I don’t care what it is. Sports, business, faith, you name it. I’ll take a hungry beginner over a coasting veteran. Attitude is almost everything. Talent matters. It matters to the extent in which it will outlast another person’s hunger. Some people don’t have to practice in order to be the best – for a time. Some people don’t have to develop, learn, or struggle to grow. But eventually, the talent will reach its inevitable ceiling and hunger takes over. Attitude takes over. Will you push or will you get pushed?
Give me a hungry beginner. They don’t know what they don’t know. They’re teachable. They’re willing to fail. Their hunger is still greater than their fear of failing. And that’s powerful. A coasting veteran knows what they know. They’ve read all the books (when they were hungry) and they have developed their system, their strategy over the years and have figured out what works.
Give Me a Hungry Beginner Over a Coasting Veteran
Startup companies can topple their competitors because they’re hungry. They have to be innovative, try new things, take risks, and be okay with failing. The large corporations that are their competitors have become mammoths. To change course takes a long time. They upgrade what they already have. They fail at thinking outside of what they already do.
Athletes know that when they lose the hunger, they lose their job. If you think you’ve arrived, think again. You’ll be arriving on the pine in no time.
Employers want someone who is hungry enough to learn, push, and lead. Richard, the guy in the corner office, is there because he had some hunger that propelled him to arrive to his job every day and get at it. He developed, learned, pushed, and led. If he loses that hunger, he’ll lose that corner office.
Little League and the Drive of Development
The summer before my wife and I left Fort Wayne, Indiana to move to Cincinnati to pursue ministry, I took on the challenge of coaching 8-11 year old boys in little league baseball.
My team was full of raw talent, but that talent hadn’t been developed in many of my players. If they were hungry enough, we would be in for a treat by the time the season was over.
I pushed those kids. I encouraged them, gave them the tools they needed, and let them wrestle with the frustration of failing.
When they saw the first sign that they were improving, we were on our way. They became even more hungry to improve, to win.
We made a run in the playoffs because those boys discovered that hunger made a difference. It drove them to work at the great game of baseball.
The Best Workers
We were created to work. Adam and Eve had a job. They didn’t just sit around in Eden sipping lattes.
Christians should be the best business owners, best employees, and the best contractors. Why? Because it is at our foundational belief to do everything as if we are doing it for God.[shareable]Christians should be the best business owners, best employees, and the best contractors.[/shareable]
What business owner or hiring manager wouldn’t want a person of principle who is hungry to do his/her best to work for them? What client wouldn’t want a person who is going to be honest and courteous, who knows what they are doing, and is always developing their skills to do work for them?
We need Christ followers in the marketplace who care about what they do, who will do what is right, who will work hard, who will honor God in their work.
There could be a day where a business owner, a manager, or a client says, “I may not agree with them, but there is something about them that makes them have joy and to do amazing work.”
That day starts today.
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