5 P's to Success by David

5 P's to Success by David - November 2018 Scholarship Essay

"Proper preparation prevents poor performance." In high school, my baseball coach would begin every practice by telling us that quote. He told us every day that by sticking to the 5 P's we could reach any level of performance we wanted, in any aspect of life. I took that to heart, used it as my senior quote, and live by those words to this day. Through that quote any many of his actions, he taught me that succeeding isn't always about how smart or talented you may be, success is earned through your work ethic. Without preparing diligently for a task, you will not succeed in the manor you may want to. I take this into every day, and ensure myself that I prepare myself properly for whatever I may be going into. When it came to baseball, I made sure I worked harder than everybody else on the field with me. But I didn't just stop there, I took it upon myself to go even further and outwork those who I did not know personally, because if there is someone out there working harder than you, then you are not doing enough. There was no "good enough" with my high school baseball coach, and there is no good enough with me. I always strived to prepare myself to perfection, because if I let someone else work harder than me, then I was selling myself short on what I could become. The same rule applies to my work life. When I had a job in high school, I did not want to be some regular employee who just showed up for a paycheck. I made it a point to always come into work prepared, so that I could be the best employee I could be, and the best employee that my job could ever have. Even more importantly, I bring the 5 P's with me to the classroom. I will never let myself show up to class not ready to learn, or show up to a test without the full extent of the information etched into my brain. It does not matter what the class is, or how difficult it may be, I always make sure I prepare myself as best as possible so I can succeed fully in school. The key point in this quote is not just to prepare a lot, but to prepare properly. To get lazy on the field, at work, or in the classroom and not give the maximum amount of effort is equivalent to not trying at all. My baseball coach would also always tell us that ten proper, maximum effort swings will get you a lot farther than one hundred lazy swings. Studying hard and focusing your full attention on the material for two hours will prepare you much more than being distracted and not paying attention for ten hours. "Proper preparation prevents poor performance." I think about this quote every day when I wake up, and it has boosted my work ethic ten-fold, and turned me into the man I am today.