Mount Vernon High School

June 14, 2024 Hungry for What? It’s a popular phrase we use to characterize those we consider champions in any area of life: humble and hungry. Champions are humbly committed to the process of becoming their best, and yet also relentlessly driven in their pursuit of excellence. If you’re someone who’s serious about reaching your potential and achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself, it’s a great formula for you, too. You should be humble and hungry. But that description brings up an important question, one that deserves an answer here today. Champions are humble and hungry. But hungry for what? The most obvious answer - the easy answer - is that champions are hungry to win. Of course champions want to win, but that desire doesn’t really set them apart or make them unique. Truthfully, that desire doesn’t set you apart or make you unique, either. You really want to win? Great. Get in line. So does everyone else. The champion's desire and commitment runs deeper. They aren't just hungry to win. They're hungry to do what winning requires. That's different, and - as the image above illustrates - that desire isn’t nearly as popular. Of course it’s not really a secret why. Doing what winning requires is much harder. It’s an uncomfortable and inconvenient process that doesn't get nearly the recognition or the attention of its outcome-driven counterpart. Winning is fun and popular and alluring. Doing what winning requires? Not so much. So what exactly falls into that category? What does winning require from anyone, including from each of us here today? What is it that champions are hungry to do? There are a number of possible answers. Let’s focus today on three of the most important… 1) Champions are hungry to work. Winning requires that we step outside our comfort zone and that we give our very best. Every. Single. Day. Champions are constant and consistent in the effort and focus they bring to the task at hand, and when they walk in the door, you know exactly what you're going to get. That standard of excellence raises the bar for everyone around them. 2) Champions are hungry to compete. Winning requires that we step in the arena and fight for it. Who or what we are required to face may change from day to day, but the champion's commitment to competing never does. They understand that choosing to really, truly compete is a risk, but that the pursuit of success is worth the possibility of failure, and that choosing to go all in - even if we fail - beats refusing to try every time. 3) Champions are hungry to improve. Maybe most importantly, winning requires that we keep getting better. Champions aren't focused on how good they are. They're focused on how good they can become. They embrace the learning and improvement process, and they are relentlessly committed to accepting feedback from anyone or anything that can teach them. They are always raising the bar, and they recognize that only a better version of their future self will be capable of clearing it. It’s not hard to see why those hungry to do what winning requires are so rare. Those are challenges the majority of people are working hard to avoid. But champions are different. They crave the opportunity to work, the opportunity to compete, and the opportunity to improve. They recognize that all of it is part of the price that real success requires us to pay. They embrace the chance they have today to earn it. So the question is, which category are you in? Are you one of the many who simply say they want to win, or are you one of the few who's driven by a deeper desire? Are you humble and hungry? And if so, then hungry for what? Today gives you a chance to answer that question. It's an opportunity to validate who you are and what you're all about, and to prove you're willing to earn the success you say you're after. -Travis