I recently came across a great article that was written by Nnamdi Asomugha, a premier athlete in the National Football League. He was reflecting back to his rookie year in 2003 and sharing hid advice to the incoming rookies this season. I thought all of his lessons for NFL rookies were extremely applicable to young professionals after college. Below is his advice for NFL rookies in BOLD, followed by my thoughts on each and how they apply to young professionals:
- SET YOUR ALARM FOR A REASONABLE TIME – Make sure to show up early every single day. How difficult is it to show up 15-30 minutes before everyone else? If you have trouble waking up in the morning, then go to sleep earlier. Showing up early gives you a big advantage over your colleagues and will help you separate yourself from the others.
- BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY TO PLAY THE GAME – There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence…. You must be confident in your abilities and have a chip on your shoulder to be successful.
- BE SMARTER THAN YOU WERE THE DAY BEFORE – Imagine how much better off you will be in 5 years if you learn something new each day. Knowledge is power and it will give you a tremendous edge as you work hard to quickly advance your career.
- DONT LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE – Be as versatile as possible and volunteer to do anything and everything you possibly can. Learning a variety of skills and areas of your occupation will only help you and potentially open up doors you never knew existed.
- STAY OUT OF THE TRAINING ROOM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN – When a football player is in the training room, he is unable to compete for a starting position and impress the coaching staff. The same goes for your career – if you aren’t playing the game well every day, you won’t be visible to your employer and will miss out on great opportunities.
- DON’T COUNT HEADS – A significant number of rookies in the NFL don’t make the roster out of training camp. In many businesses, younger employees come and go pretty frequently. Don’t waste your time worrying about what other people are doing, just focus on your own success. If you show up every day, work harder than those around you and constantly strive to get better, it won’t matter what others are doing because you will be way ahead of them.
The bottom line is that there isn’t much difference between professional athletes and any other young professionals, the same rules apply. And the truth is, the same mistakes are being made and the same types of people are successful. This isn’t overly complicated – if you work hard, give your best to your work, have a great attitude, learn every day and surround yourself with the right people, you will undoubtedly be successful in your career!
You can check out the full article HERE. Hope you enjoyed!