Monday Morning Inspiration

No "Morning Muse" or "Twitspiration" today folks. I'll be back to my normal columns tomorrow but I wanted to share some knowledge of my own with you today. Today's all about taking what the Lakers did last night and incorporating that into your lives.

There's something about seeing success achieved by someone else that just makes you push harder the next day. None of us play professional sports but you can't deny that extra drive you all must be feeling today. It's what made me so happy for the Lakers and Kobe Bryant especially. No matter how you feel about Kobe personally, (as if any of us actually knows him personally to have any real opinion of him anyway) he overcame all of the criticism and adversity from the many people rooting against him. It's that personal triumph that makes his victory and that of his teammates last night so appealing to me. How many people do you know of who are rooting against you? I'm sure it's not nearly as many as those who root against Kobe...but I'm sure there are some. Or how about this one...how many people do you know that would rather give credit to someone else than to actually acknowlege and appreciate all of your hard work and dedication to whatever it is you do? Think about it! Then think about how you would handle still going out every day and being the very best you can be; until you finally achieve what many said you couldn't. If you can't relate or feel that on any human level then something wrong is going on inside of you. Finding joy in others accomplishments is one of the best gifts life can give you.

One of the many reasons I love sports so much is that athletes are the closest thing to watching success happen before your very eyes...sometimes over night it seems. In three hours we witness first hand what hard work looks like when it pays off. And for the other team who has also worked hard we see the side of what it feels like to bust your behind and still fall just shy of your goal. Tough indeed. What's funny is most of us don't see how much each athlete personally puts into their careers which is why it often makes it so easy to judge and criticize them for every little mistake. For them this is no "overnight success" it's the reward. Altheles throw all logic to the wind and go just out every game and compete. They're built to just play...knowing that someone will lose and someone will win. But the inevitablity of that doesn't slow them down or discourage them from just playing.

Now how does this apply to everyday life for regular folks like us? I believe we all can stand to learn something from that type of mentality. When you apply for a job you know that there are other applicants but does that stop you from applying? It shouldn't right...why because someone has to lose or in this instance not get offered the job and someone of course will. This philosophy can be applied to almost any situation in life. Some things you'll get and others you won't...but know that there are still games left to play. So instead of procrastinating, making excuses, planning and over thinking your every move read and react to everything put in front of you and just let the outcome be what it will be. At least you went out there and JUST PLAYED!

Whatever your game is....just play it. Want a raise, work hard and go for it. Want to start your business...do something related to that business everyday until you've created it for yourself. JUST PLAY people! Every day is an opportunity for us to live up to our very best potential. Someone has to win right...so why not use that as your motivation to be that someone.

Here's some sports inspiration from Star Jones over at her blog dedicated this AM to the LA Lakers. Enjoy!