On Memorial Day morning my family and I went to our local fitness center for exercise. As I walked through I noticed a young lady named Kelsey Reynolds. She is a high school senior at Penn High who is graduating. She has earned a full athletic scholarship to play basketball at prestigious Boston College.
Kelsey was there going through a hard workout on a holiday. I watched as she did drill after drill with the goal of reaching excellence in the game of basketball.
Not everyone is wired that way. Plenty of people got up on Memorial Day with a laid back plan for the day. There is nothing wrong with that approach on a holiday. But in all my years of studying peak performers I have seen that they all have that extra gear of work ethic. They are relentless in their determination to reach their potential. For Kelsey, effort like that helped her earn that full ride to B.C.
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Update: After a freshman season at B.C., Kelsey decided to transfer to DePaul University in Chicago. There were two key factors: 1) she wanted to be closer to her South Bend, IN area home and 2) she did not get a lot of playing time as a freshman at B.C.