387. From Walk-on Player to Fitness Pro

Drew loved sports and was captain of his high school football and baseball teams, leading both teams to city championships in Calgary in Alberta, Canada. It was tougher to win over the basketball coach, who initially told him, “You’re not good enough to start for us.” After butting heads awhile, and learning more about leadership, the coach asked him to lead that team, too. For the first time in 15 years, his team made it into the city-wide playoffs. A high point was receiving a jubilant mid-court hug from his formerly skeptical coach.

Despite receiving countless “not interested” replies to his letters to college coaches in the United States, Drew was determined to play baseball in the U.S. “So I looked at places with a warmer climate, like California, Florida, and Texas. I started in California because it was closest to home, and I just showed up. In baseball, that’s called a ‘walk-on.’ I told the coach I was going to play for him. He looked at me like I was a little bit crazy, but I made it through tryouts, and I made the team.  That was the beginning of my collegiate baseball career.”

“To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn’t good enough to be there. In Canada, we played 16 games a season. I was competing against guys who played 30. It’s an eye-opening experience to understand you’re not the best player around and don’t have the best tools. I knew I needed to work on it, and that’s what I did! It just wasn’t good enough for me to go home and not play. So, I started to teach myself nutrition and fitness. I was always in the gym or the kitchen. Soon I became the go-to guy of how to design a fitness program. I learned what foods are going to help me field, run faster and hit the ball further. That was my edge. That’s how I learned how to be a better athlete, and a better person.”

1. Put yourself out there a little bit.
2. Try some new things. You might be surprised at what you like, and what you discover you can do.
3. Believe in yourself.
4. Give yourself more options. Don’t limit yourself.
5. Get moving. People and opportunities don’t just magically appear.

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan