North of Montgomery

On a few occasions this week, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes:  “How you do anything is how you do everything.” 

While I could fill this space for the rest of the semester with anecdotes, here are a few examples that have resonated most with me:

• Aspiring sushi chefs may apprentice for five years cleaning the kitchen and utensils before they are even allowed near the rice.  Preparing the rice to the master’s standard may take even longer before the apprentice is allowed to hold a knife or prepare ingredients.
• Usain Bolt:  “I trained four years to run only 9 seconds.”  Athletes planning to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics are currently on year five of their current training cycle. 
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would only allow one man in Montgomery, AL to shine his shoes, who had “a Ph.D. in shoe-shining.”

What do all these folks have in common and what can I learn from their examples?  The first and foremost is patience.  The second is to have impeccably high standards.  The third is to make a daily decision to choose our mindset. 

Here’s a great article I came across from Michael Phelps, who is also no stranger to the grind, about choosing optimism:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddnordstrom/2021/01/07/record-breaking-optimism-with-michael-phelps/?sh=67542a2c6122

What will we choose this week?