Simply Do Great Work

Former NFL player Greg Olsen spent his first full season after retiring from a (probable) Hall of Fame career in 2022 calling NFL games for FOX.

Right after his first (very successful year), it was announced that Tom Brady would enjoy one year of retirement in 2023, then step into the booth and take over in 2024,?replacing Olsen.

It's a tough blow to start a new career, be great at it, and then get replaced by someone you have zero control of topping from a ratings standpoint.

Olsen was asked about the change on the Ryan Russillo Podcast and after hearing it, had to share his response:

"So I really had only two choices:

The first was to just cut off my nose to spite my face, and let my ego and my pride say, 'this is bullsh*t. I should have been elevated.'

"But that wouldn't have been a very good professional move. The other option, which was the one I took, was, you're not going to win the battle against Tom Brady. But you know what you can win?"

You're going to get a year of A-crew, primetime games, Thanksgiving, NFL playoffs, and the Super Bowl. You're going to check all of those boxes in one year - don't worry about anything else.

"If you go out and crush it, and you just embrace the moment and don't let it crush you or outshine you, everything always has a good way of working out for people that are good at their job."

Control what you can control.

Despite being great at calling games, Olsen knew he wouldn't beat out the greatest quarterback in the sport's history.

So instead, he focused on what he could: being the absolute best at his craft. It was the same mentality he had throughout his career when his team would draft a "younger/faster/stronger college player" to take his place and he'd outperform them on the field.

It's easy to get distracted by what's outside of our control.

• The other player that your coaches bring in.
• The new salesperson just hired onto your team.
• The new restaurant that is opening down the street.

Far too often, people lose their opportunities not from a lack of talent but from a lack of focusing on what they control - and working relentlessly to improve it.

If you do an incredible job, things will work at for you.

Focus on your work. Improve your craft. Ignore what "they're doing" and commit to becoming the best at what YOU are doing.

So what can you do?

Take inventory.

Where have you spent the last week complaining about, focusing on, or fretting about what someone else is doing?

• Have you lost valuable time prospecting leads because you're stalking?that person's social media?
• Are you losing your opportunities by ignoring your own strengths to try and mimic what someone else does?
• Where may have you skipped investing time to improve your skillset this week to instead compare yourself to someone else - complain about them?

?Control what you control.

Time is precious and fleeting. I imagine if most of us are honest, there is time every single day wasted (on Facebook, in gossip, procrastinating) that could be used to improve our skills and better position us as being great at our craft.

What if this week when you recognized your focus going to someone else, a complaint, or something beyond your control, you took a deep breath and asked, "What's in my control?right now to improve my position tomorrow?"

Then acted on it.

Things tend to work out for those who do great work -?what can you do this upcoming week to do?better work and, by doing so,?better position yourself?no matter what is ahead?

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