Playing To Win

Most people think natural ability is the most important power a person possesses. It's not. People who achieve the highest level of success have an unbelievable work ethic--and the desire to sacrifice.

Everybody thinks San Francisco's Jerry Rice is the best wide receiver out there. He certainly is talented, but I guarantee you he's not even close to being the most talented. He's neither the strongest nor the fastest. But he is the most determined.

During my three seasons in San Francisco [as offensive coordinator], he used to tell me, "I want to be the best wide receiver ever to play the game." In my mind, he already was the best. He already held the all-time NFL records for receptions, receiving yards, seasons with at least 100 receiving yards, consecutive games with a touchdown, and on and on.

But Jerry's mindset was that nobody was going to work harder, prepare better or sacrifice more. He convinced himself he was going to outwork every receiver who came into the league relative to conditioning, lifting, studying--everything. It didn't take me long to understand why every time we got to the fourth quarter of a game, while most of the players were slowing down, Jerry could run as fast as he did on the first play.

On the days he trained, Jerry would cap off his physical work with mental work. He would immerse himself in game films of the league's top 10 wide receivers, studying how they ran their routes and what moves they used to get open. It was amazing to me that he had so many of the all-time records, and he still was working harder than anybody.

Of course, sometimes the demands of your business are going to be greater than you could ever imagine. But exceptional people don't shrink from them. They're willing to sacrifice not only for themselves, but for others as well.

This article was originally published in the September 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Playing To Win.