DETERMINATION

I saw a Duracell commercial the other day, featuring Seattle Seahawks Fullback, Derrick Coleman that really inspired me. Here’s the link to this 1 minute commercial that will give you goose bumps!! Although I encourage you to Google Derrick Coleman to learn more about this amazing athlete, I want to share a little bit of what I learned about this young man.

Based on information gleaned from Wikipedia and the commercial, Derrick became legally deaf at the age of 3. He learned to play football using hearing aids and reading lips while growing up in California. He struggled through life and as a child he was picked on and was picked last. (Have you ever been there? It’s not a good feeling….)

Despite his hearing impairment, Coleman kept a happy, upbeat view on life. He is quoted as saying “Every day I wake up and I get a chance. I always say that God blessed me this morning and I can do what I do. Our time in this world is very limited. It can be gone now or it can be gone later so I take advantage of every opportunity I have whether it’s playing football, working or whatever. I’m just a happy guy.”

What a beautiful attitude!! He has a desire to succeed that surpasses 99% of America!! He was DETERMINED. The way you approach obstacles and challenges in your life (your attitude) determines your success or failure. He didn’t give up going after his dream and neither should you!!!

Coleman has also said “The biggest thing is, have no excuses in anything you do, and I’m not talking about just the hearing impaired, but everybody. If there’s something you truly want to do, you’ll find a way to do it. And it’s not going to be easy; it’s going to take a long time, and it’s going to be hard. Believe in your dream, and if you don’t get to your dream, make sure you’ve done everything you can to get there. Nobody’s perfect, everybody has something to overcome and everybody still has the opportunity to do what they want to do.”

“Every challenge I had, overcoming, it didn’t come quick. The biggest thing is just how persistent my mom and family were in not making me using my hearing aids as an excuse, telling me to work extra hard at everything I do as a person, no matter if I needed the hearing aids or not. Every kid faces some challenge growing up. I just had to prove to other people I was just like them, but I knew that right from the start, I was just as good as everybody else.”

My take away from researching this amazing athlete is that just like Derrick, we must always believe that WE WILL ACHIEVE OUR DREAMS AND GOALS if we’re DETERMINED ENOUGH and if we make a conscious decision every day to NEVER GIVE UP OR QUIT!!

What excuse has been holding you back?

Now that you’ve heard Derrick’s story, it’s your turn… Get rid of any negativity that might be holding you back, be thankful for the life you’ve been given and the blessings we so often take for granted, and then…. shoot for the stars!!