Priorities

I like to draw inspiration from wherever I can whenever I can; church, friends, family, athletes, whatever helps. I was able to find some inspiration in a magazine; ESPN The Magazine to be specific. One of the magazine’s recent editions highlighted lists. One of the lists that peaked my interest was one from Texas Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Ten years ago, Josh Hamilton was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and was labeled “a can’t miss prospect.” He was so good, the scouts were so confident that he’d be a future hall of famer that he was drafted #1 overall. After a battle with substance abuse he was out of baseball for a while. A few years ago he came back with a vengeance; sober; clean and realizing the promise so many people saw in him a decade ago. Josh Hamilton’s list is entitled “Priorities” and is tattooed on his arm. His list included:
1. God
2. Family
3. Humility
4. Sobriety
5. *Baseball

*#5 is impossible without #s 1-4.”

Inspired by his list, I decided to make one of my own. My list includes:
1. God
2. Family
3. Humility
4. Career
5. Patience

I’ve always had lofty goals and high expectations for myself. I strongly believe in the saying, “Shoot for the moon because even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars.” Ever since I can remember my dreams and expectations of myself have always been astronomical. Now that I’m older and more mature, that hasn’t change. However, to achieve your goals, one must have priorities. If you want to be a professional athlete, your priority should be on your body and your sport.

Priority #1-God
I’ve always been a God-fearing man and have never had any misconceptions about the source of my strength and health. Despite the fact that my friends and I at times have jokingly likened myself to a certain superhero (Superman), I know that anything super about me comes from Him. Knowing this, I keep my focus on God, so that I never lose sight of what’s important.

Priority #2-Family
I love my family despite how crazy they are and how crazy they make me feel at times. They’re part of the reason why I work as hard as I do. My success has never been just about me, it’s always been how can I help my family and make them proud. At times they don’t say much, but over time they’ve made it abundantly clear how proud they are and how much faith they have in my ability to achieve greatness. It’s little things like that, that encourage me to work harder and why I love them so much.

Priority #3-Humility
Because of the success I have experienced during my lifetime, the lofty expectations of family and friends and the supreme confidence I have in myself, at times it can be mistaken for arrogance. At first, I doubted that I even possessed such an attribute. However, I’ve realized that the first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. “My name is The Diplomat and I have a problem with arrogance.” There I said it. To combat this character flaw and the one of my priorities is to be more humble. The past year and half has definitely humbled me, more so than I could have ever imagined. I’m not sure if God is done teaching me this lesson, but if He isn’t, I’m willing to continue to learn.

Priority #4-Career
When I think of priority #4 for me, I hear Trey Songz and Drake’s song “Successful” playing in my head. Who doesn’t want to be successful? But what is success? Success means something different to everyone. To a recovering alcoholic or drug abuser it may mean sobriety. To a first generation college student it may mean going to and graduating from college. From a person who has always struggled to read and write, it may be strengthening their reading skills. Success to me, in regards to my career means going to work every day and enjoying what I do. Success in my career means making enough money to experience some of the finer things and life and provide for my family.

Priority #5-Patience
Patience is a lesson best learned through heartache, pains, trials and tribulations. How else does one learn to “be still and know”? Many of us pray for patience but are unwilling to sit and wait for the lesson to be learned. Patience takes time to accumulate. There is no “Patience for Dummies” book you can buy on Amazon. There is no class offered at the local community college about where to find it and how to improve it. Patience comes from enduring tough times and being wise enough to sit and wait for God’s direction. It’s not an easy task and something I’m still working on. However, I know that when I’m able to have more it, I will be a much better person for it.

Being able to prioritize is a sign of maturity and is an important step in personal growth. Having a long list of things we’d like to do, accomplish, and improve on is nearly pointless if there is no order to the chaos that is our list. Sit down and think about the things that are most important to you in your life. Maybe your list looks like mine, maybe it’s completely different. Whatever it looks like, write it out, post it on the wall, in your car, on your computer at work, facebook, somewhere you’ll see it often as a reminder of your imperfections and the things you need to do to get closer to perfection. While perfection is an unattainable goal, that shouldn’t stop us from striving towards it. We benefit from the pursuit of perfection.

Well, until next time. Stay up and stay blessed!