Think Differently

In today's world, we are being taught to be offended, to think lowly of ourselves, and to make excuses. We all have feelings,but we are not supposed to be led by them. People tell us every reason not to live out the dream God placed in our hearts instead of telling us every reason to live out our dream. We also find every reason not to stay committed to something that will better ourselves in the long run

The biblical worldview on freedom, is that God gives us absolute freedom through His Grace. God does not kill us because we commit a sinful act, but He does warn us that sin leads us to death. So even though we have absolute freedom, people can feel restricted by God's Word. However, living in your sin makes you a slave to the devil and restricts you from being who God wants you to be. So in reality, God sets us free from sin, not to sin, so we can live in peace and have much joy. This same principle applies to free speech. We are aloud to say anything, but some words and thoughts can restrict you from what God wants you to be. God does not want you to speak out of offense, because when you are offended by what someone says, it usually means that whatever they said is true about you. I am of Hispanic decent and people can make racist comments of any race. Hispanics can be called lazy, drug addicts, criminals, you name it. If it offends you, you probably have one of these qualities. But if you represent yourself in a classy and respectful matter, these words should not hurt you. If someone calls me lazy, I will prove that I am not lazy by working hard. If someone calls me a criminal, I am not going to get offended and go do criminal things, because then I would be proving them right. When I was in middle school and early high school, I was called soft by my parents and coaches. Instead of getting offended, I went to do something about it. I woke up early mornings and stayed after school to get in the weight room to get physically and mentally tough. Do not be offended, just prove people wrong in silence, then your critics will be silent themselves

We can make the world so small around us. We believe that where we are from, will dictate our level of potential. I grew up in Southern California, and living in New Mexico now, a difference I see is that people do not believe in themselves as much. I had coaches, teachers, and friends that encouraged me that I can make a big splash in my lifetime. I was taught to take one step at a time and realize this is not a sprint, it is marathon. So making a big splash will not happen right away, but it will eventually happen when you surround yourself with people that believe in you. That is what I love about the vision at Legacy Church, they believe in people and they believe in making a difference one step at a time. From the youth pastors to the executive pastors, one common theme that I get from them, is that they believe God is going to do big things through me. A belief in me, is the best motivation for me, I want to work and serve for people that believe in me. As a player, a coach that believed in me motivated me to work hard for him. However, people can believe in me, but if I do not believe in myself, then it does not matter. When my coach tells me to run, I run. When my pastor tells me to serve, I serve. Not once have I ever believed that any of my coaches and pastors were trying to make me a worse person. They challenge me because they believe in me. If they never said a word to me and let me do what I want, that means they have stopped believing in me. All in all, surround yourself with people that believe in you. Also, believe in people around you, because that is the best motivation you can ever give someone

Excuses are one of the worst things that can you make. They will take away opportunities from you and will limit you from reaching your full potential. Find ways to overcome obstacles, instead of finding ways to get out of things. After my concussion in high school, I was told to take a week off, but that did not stop me from going to every practice and team meeting. It did not stop me from going to school. I did not find any excuse to fall behind and have people feel sorry for me. I would get dizzy throughout the day and my head would hurt, but I just told myself to suck it up and focus on the task at hand. I want to show the people I work for, that I am committed to my work. I do not want to be one of those employees that has an excuse for everything. If I am sick, I will go into work, and if I am too sick to work, then my boss will tell me to go home. When my players tell me they are sick and cannot come to practice, I tell them to come to practice and I will decide if they are too sick to practice. If they are too sick to practice, they can go lay down or sit on a chair with a trash can next to them. I teach this principle because I want them to practice their commitment and loyalty. There is honor in someone who will do whatever it takes to do what they are called to do. When I was dripping blood from my head, I still tried to get back in practice, but coach told me to get out. Isaiah Thomas, hall of fame guard for the Detroit Pistons back in the 80's, had a nasty ankle injury during an 1988 NBA Finals game, early in the third quarter. By the swelling of his ankle, no one would have blamed him for sitting out the rest of the game. Not only did he come back in 35 seconds later, he went 11 of 13 from the field and scored 25 points in that quarter alone! He was hobbling up and down the court, basically playing on one leg, but he made no excuses, instead he made history. No one gets remembered for making excuses. No one keeps a steady job by making excuses. What gets you climbing up the ladder, is doing things you are not expected to do. Pastor Tommy Barnett put a phrase in my mind that I do not think will every be removed from my brain..."And then some". When I am working and doing my job, I will put that thought in my mind and realize that my true value, comes from doing more than everybody else. Do not make excuses, make history

Thank you for reading! Please share with friends and family that you think this can bless them!

Chris Perez

ANNOUNCEMENT: I am running a 3 week basketball training camp from July 5th-July 22nd at Legacy East Campus Gym. If you, or anybody you know is interested, please visit legacybballabq.com for registration and more information!

I Decide

There are a lot of things we cannot control in our lives. We cannot control what others say to us and at times we cannot control our circumstances. But there will be times where we have to make decisions that we can control. For this article, I want to first talk about things we cannot control and that we should accept it. I also want to talk about what we can control and that we should not have a victim mindset. Then, next I will give you a thought that you can meditate on when you make decisions

I believe people are going to speak evil in to my life and speak good into my life. People are going to say hurtful things towards me, but that does not mean I stop doing what God has called me to do. There have been situations that a student-athlete will quit a team, just because a coach told them something hurtful. I believe good coaches want the best out of you, and a way to get the best out of you, is to say something that will hurt your heart, enough to where you want change for the better. Being an athlete, I never wanted to be called soft. That hurt me more than anything and it angered me to be called that. Not because I thought it was not true, it was the opposite, I knew it was true, so I did whatever I could to never be called soft again. Point is, when a boss or coach tells you something that hurts you, take it as a challenge to get better. You may be called lazy, take it as a challenge to be more productive. You may be called selfish, do more unselfish acts. I know we all have those trigger words, but if we act out in anger and defense, we will simply prove that those particular words are true and we need to fix our attitude. It is hard to be corrected, but it is needed. So we cannot control way everybody says, whether it is wrong or right, true or false, but we can control how we respond to those words. No one can make you mad, only you can make yourself mad. Respond the right way to criticism and hateful speaking. A gentle answer turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1)

The parts that we can control more than anything are what we think about, what we believe in, and our emotions. I can have bad thoughts run through my mind, but I do not have to act on them and I do not have to say them out loud. I can have good thoughts run through my mind, but I do have to act on them to make good things happen. There are people that cry, laugh, get angry, etc, at certain things. We all have emotions but we are not to be led by them. Our emotions should not make our decisions, our thoughts and beliefs should make our decisions. Because our emotions are never permanent, you cannot stay happy, stay sad, stay angry, etc. You see it with kids all the time, one minute they hate you and never want to speak to you again, the next minute you are a hero to them. In relationships, you will have disagreements and you will have lovely conversations. Social media shows that well, because usually when I see a guy or girl post something nice about there significant other, I think that the person that posted it did something bad and wants all of his/her followers that he/she is a good boyfriend/girlfriend. I am joking about this matter but you get my point, emotions change, so we have to control them. We do not have to say everything that is on our minds. When you have a strong belief system, your thinking will get stronger. Whatever you believe in helps your thinking. There are things that I do not compromise, if it goes against biblical principles, I will not do it. If I believe that doing something differently will benefit me, I will do it. Really control what you believe in so that your thinking is not contradicting yourself. You cannot serve two masters, you either serve God or serve Satan (Matthew 6:24)

We have the ability to decide how hard we are going to work at something. There are people that have less, that work harder than those who have more. Why? Because they do not have a victim mindset and they are not content with an average life. Do not let your disadvantages own you. God gives people disadvantages so that they can work harder. If everything was handed to me and I had nothing but advantages, I would get lazy and not want to accomplish anything. There are people that believe they have it all and are content with what they have, but then someone who has less, is working harder than them. As a player I felt I had height disadvantage and athletic disadvantage, so I worked hard. I knew I was small so I had to cut harder, make strong moves, and be smart in order to be successful. I knew that getting in the weight room and being in great shape will help my disadvantages because even though I am smaller, I am stronger. Even though you are better than me, I will outlast you. We cannot let a disease control our life, we cannot let a absent father control our life, we cannot let the wrong people control our life...We decide how we are going to handle our disadvantages. I want you to speak this over your life: I decide how successful I am going to be. I decide how hard I am going to work. No matter who is in my way or what is in my way, I will not lose sight of being successful. I want success, and no one can take that away from me. If I do not want to be the best at what I do, then I will not be successful. I may not be the best, but I will strive to be the best. With this attitude, I will go farther than I could ever go with any other attitude because when I am done, I will have no regrets. Because I decide to give my all

Thank you for reading, I hope this helps! Please share!

Love Obsessively

As the career of another legend has ended, I would like to write about a concept that Kobe Bryant has taught me more than anything, and that is to love obsessively. Kobe is quoted as saying this, "If somebody is not obsessed with what they do, then we don't speak the same language." We must surround ourselves with people that are passionate about what they do. However, being passionate does not mean you will always be liked. If you say you are passionate, but do not prove it with action, then you are just talking. I want to go over these statements in depth

Surround Yourself with People That Have Passion

As we get older, we realize that quality is better than quantity. We focus on having many friends or knowing many people, to having a tighter circle with friends and people that are reliable. What I look for in a friend, is does he or she have passion for what they do? Do they love doing what they do and do they work hard at it? My passion is the game of basketball, but I have surrounded myself with people that have a passion for other things. I get along with those people even though we are not passionate about the same thing. As a coach, the student-athletes that have a passion about the game of basketball and love it obsessively, are the players that I want to help the most. Because I can always help someone that wants to get better and will do whatever it takes to succeed. If you are passionate about working hard where you are working at, your boss will most likely be willing to help you succeed and promote you. There is no doubt in my mind that passionate people will be successful. Because even when they fail, they will get back up and try again. They will find a way to be successful with doing what they love

Being Passionate Doesn't Mean You Will Always Be Liked

As I have stated, quality is better than quantity. If someone in your life is uncomfortable with you or cannot keep up with you, then they are not willing to work as hard as you do. As a Christian, I purpose to strengthen my relationship with God. I do this by going to church twice a week, going to a Bible Study twice a month, serving once a month, leading Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at the school I work at, and taking strong stances for what The Bible says. I am willing to work hard and grow as a Christian, and as I am growing, I am realizing people are not willing to work hard on their relationship with God. So as I grow, and they stay the same, we get to a level of being uncomfortable, to where we no longer get along or "speak the same language". Never does that entitle me to be better than them, but in any aspect of life, the people that work hard at what they do, will get better at what they do than the person who does not work as hard. People will say this about Christians, "Oh well you think you are better than everybody else, huh?" When in reality, we are saying the exact opposite of that, because we are saying, "God, I am not perfect, I cannot do this on my own, I need your help, I am in need of a Savior. Thank you sending Jesus to die for me, He is my Lord and I will worship Him." Admitting you are a Christian is a humble statement. But the people who are not willing to strengthen their relationship with God, will not experience the blessings that the people who work hard on their relationship with God. So do not listen to outside noise, to people who try to bring you down. You have a dream, run with it! You may fail or it may not turn out the way you expected it to, but do not count yourself out without even trying. I never lost sight about being in the NBA, as a player, I tried hard every single day to get there and did whatever it took, and I fell short. But as a coach, I must have that sight again. No matter what people tell me or how unlikely or how hard it may be, I am going to try and if i fall short, I will not be too far off. Shooting for the sun and landing on the moon is accomplishing something. But if you shoot for nothing, you will hit it every time. People that do not work hard

encourage others not to work hard to make them feel better. If those type of people do not like you, then you are doing something right

Passion without Action, Is Just Talking

I have heard many players say they love the game of basketball, but they love it for the good parts. The wins, the crowd, the popularity, you name it. But those same players do not like the grind of waking up early, running, lifting weights, practices, getting good grades, etc. It is just like in a relationship, falling in love is easy, but building on that love takes patience. You can love someone for their good qualities, but can you love them in the hard times? We will all be put to this test of seeing if we truly love something or someone. As a player in high school, I did not like coming off the bench, I wanted to be a starter, but in order for me to still play the game I love, I had no choice but to accept my role. In college, I did not just want to be a practice player, I wanted to contribute more to the team on the court. But if I did not accept my role, I would not have played and learned from a great coach, and I would not have played in one of the best sport venues in the world. I did whatever it took to experience the rewards that the game of basketball had for me. I loved the game, and with love, comes heartbreak. It broke my heart when I lost games, it broke my heart when I was cut from teams I wanted to play for. I had so many thoughts of giving up because I thought my hard work was not paying off. But because I love the game obsessively, I will do whatever it takes to be around it. We all have a love and passion for something. Do no let negative people tell you that you cannot be successful in doing what you love. Do not let the love for money, overcome your love for what you are doing. Love for money will cause you to do anything, and you will be miserable because you will end up so far away from what you love. Have a passion that lives forever, and you will see success come along with it 

Success and Failure

The great concept that success and failure have in common, is that you cannot arrive at them. Meaning there is no "failure" that will keep you a failure, and there is no "success" that will keep you successful. You can fail over and over again, and you still have a fighting chance to turn that failure into a success. On on the other hand, you can achieve success, but you still have to work hard to continue to be successful.

You see it all the time in sports, a loss to most athletes and coaches, is a failure. When a team does not win the last game of the season, they see it as a failed season. But what the great coaches and athletes understand, is that losing does not make them a loser. A loser is someone who accepts losing and gives up. There is not one coach or athlete in the history of sports, that has never suffered defeat and losing. The teams with the most wins, still have lost at some points, but they turn their loses into learning experiences. That is what failure does for us, it gives a fire in our hearts and a motivation to be successful. Some of the greatest minds in science and inventing, were labeled  as failures in school. But thank God that He never labels us as a failure. We can always turn a bad situation around. God is a god of another chance, He knows we are going to make mistakes, so we must find a way to get back to winning and successful ways when we blow it through Him.

Some of us have achieved our goals or some us have found out achieving our goals is too hard so our personal standard of success goes down. God did not make anyone on this earth to be average, humans either use their God given free will to be average or they follow God's concept of we have never arrived and believe they can be great. Every single person on this earth can be great. Believe it or not, I know you may be in a position or area that tells you not to believe in that, but God says you can be great!

I want you to think about that dream you had as a kid, maybe it was to be an astronaut, maybe it was to be a professional athlete, or maybe you wanted to be president of the United States as you got older. But think about this...Did anyone teach you to have that dream? No one has to teach us to have a dream, but the people around us will teach us NOT to believe in that dream. I train and coach kids that want to be college and professional athletes, and I am sure that they have people around them saying that it is too hard to get to that level. I am sure they show the percentages of the unlikeliness of getting to that level. Because I was being taught to not believe in my dream of one day playing in The Pit. I never lost sight, I just kept working hard and kept striving for my goals to get to UNM. I set a GPA to achieve, I set a time to achieve in running a mile. I set a certain number of pounds of muscle to gain. Once I achieved those goals, I did not say I arrived, I then set new ones. My point is, that you should not lower your personal standard of success but rather higher your personal standard of success. My goal right now is to be high school head coach, and once I get that, I will set a new goal of getting to the next level. I do not want to ever arrive, because I enjoy the process. I am so glad that hard work pays off, because I love working hard. I believe I love it because I know that there are rewards for it.

There are things you have to put on hold or do differently to be in the elite class of success. I loved working out on Saturday nights, because I knew that is when some others could be at home doing nothing or out at a party. In the summer, I loved working out in the early mornings because that is when my competition was asleep. If you want more than others, you are going to have to do more than others. If you want to win championships or win a promotion, you should have no sense of entitlement. You need to believe that your reward will come from doing more than others.

My junior year in high school, there was an article in the newspaper about a player on a rival team, and it talked about how hard he was working to get better. Talking about the conditioning and basketball workouts he was doing for two hours a day. It got me fired up to work out three hours a day and I did not care if they did an article on me, I rather work hard in silence and when no one is watching, so I can surprise them when the lights are on. Too many of us have the need to feel noticed for our extra work, we need a coach or a boss to see the extra work we are putting in. I believe that our extra work reveals our true character or ability. If you are working hard in the summer and no one knows about it, then when you walk on campus and start practicing, your hard work will show. Coaches can tell who works harder than the rest, just by simply seeing improvement and growth in your ability. Realize that there is most likely someone out there, working harder than you, trying to take your spot, trying to take your job, trying to take your championship. Do not let that happen, if you want to be successful, you have to have a competitive drive to be better than everybody else. When you start to believe you are better than everybody else, there is someone that is striving to be better than you. We never arrive at a destination when it comes to success.

The next level above success is significance. It is great to win championships and awards, but the next great thing is do something significant with your achievements. Inspire somebody else to be a champion, tell them that it is possible, teach them the ways to be successful. That is where your significance plays in because if you do nothing with your earnings, you start to feel less significant and less successful.

Being a walk-on student-athlete at UNM for 4 years and winning 3 Mountain West Championships can be defined as a success in my book. Now I am using my success to be significant. I am coaching, teaching, and preaching about stuff I have learned throughout my journey. I see so many young athletes that want to be great, and I believe that I have a call from God to help them believe they can get there. The first thing, put down your phone and start working. While others are on their phone, you are getting work done. Put in the extra batting practice, put in the extra shots, put in the extra reps; it is the only way you can have a great career and not an average one. Go to tutoring and study harder, so your grades can help you get into college. Coaches and colleges really take in account to your grades, it could be the deciding factor in recruiting you, verses someone else with the same ability but does not have the good grades

These are things I am teaching because I have seen it work in my life and in other people's lives. I see that Kobe Bryant's competitive drive has kept him at an elite level that not a lot of athletes ever get to. There are athletes with the same athleticism as Kobe, but he wanted to be better than everybody else. A three-peat was not enough, he wanted to win more, and I am sure he will say that he should have 7 championships instead of 5. He has taught me to compete, he has taught me that no failure can ever stop someone and no success can stop someone.

Success can even be more dangerous than failing. The failure wants to get back up and try again while the successful person is content on where they are at. Do not be stuck in your failure or your success. You can turn your failures around and there is always more you can achieve!

Thank you for reading! I hope this article blesses you!

Sincerely,

Christopher Edward Perez

Twitter: @C_P_2
Facebook: Chris E Perez
Instagram/Snapchat: cperez02
Email; cperez0116@yahoo.com