The 3 Keys to Being a Champion

September is a great time of year for sports fans.

Baseball is in the middle of its pennant drive. Football is kicking off. The US Open is finishing in New York. College football has begun its drive to the national championship. Men’s basketball training camp is a few weeks away but women’s basketball is in the midst of its playoffs.

And that has reminded me to remind you about the three keys to becoming a champion.

The first is talent. I won’t spend much time on this because everyone has talent. The question is what someone will do with their talent.

This leads us to the second key to becoming a champion– Practice.

All of these great athletes, every last one, spends an enormous amount of time practicing their craft before they ever step into an arena to compete.

How much time do you spend?

If you are like most people, from the time you receive the call that invites you into an interview, until the time you arrive, you spend very little time preparing and, when you do, most people spend time getting ready to talk about what they’ve done, not what they’ve done in the context of what the employer is looking for.

This leads us to the third key–Persistence.

To quote former US President Calvin Coolidge,

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

So many people I speak with job search lackadaisically, even in the face of tremendous financial pressures. Maybe they spend an hour a day on a good day trying to find work.

Yet they tell their friends about how tough the job market is when they themselves are the problem.

So, as you look at the scoreboard to see the final score from your favorite team or athlete, remember what they put themselves through to compete and apply the lesson to yourself.