I recently received a call from a young man, who was born and raised in our locale, who now lives in Virginia with his wife and children. He called me with a question to which he needed an answer. He asked, “What would, in your estimation, be the number one key to success in any area?” My answer, which became the inspiration for the content of this column today, was to do your best at what you are doing. Let me explain that statement in light of what we are setting forth here. Doing your best is not an attempt to compete with or to out-perform someone else. Doing your best is giving it all you got and performing to the best of your ability. When I thought on my response to this question, I immediately gained a better understanding of why I and so many others, have failed in things we attempted in the past. We did not give it our best. Even while attending school from elementary through high school, I knew I could have done a whole lot better than what I did. Many of my teachers would scold me for not doing my best in turning in reports and term papers. They felt that I was an underachiever who was not performing up to my ability and potential. As a matter of record, a few thought I was, if not the best, one of the best and innately gifted students in my class. Nevertheless, in those days I was not interested in studying and homework, but into sports (especially football), girls, and trying to be debonair, cool, and popular. It wasn’t until I matured and became a man, not just in age, but also in understanding and being responsible that I realized I had missed it and squandered many opportunities by not doing my best. This lackadaisical attitude that had caused me to be indifferent about my homework while in school and even in college, held me back and deprived me in many areas of my life, until I was truly born again. When Jesus Christ came into my life, He completely changed my perspective, philosophy, and priorities. My conversion was a revolution that brought a new revelation to me, as well as an emphatic awakening. I am indebted to the One who blessed me with both opportunities and abilities to glorify Him by giving every task my very best effort. I have not reached perfection in this area, but I am striving and headed in the right direction. In nearly every profession or field of endeavor, many ordinary people who were not the most talented among their peers became the most achieved and successful, because of their hard work, diligence, and personal discipline of giving it their best shot.
In his time, who would have predicted that Abraham Lincoln, who was self-taught and educated, would become recognized by most Americans today as our greatest President? Few Brits would have believed in the early 1930s, when the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi movement seized control of Germany and ultimately led the world into World War II, Winston Churchill would be the leader who would rise and lead England through its most turbulent time to victory. What both of these men had, who are now revered as two of the greatest political leaders of all time, was a dogged determination to do their best as leaders during a time when the survival of both hung in the balance of their leadership.
If Lincoln and Churchill had not given it their best, in their roles as President and Prime Minister, the world and map as we know it today would be totally different.
In the world of sports, there are many amazing stories of athletes who were not the most gifted and talented in their particular area of athletics. Nevertheless, their hard work and discipline paid off and thrust them into greatness. Perhaps two of the most remarkable examples can be found in the sport of professional basketball. First, let’s consider the case of Michael Jordan, who’s considered by most to be the greatest N.B.A. player of all time. Some do not know that it was not sheer talent alone that caused him to accomplish the feats that he did in college and especially the N.B.A. In high school during his sophomore year, he was not good enough to make the varsity team.
Notwithstanding, he did not allow this setback to cause him to give up, but buckled down and practiced relentlessly until he not only made the team his junior year, but he also became its star and greatest prospect for the college division one level. Then, what about Stephen Curry? Undisputedly, he has to be considered the best shooting point guard in the N.B.A. and perhaps the best of all time, due to his three point shooting, ball handling, and wizardry on the court.
However, who could have predicted that this undersized guard from Davidson College would one day be one of the three best N.B.A. players along with LeBron James and Kevin Durant respectively. Sure his father, Dale Curry, was an N.B.A. standout and basketball was undoubtedly in his D.N.A. Yet, it was his hard work ethic and practice that made him the superstar and future hall of fame inductee.
Simply stated, Stephen Curry and Michael Jordan gave it their best and it has paid off for both of them. There are, of course, people in practically every profession who had to give it their best in order to be successful. They were perhaps not the smartest or most talented in their field. What gave them an advantage and a competitive edge over others was their hard work and giving it their best. It is commonly said by the experts in academia that those with the highest I.Q. and G.P.A. don’t necessarily make the better teachers and instructors.
It is the ones who give it their best. We have a perfect example of what we are asserting right here in our locale. James E. Lockemy, who has excelled to the highest echelon as a lawyer, state representative, jurist, and field officer with the JAG section of the South Carolina National Guards, was not projected by his high school peers, or many of his teachers to outperform perhaps everyone in his graduating class. Nevertheless, if truth be told, who else in that class has such multiple and major accomplishments that is impacting our locale, state, and nation, as this mostly Native American man, who was raised in Newtown? Maybe these words of Thomas Edison, our greatest inventor, captures and conveys the crux of my column today more than anything else we have said thus far: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Doing your best will make you the best at what you are doing. These words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are very appropriate for our conclusion:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”