Hustle Beats Talent - Every Time
Growing up, I wanted to be a professional baseball player.
The problem? I wasn’t the biggest, fastest, or strongest kid on the field. I didn’t throw the hardest or hit the furthest. But I was the hungriest.
My dad bought an old shrimp net and rigged it to a homemade structure with some 2x4s. That became my batting cage. I hit balls into that net every day after school until I was made to come inside. No coaches watching. No cameras rolling. Just a kid with a dream and a practice routine.
It wasn’t talent that made the difference. It was practice. Obsession. Reps.
In The Steady Leader, we talk about avoiding the trap of being a “three-to-five player”—someone who only puts in the minimum amount of effort and expects exceptional results. That’s not how excellence works. We actually need to show up early, stay late, and carve out more time in our days to intentionally become great.
Larry Bird once said, “I always believed that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." I couldn’t agree more.
In his book, Never Play It Safe, Chase Jarvis refers to “The Three Pillars of Practice” as a framework for hard work:
Fundamentals – Do them daily.
Process – Love it more than the outcome.
Identity – Practice what aligns with who you want to become.
It’s not about being born the best. It’s about becoming your best through deliberate, daily effort. Focus on progress – and getting better at something every day. Progress goals create attention that turns into daily rituals. Rituals, done long enough, turn into habits. Good habits, executed long enough, create progress and positive results.
So here’s your challenge:
Identify the dream.
Align your actions.
Build a practice routine.
Because the best don’t always start as the best—they become the best by staying on the field after everyone else has gone home.
Stay steady. Hustle harder.
~Schuyler
Written by Schuyler Williamson
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God Bless!
~ Schuyler Williamson