This past season, our team rallied around the phrase, Champions Today. We found ourselves explaining its meaning to people who wondered about our purpose, and while many cynical people questioned our motives, we were given the opportunity to share our intention behind it.
Champions and Championships are two totally different ideas; words that bring a vast accumulation of meaning. For example, to be a champion means to fight for something, or to defend something that is important to you. It implies that there is a process that needs to take place. Championships, on the other hand, by definition give a distinction of completion. The journey is already completed and achievement is already obtained.
Champions Today by no means expresses that we have reached a premature state of success. However, it does suggest the significance of the journey and the importance of our habits. It indicates the influence that our present actions will have on our future achievement. We can't assume that success will automatically appear to us just because we play the game. We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard that focuses on the here and now. Every decision, every habit we determine is our path that will ultimately lead us to our destination.
Our program as a whole embraced this idea of being Champions Today and in turn, experienced positive results. Daily tasks such as showing up on time or serving a classmate became habits that allowed us to reach our goal of being champions at that very moment. As our habits became consistent, there was a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that propelled us to the next level. While we never perfected anything, we did become better men and better teammates. Collective responsibility within our program became one of our most treasured core values because we saw how it allowed everyone to make each other better.
As we continue our journey through the process we keep encouraging one another to build championship habits. Habits that will ignite a passion inside of us to be our best. Habits that will develop us into men of integrity. Habits that will put aside our selfishness and humbly lift other people up. And habits that will allow our team to trust each other. Being a Champion Today is more than showing up and winning a trophy. It's all about deciding what kind of person you want to become and taking the necessary steps to get there. No one said it would be easy, but I promise you that it will be worth it!