Mount Vernon High School

Brick by Brick Champions aren’t born. They’re built. That’s our belief here at Champions 101, and I hope your belief, too. What that really means is that future success in any important area of life requires each of us to keep getting better. It means there’s a gap that exists between the skills we've currently got and the skills winning at the next level requires us to possess. It means who we are isn’t nearly as important as who we’re working to become. If you’re someone who believes champions are born, then the image above is probably pretty depressing. If you believe champions are born, then you believe that some people have what it takes to be successful, and unfortunately you just aren’t one of them. If you believe champions are born, then today doesn’t really matter, because tomorrow you’ll still be down here, and success for you will still be way up there, far away and impossible to attain. But if you believe that champions are built, then that image poses an interesting question. That question is…how? How do we get from where we currently are to the place winning requires us to be? There are many possible answers, but today I want to break it all the way down to its simplest form. How do we get from where we currently are to the place winning requires us to be? The answer is…our choices. That's the harsh reality each of us has to accept. The choices we make each day - and often many times each day - either move us closer to our desired destination or farther from it. Every winning choice we make is like a brick we lay on our path to success, slowly and gradually moving us another step in the right direction. Every time we choose to step in the arena and compete. Every time we choose to give our very best effort. To show up engaged, energized, and ready to go. To respond effectively to the adversity we face. To find a way to keep getting better. Every time we choose to do what champions do, we move a little closer to the person winning requires us to be. On the other hand, every time we take the easy way out and settle for something less than our best, we waste the opportunity for progress. When we choose to do what losers do - when we show up half-heartedly, when we give in to adversity, or when we forfeit our chances to learn and improve - that gap between where we're at and the success we say we’re after remains. One winning choice at a time. Brick by brick. That’s the way of the champion. It would be nice of course if there was some sort of shortcut or life hack that could catapult us to the place we need to go - to the people winning requires us to become. But the truth is, there is no shortcut or life hack. It doesn't happen by luck or by accident. It takes time and effort. It takes discipline and commitment and sacrifice. That daily process takes everything we've got. And what does it give us in return? A barely noticeable step in the right direction. That’s the best we can do today. And let's be honest, that transaction seems somewhat unfair, doesn't it? On its own, all that time and effort, all that discipline and commitment and sacrifice today might not seem like it’s worth all the trouble. But when you start stacking those winning choices together - one on top of another, day after day - what you get becomes more substantial. Slowly and gradually over time, your winning choices become habits, and it’s the compounding effect of those habits that eventually take you where you want to go - someplace you couldn’t have gone any other way. That’s what building a winning identity looks like. That’s what the process of becoming a champion requires. So if you’re someone who says you want to win in some important area of life, you’ve got some important choices to make. Those choices will either move you another step closer to your desired destination, or another step farther from it. When you think of it that way, it becomes more and more obvious that what you do today matters. This - today - is an opportunity for you to validate who you are and what you’re all about. It’s an opportunity for you to display the discipline, the commitment, and the sacrifice that future success requires you to possess. It's an opportunity to keep building your identity as a champion - brick by brick - one winning choice at a time. -Travis