Mount Vernon High School

February 28, 2024 Your Right of Refusal I spend a lot of time working with individuals, teams, and organizations to help clarify the winning choices their very best requires them to make, and the winning behaviors it requires them to exhibit. In the important areas of life and performance - including wherever it is that you really want to win - I think there’s value in stopping to consider a simple but powerful question: in my situation, what would a champion do? That question helps each of us create more clarity around the narrow path that winning requires us to navigate, and the steps we need to take to stay on that path for ourselves. But when it comes to the choices and behaviors that define the champion, there’s another question that’s just as important: in my situation, we need to ask ourselves just as often, what wouldn’t a champion do? That question helps to create some clarity, too, by highlighting that there are certain choices those we consider champions refuse to make, and certain behaviors they refuse to exhibit, primarily because they recognize that under no circumstances do those decisions move them closer to the success they say they’re after. Take, for instance, our response to the challenge and adversity life throws our way. That's a regular part of the experience for any of us who are pursuing something meaningful and significant. It's important to accept that harsh reality of high achievement. So let's ask ourselves, when those moments of testing inevitably come, what do champions do? There are of course a number of possible answers, but there are some I bet we could agree on. In their moments of testing, champions dig in and get tough. They respond with resilience and intention. They press on and find a way to get the job done. At the same time, in those moments of testing, there are also certain things I think we can all agree that champions refuse to do. When challenge and adversity arise, champions refuse to pout or whine or complain. They refuse to blame others and they refuse to play the victim. They refuse to give up or to give in. Champions recognize that while those are the comfortable and convenient options, under no circumstances do those choices move them closer to the success they say they’re after. I’d encourage you to take a minute today to consider what big, important things you say you want to accomplish - either personally or professionally - and then to consider not only which choices winning requires you to make, but which choices winning requires you to refuse to make. In your situation here today, what would a champion do? And just as importantly, what wouldn’t they do? In your pursuit of success, that’s a great place to start. Once you’ve done that, I’d encourage you to connect to the key takeaway of this conversation. That is that you are the one who gets to make each of these choices for yourself. You have the power to choose what you’ll do, but just as importantly, you have the power to choose what you won't do. You might call that your right of refusal. It’s the right you’ve been given to say, in any situation or circumstance, that you’re simply not going to do something you know will move you further from the success you say you’re after. Remember, it's a narrow path that winning requires us to navigate. We should be thoughtful and intentional about the choices we make and the behaviors we exhibit each day - including here today - so we can ensure that we're moving ourselves in the right direction. That starts by clarifying what real success requires, and refusing to accept anything less. -Travis