Elevating Your Game: Lessons from NFL Draft Families

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Dennis Guzik is back for another episode of the Be the Ultimate podcast

• He always tells his listeners what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear

• Dennis was watching the first round of the NFL draft and noticed a pattern among the families of chosen players

• These players have worked relentlessly and put in countless hours of training to reach their goals

• In the Marine Corps, hard work and discipline are essential for success and promotion to leadership positions

• While movies may depict super-powered individuals, in real life hard work and dedication lead to success

• If you want to get promoted in your career, you must be willing to put in extra effort and constantly learn new things about your profession

• This mindset can set you apart from your coworkers and help you progress in your career faster

• Remember, careers are a competition and it's important to always strive for improvement

• As Vince Lombardi once said, "The man at the top of the mountain didn't just fall there"

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, folks.
Well, I'm back, the old jarheadDennis Guzik, with the Be the
Ultimate Podcast where I giveyou great career advice.
And today is just that.
Today I'm also going back to myadage that I'm going to tell
you what you need to hear, notnecessarily what you want to

(00:23):
hear.
So let's get on with today'spodcast.
So the other day I was watchingthe first round of the NFL draft
.
So for those of you who do notknow, this is where American
football players, after playingfootball at a university, get
selected to play professionalfootball at the team that
chooses them.

(00:44):
So the teams with the worstrecord last season get to pick
early in the draft and the firstplayers chosen are typically
the best of the best.
So as I was watching the draft,I would see that a team would
choose a specific player to beon their team.
Then that player would go onstage for photographs and such
Meanwhile.
The player's family and friendswould be offstage celebrating

(01:08):
and there'd be an announcer ofsome sort or a reporter I don't
know what you'd call that personbut typically would go
backstage to interview thefamily of the chosen player.
Now, remember, these guys havereally proven themselves over
many competitions and thequestion the reporter would ask
the family is how do you feelabout your son being chosen to

(01:29):
play in the NFL?
And almost every one of themsaid they were so excited and
that their son had worked sohard to get where he is today.
They talk about the relentlesstraining, even in the off season
.
They talked about the earlymorning training to push
themselves further and theytalked about how now all of that

(01:50):
hard work is paying off.
I've seen several things in mybeloved Marine Corps where hard
work and training is the normand how it worked to promote the
best of the best to seniorranks and leadership positions.
Now the media like movies andthese sorts of things.
They have superpower humans whocould do all kinds of things,
but that is not real life.
We don't have superpowers, butwe do have super people and they

(02:14):
get this way by hard work anddiscipline.
So again, remember, I'm goingto tell you what you need to
hear, not necessarily want tohear.
So how about your career?
Do you want to get promoted andadvance in your career?
If so, are you putting in thehard work needed to get there?
Are you on your off timereading and learning things
about your chosen profession.

(02:35):
If this sort of thing is simplypart of your life, of your
daily life, then good.
If not, then you should expect.
How should you expect toadvance?
Maybe your coworkers are doingthis and they get promoted ahead
of you.
At my last job there wereseveral young ladies that were
really smart and talented and ifyou're a listening ladies, you

(02:56):
know who you are.
But they absolutely outworkedothers, myself included, and
they have progressed the seniorranks at that company well above
their peers, well above what Iwas okay, and they absolutely
deserve it because of their hardwork.
Whether you like it or not,careers are a competition and
whether you want it to be so ornot, think about putting in the

(03:18):
extra effort, even just a littlebit, every day, to see how this
works for you.
So that's my thought for thispodcast.
As Vince Lombardi, legendaryfootball coach, once said, the
man at the top of the mountaindidn't just fall there.
So thanks for listening to theold jarhead ramblings and please
share these podcasts with yourfriends and colleagues.

(03:39):
Check out my book.
Find a Job that Fits your Life.
You may be surprised to findthat you're not in the career
you should be.
Thanks for listening.
Bye, thank you, thank you.