Happy Sunday Everyone:
I have a very good friend, his name is Ian. Ian played professional basketball in Europe for 10 years. He’s now back here with his amazing wife and 3 kids getting started in a new career. He’s a bad ass, and if you saw him, you’d understand why I’m saying this. 6’7, 225, 6% body fat, as good looking as it gets. He’s a bigger bad ass because of his heart. You spend time with him and you realize quickly his soul runs deep. For the last year, he’s been meeting Jack (my 16 year old) at a park at 6:00AM 2-3 days a week, and working him out. He won’t take payment, he just does it. This guy is starting a new career, has the weight of his own personal world on his shoulders, and finds the time with zero fanfare, to spend some serious quality time with Jack to help him grow (physically and mentally). I ask myself, “would I do this for someone else?”…I honestly don’t know but would error on the side of “no”.
2nd story. Guy at work, Greg, when he’s not working he does body building as a hobby (who does that??). Both Jack and Thomas are trying to get stronger during this whole ordeal. I asked Greg if he could recommend a workout for them. Next day he proceeds to hand me a 3 page work out he typed up, and suggests coming over to our house (mask and all) to show the boys how to properly do the exercises. He comes over for a couple of hours, shows them what to do and how to do it, teaches them the “why”, which is way more important than the “what”, and then offers his phone number for future questions. Fast forward to Friday night, Thomas is telling me how sore his legs are after doing some exercise I can’t even explain. He then shows me a video Greg made for him. It’s Greg in our office, on video, showing Thomas how do this single-legged lunge properly. Here is this guy, taking calls from my kid (which I didn’t even know about) and creating videos for him to do a proper lift. I ask myself “would I do this for someone else?”.
What’s my point? My point is there are very special people all around us paying it forward with no expectation of repayment. Ian would tell you that it’s good for him too. Greg would tell you he has plenty of time on his hands, and I would tell you there is something bigger going on here and to let it slip by would be a shame. People like Ian and Greg make me want to be better. They make me want to never question if a “favor” is worth my time. They make me want to pay it forward with no concern of the repayment I might receive in the future. They make me want to pay if forward unconditionally.
As much as I learn from watching the actions of Ian and Greg, I also want to be better at recognizing these people and saying “thank you”. They don’t do it for the “thank you” but it needs to be said regardless. I think it’s a very healthy exercise to take a few moments to identify those special people around us that pay it forward without even realizing what they’re doing for those around them. My hope and expectation of myself is to forever be on the lookout for these folks and to never let a good deed go unrecognized moving forward.