Keep working…

Proverbs 25:25 “As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from far away.”

Tay called this week. It was good news from three hours away. He told me a story about practice. I LOVE stories about practice. His coach called a huddle after a particularly hard one and he wasn’t happy. He kinda called out the entire team regarding the level of effort. Coach felt a number of players were taking plays off and not giving a game worthy effort. He reminded them you play like you practice. As Tay kept talking my mind wandered to our convo last weekend about how hard he was working and wondering if anybody was noticing. I knew he was working hard. He knew it too – yet here he was getting chewed out with the rest of the team for holding back. I did like the message, however, that his coach was pushing and demanding more.

Taylor told me that before coach turned ’em loose he did drop a bombshell. He highlighted one player that he and all the coaches unanimously agreed was putting forth the maximum kinda effort they want from everyone. And that player, coach remarked matter of factly, is Taylor Scott.

I almost dropped the phone. As my dad would say, it was a good thing my shirt didn’t have buttons on it – they would have popped off in an instant. After congratulating Tay on his work ethic and encouraging him to keep it up, I thought to myself the simplicity and profundity of Tay’s message.

In the world of work, there is no substitute for hard work. You cannot control your level of God given talent. You cannot control the competence of your competition. You cannot control what others may or may not notice. You cannot control the circumstances, oftentimes, surrounding you. You can, however, control your effort. As, I’ve encouraged Tay ever since I read the book, The Talent Code, you can simply “keep working.”

There is no substitute for hard work, friend. Keep working. Keep working…