Are you ready for some football?

That’s what I said – football. Here in Browns town, anticipation runs high for tonight’s first pre-season game. With that anticipation is a renewed hope that this year WILL be the year.  If you pay attention to any football at all, you know the plight of a Cleveland Brown fan; hoping for a “dream team” season and waiting for the other shoe to drop with a loud thud.

And yet, we persevere, year after year; season after season; change after change: for a true Browns fan, hope, as they say, springs eternal.

What’s this have to do with anything?  That perseverance is what it takes to be successful, that no quit – never give up – give it all you’ve got state of mind. Whether you are a business owner, employee, student, athlete, musician, artist, surgeon, or whatever; when you fall you need to pick yourself up and keep moving forward. Easier said than done? Absolutely!

Hundreds of famous people failed a lot before achieving success. The thing is that you don’t often hear about it. Michael Jordan has a quote that I have used before because I think it totally captures the essence of what I am trying to convey.  He says, “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six 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.”

Nobody said it was going to be easy. No one said that the journey wouldn’t have any detours or bumps in the road. Stick with it. Keep trying. Own it. Giving up is a lot more painful in the long run than falling down a few times along the way.

As for the Cleveland Browns, I’m not ready to give up on them yet either.

For Browns fans everywhere - who let the Dawgs out? Woof! Woof!

Posted by MJ Thomas