Stack Days

As student-athletes, we already have a leg up because we have been taught about the compound effect already. Put the same energy into growing your business and you will be successful. In the new era of NIL, everyone is trying to find out where the bridge between business and college sports comes hand-in-hand. As I began my journey this year, I knew that I wanted to do something different than I had in the past to send myself, my family, and the ones around me up differently. The life of an athlete is not easy, and it is consistency that wins you the day. Everybody knows the compound effect of its message on doing the little things every single day to make them add up to the big accomplishments. Oh, what are those little things, and are they really sacrifices? We talk about it in the building a lot, but sacrifices have a negative connotation most of the time. Our coach sends out tweets and messages to us consistently every week. One week, he sent us a message on what it means to sacrifice.?

One of my teammates, Barney Amor , had a response of a lifetime. It wrote: “This core value [sacrifice] is the most interesting one I believe in trying to understand what it actually means. When you think about your actions, everything you do is either something that is going to drive you toward your goal and shape you into who you want to become, or the complete opposite. I think it’s taken me until becoming a part of this family to truly understand that as individuals, we sacrifice every day with every choice we make. Although it might not feel like so, as you say, you are either going to stack days or in this case actions/choices, or weaken your foundation and sacrifice all that has come before. I also have been thinking about this core value as it presents itself as a word with a negative connotation. For a while, I looked at this as a value that means you are losing or giving up something, but is this truly a negative word? I feel that the sacrifices you make are truly only considered negative if the end goal is not what you desire. Otherwise, is sacrifice negative, or is it what is necessary to achieve your goals?”?

Barney hit the nail on the head when describing what sacrificing can do for you. First and foremost, the key in his first statement is the question: will you stack days or will you let the days stack you? We all have finite time, and with the era of showing personality and being different, there is no reason that you should feel any insecurity about chasing your dreams. It comes down to the sacrifices that you make that will determine whether or not those dreams are crazy or not crazy enough.?

Secondly, Barney speaks on whether the word has a negative connotation or not. I hear it from every business professional that I meet, the word “have.” I “have” to go to work. I “have” to join this meeting. I “have” to practice. What I found in my short life is that the whirlwind of life is that if you are having to do something, when tough times pass by, success will be hard to find. If you look at the sacrifices that you need to make as direct steps in the process to where you want to go, are they sacrifices, or are they necessary steps in the story that you are trying to build? What matters in life is what you make of it.?

The last story I have to leave you with is one I heard from an entrepreneur. It is the story of an ancient Egyptian king. A broken statue of him lies in the middle of the desert and it’s dated about 5000 years ago. On the statue it wrote, “here lies the king, who owns everything the eye can see”. That was only 5000 years ago. In that time, he had immense power on this earth. Just a plot of dust later, it is confirmed in my mind that all that matters is the journey that you embark on every day. Focus on the journey. Embrace the people and loved ones around you, because that is what will be your legacy. Make the sacrifices count, and don’t let the days stack you.?