What does it take to beat the odds?

Maybe a better question is; how can we re-evaluate the situation we are in, to be able to become all that we are made for?

Recently, I was made aware of a young man named Brandon Burlsworth and how he did all the he could do to make a National Football League team. Now someone of you who are not sports fans may be tempted to ignore the rest of this blog, but please bear with this introduction as you are going to find out a few things about Brandon and how his actions can also help you.

I’ve learned that Brandon started his life as a little scrawny, that meaning skinny. He spent the first year of high school football watching from the sidelines.

The next summer brought a big growth surge and something to Brandon that in my opinion does not happen at times for some teenagers – he developed a work ethic. His high school coaches were stunned at his size when he came back to school in the fall and he just dominated the competition. He spent numerous hours in the weight room doing all he could to get stronger, with his goal of eventually becoming a member of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team.

In his last year of high school, Brandon and his family knew that he needed one thing in particular if he was to go to the University of Arkansas, that was a scholarship. To make a long story a bit shorter he got invited to be a walk-on. That means that you are on the team but receive no form of financial aid.

When the Razorbacks training started, his teammates noticed how hard he practiced and how he never gave up. He didn’t dress the first two games of his first-year season, but was to be on the field for the third game. When the season came to an end the school decided to give him a scholarship. For the next three years, Brandon started for the Razorbacks.

What I found so interesting is that he was very focused, he didn’t take a summer off, he worked on campus doing odd jobs and taking classes. Due to this by his fourth year he was already finishing his Master’s degree.

It was in this year that his family knew that if he was going to continue playing football, he was going to have to enter the National Football League draft, which he did.

In the Draft he was drafted in the 3^rd Round by the Indianapolis Colts. In short order he was at the Colts mini-camp. Mini-camp is a short camp held usually in the spring of each year. The mini-camp usually only lasts 3 days. These camps are focused on getting the newly drafted rookies familiarized to the playing schemes. And it also gives the coaches the opportunity to see their new players in action.

I also learned that Brandon had what I call a 3-fold purpose driven life. It was Faith; then Family; then Football. Every week, Brandon drove home as his family and his faith meant a great deal to him. Every week he arrived right on time, so when he was two hours late one evening, his mother started to get worried. The family found out later that he had veered over the dividing lines on the road and collided head-on with a semi and died instantly.

While Brandon Burlsworth only lived for 22 years, he had done a lot in those years. He is also a great example of a person who didn’t favor the idea that he was doomed because of his background and the social and environmental forces in his life.

His true self was made public in the 2016 movie ‘Greater’. A former Indianapolis coach Howard Mudd stated that he saw somethings in Burlsworth that set him aside;

• he was devout in his Christian faith and always respectful,
• Brandon worked hard and was often the first person at the facility before coaches would arrive,
• he was always working to perfect his techniques,
• Brandon prepared for everything in his life, and
• he had a mental toughness and was so focused that he was going to find a way to make things happen.

Before I conclude, I’d like to mention that his jersey number 77 became just the second number to be retired by the Arkansas Razorbacks. His locker was encased in glass to serve as a reminder to all who follow him. That reminder is an example of what it takes to succeed.

While you and I might not be in a competitive sport, we are in a competitive world.

I am a firm believer that when you see someone who exhibits fabulous behavior, we need to embrace it.

So, in conclusion, I have a few questions for you;

• How can you become more impassioned to things that are important to you and always be respectful to others in the pursuit of those things?
• How can you work harder and be the first person at your place of business even before the boss will arrive?
• What are you doing to perfect your techniques or actions?
• How can you prepare for more in your life?
• What can you do to create a stronger mental toughness so that you become so focused that you can find a way to make things happen?