Leadership Principle #3 - Work Ethic

Some of you know that I love Crossfit. And each year there is an Olympic style Crossfit games. The best athletes from around the world compete to be the "Fittest in the World."

Matt Fraser has won 3 straight years in a row. He dominates and leaves everyone else far behind. I love watching him because he is just so good. I was curious what made him THAT good. Because physically he looks the same as all the other athletes. And if everyone wants to win, what makes him different.

I watched a documentary about him and here's what I learned.

• His work ethic and mindset set him apart.

• Every day of training is a competition to him.

• He motivates himself. He doesn't have a coach with him. He does most of his workouts in his basement alone.

• He doesn't even listen to music. He wants to hear his own thoughts. To hear himself coaching himself.

• The competition only comes once a year. But it reveals the work that was put in the rest of the year when no one was watching.

• At the games he gets to wear the leader jersey. A t-shirt that says "Leader" on the back so everyone knows that he's coming in first.

That's our topic this week - leaders work hard. They are the hardest working. Not just when people are watching. But in the hard moments where they need to find the motivation within themselves. They give the same effort whether someone is watching or they are alone. They aren't doing it for the crowd, they are doing it for themselves.

And the moments where they are recognized might be very few and far between. No one is cheering for Matt when he has a great workout in his basement. They only cheer once a year. Just like us, no one is cheering when you have the best practice on a Friday afternoon.

As a team, we need to envision ourselves wearing the leader jersey at every practice and every game. We work hard. We "leave it all on the field."

What would it look like for us to work hard as leaders on this team?