160 - Find Joy and Happiness, and Success will Follow - See one, do one, teach one

One of my favorite college professors and good friend finished an e mail to me with this line when I told her I’d be transferring colleges. As a 21 year old college kid chasing ‘success’ in my academic, athletic, personal and career goals, I had never stopped to contemplate what ‘success’ really looked like. Conventionally, success is money, respect, good relationships, a husband, a career, higher educational degrees, a house, etc. Her line at the end of this e mail stood out to me and I printed it out. I carried it with me through grad school and my early career years, and I tried to always remember it when I was making a decision. “Find joy and happiness, and success will follow”. Traditionally, it’s “when you are successful, then you will be happy”. Dr. Bonner flipped this notion on it’s head for me. She gave me permission, if you will, to be happy and joyful, allowing the ‘success’ to come as an afterthought. That was probably my first real lesson in ‘the journey is the reward’. I am grateful to her for having the courage to tell me that early in my life, and so glad that I took it to heart. I try to show that to my players every day. Maybe not ‘find joy and happiness’, but rather ‘connect your passes to feet, and good things will follow’ , or ‘put the ball near the net’ and good things will follow. The true reward is in the effort, not the outcome.