Whatever you are be a good one. Know your role, accept your role, and work hard to perfect it. If you are called on to be a screener in your team's offense, be the best screener in your conference. Learn the proper screening angle, get your timing down, take pride in getting a shooter open -- each and every time.
If your coach says you are a defensive specialist then make your "defense special." Work hard each day in practice to shut down your teammate to make her/him better. Give diligence to your scouting report and make sure you are prepared to make your opponent's game a nightmare.
If your coach says you'll be coming off the bench, make sure you have your head and heart into the game -- into each timeout -- studying all that is going on -- so that when you get in the game you can make a difference in the game.
If you aren't getting into the game, be the best teammate you can be on the bench. Show great enthusiasm the entire game -- encourage your teammates -- "coach" your other teammates on the bench up.
Pablo Picasso, the great Spanish painter and sculptor, once said this about his ability: 'My mother said to me, if you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as Pope. Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.' No lack of confidence here!
But he would have agreed with Abraham Lincoln. 'Whatever you are,' said Lincoln, 'be a good one.' He demonstrated the wisdom of that advice with his own life. And in this present age, which often seems to be contented with mediocrity, his words summon a yearning for improvement and growth.
I think it helps to remember that excellence is not a place at which we arrive so much as a way of traveling. To do and be our best is a habit among those who hear and understand Lincoln's admonition.
Viennese-born composer Frederick Loewe, whom we remember from his musical scores that include - My Fair Lady, Gigi and Camelot, was not always famous. He studied piano with the great masters of Europe and achieved huge success as a musician and composer in his early years. But when he immigrated to the United States, he failed as a piano virtuoso. For a while he tried other types of work including prospecting for gold and boxing. But he never gave up his dream and continued to play piano and write music.
During those lean years, he could not always afford to make payments on his piano. One day, bent over the keyboard, he heard nothing but the music that he played with such rare inspiration. When he finished and looked up, he was startled to find that he had an audience - three moving men who were seated on the floor.
They said nothing and made no movement toward the piano. Instead, they dug into their pockets, pooled together enough money for the payment, placed it on the piano and walked out, empty handed. Moved by the beauty of his music, these men recognized excellence and responded to it.
Whatever you are, be a good one. If what you do is worth doing, if you believe that who you are is of value, then you can't afford to be content with mediocrity. When you choose the path of excellence through this life, you will bring to it your best and receive the best it can offer in return. And you will know what it is to be satisfied.
