Right before Michael Jordan’s last game ever played, someone asked him, “Michael, what really sets you apart from everyone else? What makes you great? Is it your talent, your skill or your work ethic?” Michael looked at him and said, “I do have talent and I have skill, but it’s my standards that set me apart. Every day I demand more from myself than anyone else could humanly expect. I am not competing with myself, I am competing with what I am capable of.”

Lets be honest for a second. Lets go down vulnerability street. So I have been out of integrity with a few things. Over the past 7 months, I have been working on a dream and shortly that will become a reality. However, the standards that I set for myself in terms of mind, body, and soul are not being met by me. I am living a productive life, but I am not yet living the live that I have dreamed of for so long. Hard to admit, but true. I will always tell myself that being honest when things aren’t happening is the only true courage. You have to go out and make them happen – I truly believe this.

So I read the Michael Jordan quote and understand where he is coming from entirely. I have been to that place where I have set standards for myself that seem impossible by others, and that is mostly the reason why I am here in the first place. But now as I look at my life and what I want for myself, I see that there is plenty of room to grow. Plenty of ability to dream bigger and bigger. It’s not that I need to do this for someone else….it’s that I must do this for me. I must fully become the man I know I designed in my dreams. I must because I can.

I have drawn it out on my chalkboard in my room everything that I need to do in order to get to where I want to be. I attacked the board with color and was left with something pretty amazing. Mapping your mind out for you to see is an incredible exercise. Because it gives you the ability to make things real. First is went from you mind…then to real writing…and then all you have to do is go out and actually do it. Combine your vaulting ambition with the ability to go from one failing to the next without any loss of passion for your dream…and you will sure enough achieve what you set out to do.

You create yourself each and every day. If you want something different, go out and get something different. Don’t wait around because it will never be given to you. Strike. Strike. Strike. When that iron is hot go out and strike. I am on a new journey…and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project