played video games, I built good sleep habits and went to bed early
each night. In the messy world of a college dorm, I made a point to
keep my room neat and tidy. These improvements were minor, but
they gave me a sense of control over my life. I started to feel confident
again. And this growing belief in myself rippled
into the classroom as I
improved my study habits and managed to earn straight A’s during my
first year.
A habit is a routine or behavior that is performed regularly—and, in
many cases, automatically. As each semester passed, I accumulated
small but consistent habits that ultimately led to results that were
unimaginable to me when I started. For example, for the first time in
my life, I made it a habit to lift weights
multiple times per week, and in
the years that followed, my six-foot-four-inch frame bulked up from a
featherweight 170 to a lean 200 pounds.
When my sophomore season arrived, I earned a starting role on the
pitching staff. By my junior year, I was voted
team captain and at the
end of the season, I was selected for the all-conference team. But it was
not until my senior season that my sleep habits, study habits, and
strength-training habits really began to pay off.
Six years after I had been hit in the face with a baseball bat, flown to
the
hospital, and placed into a coma, I was selected as the top male
athlete at Denison University and named to the ESPN Academic All-
America Team—an honor given to just thirty-three players across the
country. By the time I graduated, I was listed in the school record
books in eight different categories.
That same year, I was awarded the
university’s highest academic honor, the President’s Medal.
I hope you’ll forgive me if this sounds boastful. To be honest, there
was nothing legendary or historic about my athletic career. I never
ended up playing professionally. However, looking back on those
years, I believe I accomplished something just as rare: I fulfilled my
potential. And I believe the concepts in this
book can help you fulfill
your potential as well.
We all face challenges in life. This injury was one of mine, and the
experience taught me a critical lesson: changes that seem small and
unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re
willing to stick with them for years. We all deal with setbacks but in the
long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our
habits. With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But
with
better habits, anything is possible.
Maybe there are people who can achieve incredible success
overnight. I don’t know any of them, and I’m certainly not one of them.
There wasn’t one defining moment on my journey from medically
induced coma to Academic All-American; there were many. It was a
gradual evolution, a long series of small wins and tiny breakthroughs.
The only way I made progress—the only choice I had—was
to start
small. And I employed this same strategy a few years later when I
started my own business and began working on this book.
