When I was in third grade, my teacher, Mrs. Cheek, put up a list of the top 10 students in the first grading period. There were only 25 kids in the class, but my name was not on the list. She put it up on this little chalkboard right beside the regular blackboard and I had to go in there every day for six weeks and stare at it, and that really ticked me off.
After that, for the next five grading periods, my name was the first one on the list. To see my mother's reaction when I brought those report cards home was so important.
Whenever asks me how I came to be so competitive, I trace it directly back to that experience. I kept trying to be a good student for those two reasons: because I wanted my name on that board and because I thought it would make my mom happy. Not because I saw it taking me anywhere.
From "Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court" by Roy Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment