Jordan, Consistant and True

I just finished watching Jordan's response to the "What Should I do" LeBron commercial. I know it's been written for him and it may not even be his true thoughts on the whole LeBron matter, but I love it. One thing is for sure, Jordan's marketing team has always kept him consistent in his commercials and message. The message is true on the court as well as in life.

Jordan's retort to LeBron is about his work ethic and how he used his failures to fuel his success. Jordan apologizes for making it look easy, for making it look as though it was effortless, for making it look as though success began and ended during the game. As I watched this commercial I thought about how true this is in life.

Most poeple see great success and think that it's easy because the professionals make it look easy. It only looks easy because of all the hard work they put in before you ever saw it. Great attorney's don't become great in the court room. They become great in the law library. Great athletes don't become great on the field of play. They become great in the gym and the in the film room. Great relationships don't become that way at the anniversary. They become great day in and day out as people love, sacrifice, give, and suffer for one another. Greatness is never easy.

LeBron seems to have missed this lesson in life. He thought he was going to win because he was him. He thought since it didn't come in Cleveland it would come in Miami with more superstars. Turns out you need hard work even when surrounded by a bunch of talent. This has been missed as LeBron has complained about playing to many minutes and his sidekick Chris Bosh has been quoted as saying, "We just want to chill." Jordan's lesson has been lost on these two.

LeBron and company are not alone. Many of us have thought that success was going to come easy. Some thought because we were educated black men success would find us. Some of us thought because we were the big fish in our small pond that the world would just recognize and bow at our feet. Some, like my former partner, thought that life was supposed to be perfect and when it wasn't jumped ship. Life is not easy in any sense of the word. Failure is easy. Pain is guaranteed. Overcoming is not.

I remember watching Shaquil O'Neal talking about kids working out. He said, "Some people don't know what it means to work hard. They think they're working hard but they're not working hard." This is where we have come. We don't know how to work through things. We don't know how to struggle. How to press on. How to overcome and triumph victoriously. We have lost the work ethic. We have lost our drive. Nobodies hungry. Hence, nobodies productive.

Jordan is no saint. By no means perfect. He was great where he worked toward greatness, the court. The man failed in quite a few other spots in life. Some major. Yet, he is right when he says that it was his drive to fix his failures that made him great. Look back at Mike's commercials. They have always had the theme that failure drove him. Whether it was being cut from his high school team, being drafted second in the NBA draft, or being laughed at by Larry Bird when he scored 63 and lost, he has always maintained that his shortcomings pushed him onward. Learn from him on this note. Don't let failure be the last word. Let it be the beginning of your story toward greatness.