The following comes from "The Carpenter" by Jon Gordon. I love this so much I'm going to print it and frame it and put in my office -- constantly reading it to reaffirm it. I'm also going to print it off and laminate it and place it in each player's locker -- I think it's that good:
The
way to success is the way of the craftsman, where you work really hard for
years. You show up every day. You do the work. You see yourself as an artist
dedicated to your craft with a desire to get better every day. You put your
heart and soul into your work as you strive for excellence. You desire to
create perfection, knowing you’ll never truly achieve it but hoping to get
close to it. You try new things. You fail. You improve. You grow. You face
countless challenges and tons of rejection that make you doubt yourself and cause
you to want to quit. But you don’t. You keep working hard, stay positive, and
persevere through it all with resilience, determination, and a lot of hope and
faith. Then you make it! Everyone wants to work with you. And the world says,
‘Where have you been?’ And you say, ‘I’ve been here all along, and hopefully
getting better day by day.’ To the world, you are an overnight success. To you,
the journey continues. You’re a craftsman who wants to make your next work of
art your best work no matter what you have accomplished in the past.