“When you don’t have the best of everything, make the best of what you have”.

“When you don’t have the best of everything, make the best of what you have”.

Many Folks in the State of Georgia could tell me who said this. Many of those could probably tell me the date in which Coach Erk Russell stated that when you don’t have the best of everything, well, you just have to make the best of what you have”. Coach Russell was responding to a question of how he had managed to build a Championship Football program from nothing with a shoe string budget, and WIN multiple NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Georgia Southern still holds many “reminders” of those days. These days Georgia Southern Football can afford nice uniforms, but they choose to “dance with who brought ‘em”. They still wear a very basic uniform. This reminds them of where the program came from and that you don’t need fancy uniforms to be champions

This thought reminds me of the young men that I worked with at The Citadel and at VMI. These Cadets had no Air Conditioning, and no phones. Their schedule was full from 5:00AM until they finally went to sleep, sometime after midnight, when their studying was done. Both groups of men earned the best education in their respected states.

I once heard a coach tell a recruit: “you don’t come here for the next 4 years of your life; you come here for AFTER the next 4 years of your life”.  Think about it. Have you ever seen a Graduate of The Citadel or of VMI that was not a success? These men … and women (now) look past the luxuries of a social life on Thursday nights, wearing clothes of their choice in 100 degree heat. They do not focus on what they do not have. Their focus is on their mission or on their goal. They think WIN. WIN is what Coach Lou Holtz says stands for What’s Important Now. They have a short term or NOW goal, which is their mission. All of their short term goals lead them to their long term goal, of successful lives, leaders of their communities, great fathers, and great husbands. They carry this in to life. This IS why many do not graduate without a job waiting on them.

These qualities are not limited to graduates of these two schools, BUT you will be hard pressed to find a graduate of these schools that do not have these qualities.

The message here is to focus on your goal. DO NOT give a moment thought as to way you cannot do something. Focus on how you can. MAKE IT HAPPEN. WIN ANYWAY. Decide what it is that you want. Make a plan and then GO GET IT.

If your goal involves fitness, you do not need a fancy health club. You just need to get off the sofa and get outside. MOVE! Go for a walk. Cut the grass. Heck, go meet your neighbors (there is not enough of that anymore). If you have no training equipment; body weight exercises are fantastic. Do something other than sit wishing. All the planning in the world only goes so far. The key is ACTION.

Stop think about why not and do it!!! … NOW!!!