Brian Mitchell always says that a big part of success is based on how you interact with other people. Your reputation and how you care for others will play big roles in how your life plays out.
He thinks this is particularly important for professional athletes to keep in mind.
It’s a lot of fun and it’s very exciting to be a professional athlete. People treat you like you’re a star, they’ll defer to you, they’ll give you things, and they’ll treat you with a kind of respect you never imagined you’d receive.
When Brian was playing, he saw lots of his colleagues revel in the attention. There’s nothing wrong with that, but sometimes they would also start treating other people differently, as if the others weren’t as important as were the players.
Brian always tried to interact with everyone around him with respect and courtesy. For one thing, it’s how he would want to be treated. For another, he was always aware that his playing career would not last his lifetime, and that he’d want to be doing something else when his NFL career was over. He knew that someday he might be asking for time or favors from the same people that wanted those things from him while he was in the game—and he wanted them to recall that he always listened and helped out when he could.
When you’re a pro ball player, people pay a lot of attention to you. This is great for a lot of reasons, but it also means that people are making up their minds about what kind of person you are. And what happens when you’re no longer a pro ball player and you’re looking to launch your next career? The folks you might want help from are going to think about what kind of person they think you are.
Brian’s advice to pro athletes, which is also good advice for anybody, is to do what you can now to build a good reputation. Your good reputation may help you—just as your bad reputation may hurt you—somewhere down the road.
Brian Mitchell was an NFL star with a 14-year playing career. He developed a great reputation by treating people courteously and respectfully. Now he’s a successful television and radio host. Any group, but especially professional athletes or would-be professional athletes, would benefit from Mitchell’s inspirational presentation about the values of reputation, goal setting, and more. If you’re interested in booking Brian Mitchell, contact him at [email protected].