After you get home from working your 40-hours what do you do? The average American flips the TV on and zones out for five hours. They then spend another three hours on a computer or on a smartphone.
Something that my years refereeing hockey taught me is your job doesn’t end when the buzzer sounds. You can never stop learning and working to improve yourself. You must act like your competition is training 24x7x365 and keep going. You have to study the game and work your butt off in the gym, every single day. You have to own your craft. You can’t stop, because the second you do you are going to get beat out of the game by your competition.
Now that I’ve stepped away from hockey, I’ve maintained that same discipline and I’m working to keep that same mentality in the workplace. I won’t lie, it’s hard to not just sit back and relax because my competition now isn’t as visually in my face. But I do know it’s there, so I work like someone else is trying to beat me out of my position for my job. This drives me because I love my job here at Jenco, and I love the fact that I can support my family doing something I enjoy.
Bottom line is I need to make money to survive, be free and live what I consider to be a good life. We like our house, dining out, buying my son toys and going on vacations. So I study. My wife and I actually study a lot together and work to learn new things about our industry. I take part in book discussions, take advantage of courses online and offered through Jenco, and I read a lot. I’m doing it because I want to beat out my competition so I can continue to grow in the responsibilities I take on and ultimately make more money. Just like in hockey, except I hit the books now instead of the ice.
What are you doing to beat your competition?