Column by John Morris
Growing up we hear about the real world. We have school to prepare us for the real world, parents to help us prepare, and spiritual and life experiences to help you prepare for the real world. But one thing that adds in preparing you for the real world is sports.
Sports have almost as many scenarios as life. It’s unpredictable and it’s never fair. We can love it, but it will not love you back and it can be gone in any given moment.
It pushes us in ways that you never thought were possible. If we get pushed out of our comfort zone, we have to adapt quickly.
In terms of the sports world every few years you move up in the level of play. You may go from the stud player to a guy on the bench.
But each time you go up in the level regardless of where you are, we always have to work our way back up the totem pole.
The same applies for jobs: there is a hierarchy and someone to answer to. And every so often you can be someone the company looks to and get promoted or demoted.
For example, if we’re going to get a job a person must come with a well written resume but in sports a player must prove their worth on film and the person’s salary is based on your performance.
Some jobs are made for those who want to work alone. Just like in sports some are more self-rewarding like tennis, track and field or golf.
Yet even with those jobs and particular sports a person still has some type of teamwork involved and this helps you progress and get better.
For instance, with most jobs there might be people that we may not always agree with, but have to get along in order to progress.
Sports help us learn to be diverse, connect and work well with others. We must learn to rely on others to do their jobs and if things don’t go well with coaches or so in the real world, the employer will have to make a change.
The biggest similarity between the real world and sports is competition. We live in a very competitive world.
As the saying goes, “It’s a dog eat dog world.” There are people going out looking for jobs and the companies or employers looking for whom they think is best to help progress their brand.
Just like there are teams and schools looking for who they believe is the best to fit for their program or league and will help them progress.
Each and every year the cycle continues when there’s new people to fill those positions and replace a person if need be.
This goes from the top to the bottom no matter where you are in the job or team being replaced is easier than maintaining. Not only do you have to maintain but you must evolve as well.
This goes to show that nothing is guaranteed or promised in either of the fields.
A person must always be willing to adapt or change, be able to come up with new ideas or find more than one way to contribute.
We would like to be dependent in more than one skill rather than dependent on one.
Whatever that one skill is or that one job is what if it is no longer needed or some one can do it that and more. The more we can do the more useful we are.