My Favorite American Athletes Michael Jordan, Essay Example

What is extraordinary about humanity is the power that it has to keep moving forward even when times get tough. This is especially portrayed through the many sports that individuals place in their everyday lives, such as baseball, track and field, and even basketball. Michael Jordan is the epitome of what it means to be a truly hard working individual who does not stop at anything in order to be able to achieve every single thing that he wants.

The stoy of Michael Jordan and how he came to be what is known as the world’s greatest basketball player and at times, the world’s greatest athlete of all time can all be attributed to the kind of mentality that Michael had or has. Despite the fact that Michael was cut from his high school basketball team for apparently not being good enough, Michael did not take no as an answer. What is remarkable about this individual is that even when his own coach told him that he was not good enough and implied that he would not be able to have a successful career in basketball, Michael put in his best efforts throughout the course of his life in order to prove his coach wrong. Not only that, but it is believed that the reason as to why Michael decided to pursue a life out of basketball is because of the manner in which he wanted to prove to himself that he was indeed good enough to play basketball with professionals, contrary to what his high school trainer might have assumed.

Michael Jordan’s story is one of belief in thyself and pure motivation. The adversity that overcame Michael at the beginning his basketball career was nothing to stop him in the grand scheme of things. Through his basketball skills, Michael has been able to prove to the world that if and when you set your heart and mind to something, you should never allow anything or anyone to stand in the way of your success. Despite losing over 300 games in his career, Michael knew that if he wanted to attain success, he would have to go through a number of disappointing incidents where he would have to invariably fail. He knew, however, that at the end of failure was success. This is the main reason as to why it is believed that Michael Jordan never gave up in his basketball career or in any other thing that he did.

What Michael had that not many other individuals have is that he believed that he could do absolutely anything. In an interview, he once stated: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” The fact that Michael had so many disappointing moments throughout the course of his career, but he still decided to keep moving forward reveals volumes about both his character and his motivation to keep moving forward even when the going gets tough. It goes without saying that if many other individuals were to adopt this kind of mentality, they would become cognizant of the actuality that virtually anything and everything is achievable if the right amount of work is put in.

 The main characteristic that Michael Jordan had that not many other people have is that he was willing to keep working at a specific task even when other people told him that he was not good enough. Michael could have very well decided to listen to what his high school coach was telling him about him not being good enough. Michael could have decided that basketball was not his thing and that he would never be able to be one of the bests, despite how much effort he put in his everyday life. However, Michael knew at that point that if he decided to let one single individual tell him that he was not good enough to reach his dream, then he would live an unfulfilling life because of the manner in which he would always be letting other people walk all over him. So, instead of giving up at that very moment, Michael decided to play things out and to not let himself be down simply because a high school coach constantly told him that he was not good enough and ultimately cut him from the team. What Michael did at that very moment changed his life’s trajectory forever: he decided to keep moving forward.          

 The moment that Michael kept telling himself that at the end of failure was only success, he would not let himself quit. This allowed him to surpass any other adversity that he had to face in forthcoming years throughout his basketball career. Michael Jordan is the individual that he is today because of the decisions that he made when he was a young individual. If he had chosen to give up when one single individual told him that he was not good at doing what he loved to do, then he would have probably never ended up getting a great job out of doing what he loved most in the world. If he had decided to take another route, then he would have unquestionably never played basketball again in his life and his life would have just been an ordinary one. This, however, was clearly not the case.

 Michael Jordan is the epitome of what it means to be a truly hard working individual who does not stop at anything in order to be able to achieve every single thing that he wants. He knew what is means to have to go through hell only to achieve a single end goal. He knew that in order to achieve success, one has to go through the most trialing times of one’s life. Because of the kind of mindset that he had, he was able to overcome all of the tribulations that life threw at him, which ultimately gained him a spot on the Men’s Olympic Basketball Team, where he was able to win gold for the United States. Individuals should certainly take heed of the great things that Michael Jordan did throughout his life if and when they are searching for motivation for their everyday lives.