Are You A Ninja?

Are you a Ninja?

Strange question right?

Read on to find out what I'm rambling on about!

I read a great blog post from Seth Godin over the weekend. In Seth's blog post he talks about the short list (check out the post, it's well worth two minutes of your time). There are some great messages throughout the post but the final line struck me

'The secret of getting on the shortlist is doing your best work fearlessly for a long time before you get on the list, and (especially) doing it even if you're not on the list.'

That line reminded me of something I talked about in You're Hired - an insiders guide to becoming a strength and conditioning coach. If you want to work in high performance sport, you need to realise that it's a competitive profession - there are no overnight successes. Success requires a significant amount of work behind the scenes for many years.

Here's a brief section from Chapter 2: Stand out from the crowd. A long time ago I used to compete in Taekwon-Do. As you may be aware, in Taekwon-Do you progress through the belts (white, yellow, green, blue, red) and if you work hard enough, you become a black belt within about 3-years. So, 3-years, bang, you're there, black belt on. Lets be 'avin' you!  But now you move up into the 'Black Belt Class' and as a lowly first degree black belt you have to take your place at the back of the class, behind the seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third and second degree balck belts standing in front of you.

Yes, you are mixing it with the big boys, but you've still got a lot to learn. You've still got a long way to go to make it to the front of the class.

Working your way through university, getting your degree, your post graduate degree is a bit like getting your black belt. You've worked bloody hard and now you've graduated - surely securing a role working in high performance sport is going to be a natural progression.

Just because you're a black belt, it doesn't mean you're a ninja!

There a whole bunch of black belts standing in front of you, the hard work has only just begun.