How Do You See Challenges: Adversity or Opportunity?
You’ve probably never heard of Kathy Rackley of Athens, Georgia. But her impact on Malcolm Mitchell has been priceless.
Wait, you’ve never heard of Malcolm Mitchell, either? If things go as planned, you will soon.
Mitchell plays wide receiver and the New England Patriots chose him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. The Patriots have a history of producing superstar wide receivers (Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, et al), so the future is bright for Mitchell.
His future is bright, that is, now that he knows how to read.
Malcolm Mitchell’s background provided him with plenty of adversity. The third son of a single mom, Mitchell struggled in school all his life. He barely graduated high school with reading skills that were well below his grade level.
A coach challenged Mitchell and suggested that his reading aptitude was the only thing standing in the way of a top-tier college and a career in the NFL. Mitchell took his adversity and turned it into an opportunity. He became committed to – obsessed by, really – overcoming his own adversity and dramatically improving his reading skills.
Enter Kathy Rackley. Mitchell found himself one day in a Barnes and Noble, knowing he needed to read more but unsure of what to read. Rackley met Mitchell in an aisle of the store and struck up a conversation and suggested a book that her reading club had just finished.
Mitchell had never heard a “reading club” and showed great interest. Rackley explained that the group consisted of a number of middle-age women discussing books. Mitchell once again decided to focus on opportunity over adversity and he immediately asked to join the reading group.
Sure enough, that reading group took on a different flavor with Mitchell, who was then attending the University of Georgia. A bunch of middle-aged women….and a reading-hungry All-American wide receiver.
Malcolm Mitchell’s story is dramatic because an NFL team drafted him. But the decision to embrace opportunity instead of languishing in adversity took place long before the draft. Mitchell took the adversity and tackled it head on (pun intended).
What about you? What adversity do you face in your life, in your job, in your hobbies, in your service? How can you translate that into an opportunity today? And what will the outcome be when you do?
Embrace your opportunities, my friends. You can change yourself…and you can change the world.
