ALL IN

We come into the year 2015 with different resolutions and different goals set; however, I have a resolution that could help you achieve your goals with one concept. That concept is, strive to be the best at everything you do. Have total faith that giving your best will lead you to success and happiness.

I understand a lot of  us can be in positions we do not want to be in. So what happens is our attitude becomes poor. Say you are working at a certain company, solely to make money. Meaning you do not love your job, you have a "clock  in, clock out" attitude that leads you to hating your job but you stick with it because you know you need the money. With a situation like this, you STILL must strive to be the best at what you do. Maybe you are a waiter/waitress, strive to be the best waiter/waitress you can possibly be. Maybe you are a cashier at a store, be the best cashier you can possibly be. Maybe you are working a "9 to 5" job that you do not like, still be the best employee you can possibly be.

This idea consists of being a complete person, where you make an effort to be great in all aspects of your life. We are all sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, athletes, employees, teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc. We need to be the best at what we are called to be. For me personally I am a son, so I am striving to be a great son to my parents and represent my family in the best way possible. I am a coach, a teacher, a mentor, a trainer, a Christian; God has called me to be a leader in EVERYTHING I do. I do not want to be a great coach and an average teacher. I want to be a great teacher, I want to gain more knowledge so I can mentor the youth. I want to learn how to improve strength and conditioning for athletes, so I read about how to train athletes to be great and not average. Nothing I will ever do, will be just to make money, I do it to be the best because I promise you, striving to be great will come with great opportunities.

When I was in high school, I refereed games on the weekends. A lot of high school athletes did this, and some of them did not take it seriously. Some of them just wanted to get paid and thought it was an easy way to make extra money. I knew that I was going to get the same amount of money from the guys that did not take refereeing seriously. Which at first it does not seem fair, but I did get rewarded for taking the job seriously. My boss, saw that I was sprinting up and down the court to get in the right positions to make calls and make the right calls. I was not the perfect referee, no one is, but I showed I was taking it seriously and working hard. With that, my boss gave me more games to call, and I called all of the championship games for each division. So at the end, I did end up earning more money.

As a sophomore in high school, the boys' volleyball coach talked to the basketball team about joining the volleyball team. I played volleyball from time to time, but never anything organized. So I had to learn from scratch on the fundamentals of volleyball. I was committed to learning as some athletes were not taking the tryout seriously. Not only did I make the volleyball team after never playing before, I played on the varsity team that same year, up unto my senior year. Through those three years, I earned Most Improved, All-League, MVP, and two school records. One for most assists in a game (62) and one for most serves in play in the season (316).

With these two situations, I want to encourage you to be better at what you are called to do. Some of you may be working a job that you do not take seriously. But imagine if you go into work tomorrow, and the next day, and so on; with a great attitude and a determination to be the best, I am almost 100% sure your boss will notice. If he/she does not notice right away, be patient because the opportunity will come. Especially for waiters, waitresses, bartenders; you want to be the best so you can get more shifts to make more money. You can gain more tips, and if a customer does not tip you well, do not get discouraged! Instead try to find an understanding of why they did not tip you well. I have said it before, you never know who is watching. The better your attitude is, the more you take your job seriously, the more you want to succeed; the more connections you will gain through people that not only could help you out, but want to help you out because they will get a good feeling about you through those aspects.

The second situation consists more of the students and athletes. I first want to emphasize that as a student, you should want to be the best student in your class or even in your school. Can other students have more benefits and advantages to be the best student in the school? Of course, but it is not about having the best situation, it is about making the best out of your given situation. Striving to be the best, and feeling you cannot be best, is still okay. Because believe it or not, miracles still happen, but you have to put yourself in the best situation possible to have miracles work out for you. Secondly, comes the athlete perspective of being your best. I know some of you play multiple sports, and if you do, you should give 100% in each sport you play. I do not believe that if you play multiple sports, one is more important than the other. If you feel that one of the sports you play is less important to you and you do not love it as much, then do not waste your coaches, parents, or teammates time. Because being a part of ANY team, should consist of hard work, dedication, and a perfect effort. As a coach, the players should want to win just as much as I want to win and more. If you do not feel the need to win, then you are not a true athlete. A true athlete does not want the superstar role on a losing team, a true athlete wants a role to do whatever it takes to win games and championships.

Readers, I would not have been able to be a part of a Division I team if I was not all in. If I was not committed to winning, if I did not work hard, if I did not spend hours in the gym by myself; I would not be a coach, a mentor, or a leader. I would not be able to inspire others. The reason why I can motivate people is because I have the stories and experiences to back up my logic. And I will continue to be all in. I do not write these articles for my sake, I do it for people that could possibly get moved or inspired by my messages. I strongly appreciate the feedback, and it warms my heart to see how different people are being moved by one message. I see moms putting my articles on their refrigerators, I see schools putting my articles in their newspapers, coaches from different parts of the country are telling me that they are showing these articles to their players, professional writers are encouraging me to keep writing...I am getting more praise, more opportunities, and more connections; by simply being ALL IN.

We are all called to be greater tomorrow than we are today. Never compare your progress to someone else's. Because I know I am far behind a lot of people in this world, but that will not discourage me to give up and hide. It is hard being great and striving for greatness, but the blessings and opportunities that come with it bring joy, happiness, and peace to your life. Do not be overwhelmed that people around you are ahead of you, instead learn from those people. That way you can use other people's success to help you succeed!

I remember as a kid, I did not really like getting Christmas presents. Of course I appreciated what I was getting, but there was one thing I saw that was happening during the holidays, and that was serving and giving. I saw athletes play Santa Claus for kids, visit children's hospitals, feed the hungry, build houses, etc. And for me, that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to be in the NBA, so I could do stuff like that. I realized I do not need that status, I could have a giving heart in everyday life. So for me personally, I want to be the most unselfish and giving person in the world. And each day I strive to be and I learn how to be just that. I know there are more unselfish people out there, I know I am more unselfish than others. But none of that matters, it is about me being better that I was yesterday and continuing to make my best better. So I encourage you all to add this concept into your New Year's resolutions. Then by this time next year, you can really see how much you have grown as a person; whether it be in your relationships, sport, job, etc. Seek to improve yourself, and you will start to see that you can be somebody more than the average person. You will see that EVERYBODY is given opportunities to achieve greatness!

Thank you all so much for reading and let God bless you with a great year and many more to come!

Thanks,
Christopher Edward Perez

Twitter: @C_P_2
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