Live Every Day In Fourth Quarter

It’s been a crazy week of being up til 2 or 3am in the morning every night so in hopes of me getting to bed before midnight tonight I asked my daughter Ashley to write about a recent lesson she’s learned. Here’s what she shared:

“Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big basketball fan… and knows my dreams were shattered when the 2020 NBA season came to a screeching halt. (Rudy Gobert definitely deserves his 3rd Defensive Player of the Year award… since ain’t nobody scoring buckets this year.) While I was in my dark, mopey, sport-less abyss and pit of despair… the heavens parted and delivered us all a saving grace— the 10 part Michael Jordan docu-series on ESPN that the world needed but didn’t deserve called “The Last Dance”.

If you haven’t seen it, I can’t recommend it enough (the clean sensored version of course!) Even those who aren’t big basketball fans walk away with some incredible insights and new motivation. Though I could go on for hours about all the things I learned from watching, today I’ll capitalize on just one principle that has especially hit home recently— to play every “game” like it’s your last and the whole “game” like it’s fourth quarter.

Throughout the docu-series it becomes clear that MJ lived this principle every single day. Every single game. Every single second in the game. He played his very best. He gave it his absolute all. Including… no… ESPECIALLY in his infamous “flu-game” against the Utah Jazz which is still a sensitive subject here in Utah. That man never accepted anything but his very best on the court and expected the very best out of others. When asked if Michael viewed himself as a “nice guy” he gave an incredible speech about the price that comes with winning and leadership. Though MJ was pretty intense and may have clashed with others, he respected the game enough to push himself and his teammates to give it their all. When he pushed, they rose to the occasion.

Last week one of my husband’s close friends died unexpectedly in a rock climbing accident. Her sudden passing was a strong reminder of that important lesson MJ lived by– to live every day like it’s your last. To give it your very all. Life’s too short to procrastinate, put off, or make excuses. We owe it to ourselves, our families, our friends, and others around us to give it our very best and our all EVERY DAY.

This week and that MJ docu-series was a good wake up call to me and I hope it can serve as a wake up call to you as well. I’m ready to live a little bit more “like Mike”.

~Ashley Anderson Hill (daughter of Amy Rees Anderson, author of the newly released book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.