Augie Garrido is a prominent college baseball coach who has led his baseball teams to more wins than any other coach in any sport in Division 1 athletics, including five College World Series Championships. In his book Life is Yours To Win, Coach Garrido writes about attitude:

The attitudes and self perceptions of young athletes are much bigger factors than any combination of knowledge, talent, or skill in determining the quality of people they become. Three hundred dollar spikes, four power shakes a day, and a closet full of Under Armour makes for nice packaging, but all that window dressing won’t turn a prospect into a player if his head isn’t in the game. Success in sports and in life still relies more on attitude than accessories (Garrido 117).

Before you stop reading because you are not a baseball player or any kind of athlete for that matter, bear in mind that Coach Garrido’s message extends to far more outlets than a baseball diamond. Just about everything we do in life starts with an attitude, some idea or perception of what it is we are about to do. We are all surrounded by many tangible and intangible factors that can affect how successful we are in whatever endeavor it is to which we aspire, but it is what is within us that supersedes all external factors. If you are a student, how many times have you entered a classroom with a negative disposition toward the upcoming class? If you are a staff member, how many times have you gone into a meeting or in-service with a negative mindset? Conversely, how many times have you as a student or a staff member thought yourself to be above what it is you are about to do or experience. In any case, it is doubtful that attitude did not affect performance and ultimately success. 

Garrido says that “success…relies more on attitude than accessories.” Many times, accessories can, however, help us develop a successful attitude. For instance, a colleague was just telling me last week about her young son who is in kindergarten at a private school. When he puts on his little shirt and tie in the morning he becomes a “different person,” as my colleague describes it.  For that child his attitude becomes more focused and more serious when he adds that accessory of the shirt and tie. However, the converse to that is that just because we wear the shirt and tie does not mean we are automatically ready for success. We still have to hold that genuine, authentic attitude within us. The older we get and the more aware we are of our surroundings, the more we are able to go into things with our own proper attitude.

If a student decides to enroll in an Honors level course in high school, again, attitude supersedes accessory. Just because that student is accessorized with the 6.0 label on his or her schedule does not mean that he or she is really a 6.0 student. A true Honors student who is both productive and successful understands the required component of the course that is hard work and dedication to academics. Anyone can be an Honors student on paper, but not everyone has the attitude to be more than just Honors on paper.   For instance, the right attitude of an Honors student would be something akin to this: when that student is assigned to read thirty pages of Moby-Dick on a Monday night, he or she would know the importance of reading them, taking good notes, probing beneath the surface of the text, and preparing for a high level discussion the next day. This type of hard work makes the Honors student a “player” not just a “prospect.”

Sports, performance groups, academics, and life in general have countless parallels. This concept of “attitude” making one a “player” rather than just a “prospect” is a common denominator in all of these areas. Just wearing the uniform and having a matching team equipment bag does not make one a “player.” Just being in theater and showing up to rehearsal does not make one an “actor.” Just sitting in a classroom and having a copy of “A Tale of Two Cities” on the desk does not make one a “student.” It is the attitude and the subsequent actual behavior that goes with those things that matters the most.

Many times, individual attitude also goes beyond affecting just the self, and also determines the fate of those in a common environment or on a team: case in point – the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles. In Coach Andy Reid’s heyday with the Eagles, his teams won consecutive division titles and made deep playoff runs. There was a lot of talent, but there were also a lot more “players” than “prospects.” Players like Jeremiah Trotter, Hugh Douglass, Brian Westbrook, Brian Dawkins, and even the more recently maligned Donovan McNabb, were workers – they played with desire and intensity, but they were also team guys. Their attitude on and off the field resulted in a successful franchise  in the Super Bowl hunt every year. The 2011 Eagles are much different. There are a lot of “prospects” in the Eagles nest right now (thus the erroneous term “Dream Team” coined during training camp). But instead of finding themselves atop the NFC East right now, they have a top “prospect” who has been missing team meetings and was punitively benched for a game at a time when the Eagles are facing weekly must-win situations. The make up of players on the team has morphed into disgruntled defensive secondary personnel and selfish offensive play makers, resulting in a bunch of “prospects” but few “players.” The ultimate result has been turnovers, penalties, and late game collapses. And when examined on paper, it certainly is not a result of lack of prospective talent, but it certainly may be a result of lack of players with a common, team oriented attitude.

Beyond merely individual performance, success on the field, morale in the workplace, productivity in politics, and countless other aspects of life all start with the right attitude.

We are not all born equally talented, and we are not all from the same circumstances and walks of life, but when we enter school, work, practice, or just about anything else in life, we still all have the common choice – to be the player, or to be merely the prospect; to be merely gifted or actually engaged.