Disclaimer: This post
has nothing to do with the Paleo Diet and everything to do with life.
I graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2007, one of
the premier educational institutions in the United States and a place where
every twenty-two-year old is overly convinced of their own brilliance. The graduation speaker that year was Brian
Billick, the then-Head Coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Many of my classmates, particularly the
"intellectual ones," scoffed at this choice, believing there was
nothing they could learn from a football coach.
They would have preferred the Director of the National Institutes of
Health, or some other academic, give the address. After all, athletes are stupid, meatheads,
duh.
Billick's speech centered around the bacon and egg
breakfast, an analogy emphasizing the commitment of one animal verses the lack
thereof of another. As you might expect,
the pig is committed whereas the chicken is not. Consistent with their biased expectations,
the majority of my classmates dismissed Billick's speech as the thoughts of a
simple-minded football coach. I did not
share their view at the time, and over the years I have become more convinced
of the speech's wisdom.
Commitment is difficult to define, yet it is divining rod
for success. An athlete either
demonstrates a willingness to pursue success, or they make excuses for their
"less-than" performances. I
see this contrast every day at the gym where people put forth the minimum
amount of effort yet expect the maximum of return. They feel entitled to success, because they
"showed up." The Woody Allen
adage states, "Showing up is 80 percent of life,” but people have
paraphrased the quote to state, “90 percent of success is just showing up.” I think that's crap. Showing up earns an athlete a "C"
in my book, because they met the minimum requirement. To earn a higher mark, they must show me more
– did they arrive early to perform a complete warm-up? did they take care of
their dietary needs between workouts? did they prioritize recovery outside the
gym, i.e. go to bed before midnight?
did they spend time addressing their personal weaknesses? Positive responses to
these questions reflect an athlete's commitment; negative answers reveal their
lack thereof.
It took me years to define "commitment" and apply
the lessons, but Billick's words still ring true today – "In a bacon and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. Be that pig."
