Persitance Leads to Success

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

PERSISTANCE LEADS TO SUCCESS

It was my junior year in high school and also my first year ever touching a football. The courage it took to step on the field with guy’s twice my size ultimately brought me to where I am today. I stood at 5’10 145 pounds just finishing my 6 year career in the marching band. As I think back, I really did not know what I was thinking when I told myself that football was my new hobby or what I called my new “extra curricular activity”. I guess the peer pressure and the ridicule from my peers had a lasting effect on me, but everything inside of me wanted to prove to them that I could play football.

Once I finally got on the field (the practice field), what kept me fearless was the realization that the guys lining up across from me were my friends from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that did not stop them from laying punishment on me in addition to helping me endure some of the worst pain that my body has ever experienced. As the year ended, I grew tired of lending my fresh equipment out during each game, which by the way left me almost bare without any equipment on by the fourth quarter. Furthermore, getting playing time only when we were down by 35 or more, was just as embarrassing as being known as the “human equipment room”.

By my senior year, after intense training and a disciplined eating habit, I returned with a vengeance and quickly became a key starter on defense. My teammates and I finished the season 0-8, but our record did not match the amount of talent we had on our roster. Being from a city that had a “bad reputation of breeding athletes with negative characteristics and low work ethic”, the chances of any college scout or coach coming to recruit me was very low. It was ONLY by chance that I came across a coach from Ferris State University (Division II) who gave me an opportunity to play college ball. One year later after my freshman year at Ferris, I transferred to Michigan State University football and landed a spot on the team roster. As a result of persistence, hard work and natural athleticism, I eventually locked a spot on the second team defense (considering I walked on and was behind an All Big Ten canidate). As of today, I am continuing my football career at the professional level playing Arena Football while still aspiring to play in the NFL. The many playing opportunities that were given to me are of high value. I would have never thought that I would be playing side by side with the same All Americans I envied while I was in high school nor did I think I would playing against great players in the Arena Football League.

As I look at top ranked University of South Florida’s roster and see how a majority of their players did not receive a single Division I scholarship, I speculate all the possible stories they may own. In addition, the USF football team has also helped produce three future 2008 first round picks who will finally receive all the benefits of their hard work and drive to better themselves as an athlete. There are many over rated athletes, but there are even more over looked athletes who desire for an open door of opportunity. We at DAASH ( a online recruiting business and academic assistance for athletes) know what an athlete needs because we are the athlete and athletes are us. Now standing at 6’2 260 pounds I am not just the President of DAASH Athletic Enterprises, Inc., I have been where many athletes want to go and have overcome many difficulties while getting there, now I am creating a way for more athletes to receive the exposure they deserve.

Eze Ejelonu

President / CEO

DAASH Athletic Enterprises

http://www.daashathletics.com/

Whats holding You Back

Life Behind Invisible Bars

Life is filled with barriers that normally can stop most people in there tracks. I do a lot of consulting in my businesses. I operate a Mortgage Company, Tax and Accounting Practice and Small Home Improvement Company. So I get my fair share of people to see where most people have invisible bars installed in there minds. In my case my invisible bars were numerous and very real to me. Mine all came from self imposed limitations I put on myself, I was not tall enough, I did not have the best grammar, I was black, would anyone would take someone serious that wore hats all the time. Well I am living proof that most of your Invisible bars are just that invisible to you and the world. Take time after reading this to analyze what invisible bars you have imagined. The most frequently ones I hear are

· Man I could never run my own business, I could never do what you do

· I get nervous talking to a lot of people, I have stage fright

· I could never take a chance and do what you did

· The best one for last, but man you are different it comes easy for you

For all that may not know I have had all the same doubts, fears, and concerns, but I persevered through all of my fears. Why, you might ask, I was more of afraid of not doing anything. I know that I am not the only one that have worked in environments where you felt your superiors were not superior to you in any way, or that in blunt words were idiots. Well one too many inferior managers/ supervisors told me what to do and I finally had it. I made up in my mind that if they could do it I could do it 10 times better. This was the start of my insatiable appetite to be in change that I was, my gut told me that I could be the one in charge, could be the one making the decision, be the one to lead and not be left behind.

This is very important for all you that are afraid of taking unknown risk. Take the risk, but be prepared do your homework. Poor preparation leads to poor performance in most cases, be prepared for success. Success is a science, not something that happens to a select few by accident. Look for success and it can happen to you. This is for all those on the fence about change, it can happen to you in a matter of minutes, or over time, the key is to first believe and then change will happen.

In closing I would like to add that as I have stated earlier in my letter I have started a few businesses in my time and I know when I see a good one. I am not one to follow many, but the people and the clear vision YTB has in place is exciting. It is hard for me to keep my enthusiasm under raps in most cases. I know, not think, I know that with a couple years of hard work, I can have the freedom I have longed for, you can too, if you just open yourself to the opportunity that is in front of you.

Darrick H Scruggs

Author

Life Behind Invisible Bars

Lifebehindinvisiblebars.blogspot.com

Being Black in America

Being Black in America

We hear daily of the mass exodus of minorities being railroaded into prisons and other types of reformatory situations. Many of us know all too well that being Black in America is often synonymous with being “guilty” in America. Although blacks account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, 44 percent of all prisoners in the United States are black. Census data for 2000,which included a count of the number and race of all individuals incarcerated in the United States, reveals the dramatic racial disproportion of the incarcerated population in each state: the proportion of blacks in prison populations exceeds the proportion among state residents in every single state. In twenty states, the percent of blacks incarcerated is at least five times greater than their share of resident population. (From Incarcerated America)

I grew up in a tough neighborhood where the use of illicit drugs was rampant and the one that most wanted to be like as they matured was either the neighborhood drug dealer or the cool but otherwise worthless elders that littered the streets. These characters hung out and about aimlessly, they puffed on cigarettes and they came up with cool names for all of the kids in the neighborhood. In short, these ne'er-do-wells were local area celebrities in there own right, but for all the wrong reasons. Still for kids it often seems cool to have a slick sounding nickname and to be associated with someone who at least appears to be well respected in the neighborhood.

Well, I am here to say that it does not matter in most cases to the masses that one is striving to create a better environment for him or herself. The only thing that most young people (and old) in many urban communities see or hear is the squalor, the violence, the drugs and anger that seem to permeate our communities. This is very unfortunate due to the fact that it is actually a very small percentage of individuals that actually cause most of the problems and negative conditions. In such cases, one bad apple may not spoil the whole bunch, but it does make everything worse than it has to be for everyone in its sphere of influence. In too many urban communities the worst of all social ills corrupt and spread like malignant cancers.

The positive, hard-working, drug-free and law abiding individuals of our society have become the true minority. This is not due to our numbers being small. It is rather due to our voices being left unheard. We have become marginalized, isolated and left without the ability to assume decision-making roles in our communities and even in our own lives. We are judged and scrutinized by the company we unwittingly keep by virtue of being a member of troubled communities. Therefore, without unity in our communities the good people become the minority.

Why are the voices of good and virtuous people in the African American community heard at such a lower volume than the negative rappers, worthless rapists, soulless murderers and incorrigible thugs? Is there a method behind the madness that has manipulated and created the current situation? Yes. There has been an evil system in place since Plymouth Rock bashed the stolen Africans in the their collective heads in order to exploit, subjugate and enslave them as a people. This enslavement was not simply physical. It set like cement within the minds and the emotions of people of African decent. The slaves may have been freed but their children still are not totally free…not really.

Shackles in one’s mind are far more challenging to loose. Cages clamped around a woman’s heart are inconceivably more pernicious and difficult to escape. Chains wrapped around a man’s soul are far more difficult to break. Invisible bars nailed atop a Black baby’s crib are almost impossible for him to rise up from. You see, we were tricked by an evil force that taught us that we were less than. Less than what? We were taught that we were less than everyone and everything. We were lied to and we believed it! There you have it. In the Bible it tells us, “As a man thinketh, so shall he be.” Our oppressors knew this from the impetus of their campaign to use black labor to build their so-called New World.

In The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson, it states, “If you can control a man's thinking, you don't have to worry about his actions. If you can determine what a man thinks, you do not have to worry about what he will do. If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don't have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told and if you can make a man believe that he is justly an outcast, you don't have to order him to the back door, he will go to the back door on his own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the man will demand that you build one."

We now have the power and the capacity to rise to a new level of thought provoking action. Shall we stop and think about our thinking? It does not serve us to think like slaves about our communities, our physical and mental attributes, our abilities, our economic potential, our men, our women, our children and our God-given genius Uplifting ourselves and our communities starts with our thoughts, our empowered decisions and the actions we choose to take.

The shackles of slavery were removed from our feet in this country 300 years ago, but because they were not loosed from our minds we continued to think and act as slaves. Thus, the shackles have been replaced. This is evidenced by the high percentage of Black in prisons, the outrageous number of Black males leaving Black females to raise their children alone, the obscene rate of poverty and crime in our communities and the ridiculous numbers of Black youth who refuse to be educated. Make no mistake; though there are Blacks who have achieved some modicum of success, until we as a people are free, we are all enslaved.

In almost any endeavor we engage ourselves in we can choose to dominate or at least hold or own. Failure is not an option. Failure is a lie that we do not have to accept. Consider Tiger Woods and the way he has transformed the way the game of golf is played. Behold Ms. Oprah Winfrey. She was born into poverty in the south. Now she is one of the richest and most influential human beings in the world! Martin Luther King Jr. literally changed the whole world! Again, shall we stop and think about our thinking?

We have far too many examples of our greatness for us to fail to see what we can accomplish if we set our minds to it and seize the many opportunities for greatness, success and abundance that exist for us in the world today. Between 1983 and 2001, the number of black households with net worth of $1 million or more increased 79 percent, from 61,000 households to 109,000. These Black millionaires built their fortunes in large measure by owning their own businesses such as real estate, funeral homes, medical practices, construction, retail and service sector businesses. It is time for the African American community to begin to nurture more millionaires or at least financially stable, free people and far less prisoners. It’s time to think ourselves out of our constriction.

When you arise (Is it a blessing or a curse)

When you arise in the morning what's on your mind, are you excited about the day at hand or are you more concerned about the fact that you were woke up by the sounds of your annoying alarm clock. Is this really what life is all about, you wake up only to dread the next 8-10 hours of your day. The only thing you really are excited about throughout the day are breaks, lunch and quitting time.

Really is that what your life has evolved to, from elementary, high school, college, and now your profession everyday is chore, it's a job you are not looking forward to at all. Well when I rise in the morning I can't wait for the day to come, I am upset when night comes, due to the fact that I am limited to what can be done, but excited about rising in the morning, excited about the new tremendous possibilities that are in store for me in the coming hours.

Why just exist, why let life dictate to you your terms of existence, fight back and you become the dictator, and you say that my life will be exciting and full of vigor, why because you say so. You can look at life as if the glass is half full like I do or you can join the 90% of the population and look at the glass as half empty, its your choice either way and guess what were all looking at the same glass.

--
Darrick H Scruggs (Author)
www.Lifebehindinvisiblebars.com

www.Lifebehindinvisiblebars.blogspot.com
Personal Blog

What's in your Mirror

What’s in your Mirror

The mirror can be cruel if you let it.

I will be honest when I am at my worst, all the areas are flawed, the mirror will not lie, but who says that the mirror is telling the truth.

I know at times when I look in the mirror, I am almost afraid of what I see, so I take different angles to insure a different vision, but the mirror does not lie.

Until recently I did not like pictures due to the fact it was a permanent mirror that did not lie, it showed all the things I thought I could hide the blemishes, the discoloration of my skin, the lack of hair, the unusually large features I have, the mirror does not lie, who said.

In closing look in your mirror love what you see and it will love you back, the mirror does not lie, but it tells you only what you think you need to see.

My mirror now is my friend, pictures are my accomplishments, its all in what you think you see, the mirror does not lie, who said.