often that it is easy to be successful. They just have to do four simple things: never call in sick, never be late, and work to the best of your abilities while having a relatively positive attitude.That sounds easy to do, but you will find yourself battling to do most of these on any given day. Calling in sick...more often than not, you do this at jobs (work or sports) because you don't like what you are doing or because there is something you would rather do instead. People are relying on you and if you are doing this for no apparent reason, you are letting them down.
Never be late to work or school, or practice. This takes a little more effort in that you must leave early enough to get to where you are going. I tell my players that if they aren't at least 15 minutes early they are late. It never amazes me when kids are 1-2 minutes late to school each day...can they not set their alarm a couple minutes earlier? Or is it because they do not want to be there? Again, you might just be letting someone down. Those who are relying on you to be at school to be eligible to play in a game, or co-workers who are taking up the slack until you get there.
Working to best of your abilities is something that is harder to do. When you are a minimum wage job or not being used the way you think you ought to be, you tend to go through the motions. Going through the motions is pretty easy to spot. You might not think it is noticeable, but to the people that actually do care, it is magnified behavior.
Being as positive as possible may be the hardest thing to do in all of these. If you are working a job you don't like, or doing anything you don't like, it is hard to be positive. We have all been in these places and I have probably learned this easier as I have gotten older, but I am just as guilty as anyone while working as a stockboy, or at UPS, or trimming Christmas trees.
Never call in sick, never be late, work to the best of your abilities with a positive attitude; do those four things and I can almost guarantee that you will always have a job or a place on a team.
