Advice to My Seniors

Half-Time Talk

It’s time for the stretch run people. It’s a new year and you have officially completed 12.5 yrs. of a 13 year educational program. In five months you will be receiving your diploma. Therefore, I believe it is necessary to warn you of a few roadblocks that lie ahead.

In the next few months you are going to be tempted to come down with a bad case of senioritis and start slacking off. You will be tempted often to ease up, and in some cases to give up. You will be tempted to rationalize your senioritis. You might be thinking, well I’ve already been accepted to the college of my dreams. You might be thinking, well my GPA doesn’t matter anymore. You might be thinking, well I have met all of my graduation requirements and have passed all of my SOL’s. Is that what this whole thing is really about, getting into a college, passing a few standardized exams, graduating?? If this is your current line of thinking, then you might just be missing the point altogether. For most of you graduation is not as much of an accomplishment as it is a milestone. After all, you are supposed to graduate from high school, right?

But, this is a time for you guys to see what kind of character you have as people. Are you someone that is going to keep battling through the “meaningless” next few months, even when you don’t feel like it? Last weekend there was a “meaningless” football game played between the Giants and the Patriots. The reason many deemed this game as meaningless was because it was the last regular season game and the Giants had no reason to play hard as their playoff spot was already set in stone and could not be changed regardless of the game’s outcome. Nevertheless, these highly paid professionals took great pride in risking potential injuries and went out and nearly defeated perhaps the greatest team ever, the only team to ever finish a regular season 16-0. These Giants took what everyone else said was meaningless and made it meaningful, and in doing so provided the viewing public with an outstanding event. I challenge you today to look at these next few months that lie ahead of you and give them meaning. Don’t just look at this time as something to “get through” but as something to cherish and see it as something that you will never have again.

How then can I give this upcoming season in my life meaning? Realize that while this time is certainly a time to enjoy, it still comes with responsibility. There will still be assignments, projects, and tests. But, that’s O.K. because responsible people are aware of this and will do what they need to do before they do what they want to do. There is meaning in just doing what you know you are supposed to do and responsibly doing it. And you need to know that the rest of your life is going to consist of constantly doing things you don’t always want to do. Responsible people understand this and perform those tasks anyway. The ancient philosopher Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but habit. Do you understand what this piece of wisdom means? It essentially suggests that any success in life, any great feat, any great accomplishment is not usually some chance happening, but is the result of continually doing routine and monotonous things over and over again. Perhaps, high levels of excellence and success are so elusive to the majority of people because most of us are not willing to do the same thing over and over and over again in order to achieve success.

Corey Carroll, a young golfer that is being mentored by Tiger Woods had this to say about Woods, "Usually the first thing he says when he sees me is, 'What are you working on? Let's see a swing.' He knows where I am in my progress, and I know where he is. You might say he's a little farther down the road. "But as gifted as Tiger is, I know that every piece of swing that works the way he wants it to work, he's had to fight for. He basically tells me, 'You know how to work hard, so you've got the toughest part down. Keep learning and keep grinding. And see how far it will take you.'" It sounds like Tiger understands what the great philosopher understood, that his success is more a result of his hard work than his talent alone.

In a recent speaking engagement Woods shows just how much meaning he places on each and every day of his life, “I view my life in a way … I'll explain it to you, OK?" he told his small audience in Florida. "The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today. And that's how I look at my life. I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend. That's the beauty of tomorrow. There is no such thing as a setback. The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better."

I hope that fires you up as much as it does me! This isn’t just some sad old cliche. This was said by somebody who wholeheartedly believes that and lives it out in his life everyday. I hope that you and I can both have this mindset this year. I hope that you will see the first half of 2008 not just as the time frame in which you will graduate, but as a six month block of your life that is meaningful and as a season that helps you to become "better" each and every day.