What's Your Unfair Advantage?

Shaquille O'Neal was a horrible basketball player.

Not my words, his. By his own account, Shaquille says "from 0 to 12 I was a horrible basketball player." That all changed in 1985. At the time, Shaquille's dad was in the Army and his family lived on the base in Wildflecken, West Germany. That's where Shaquille met Dale Brown, head basketball coach at Louisiana State University. Brown had travelled to Wildflecken to give a basketball clinic for the troops. When Shaquille's dad found out about the clinic, he "encouraged" his son to attend. Here's how Shaquille's tells the story:

one day I was sitting in the house, true story, and my father came in, punched me in the chest and said 'Some guy named Dale Brown is speaking at the gym. Maybe you can get a scholarship'.

So Shaquille attended the clinic and, afterwards, went up to meet Coach Brown. Wanting to impress the coach with big words, Shaquille asked the coach if he could suggest some excercises to "strengthen his lower extremities." Coach Brown said, "Yes, soldier. How long you been in the army?" Shaquille replied, "I'm not in the Army sir. I'm only 13."

At the time, Shaquille was already six feet, six inches tall.The rest, as they say, is history. Coach Brown set to work on recruiting Shaquille O'Neal for LSU. Which lead to notoriety for Shaquille, which led to the NBA, which is why we know who Shaq is today.

That's Not Fair

I'm not gonna lie, when I heard this story I was a little jealous. I thought to myself, "Man, if only I'd been that tall when I was 13. Some basketball coach might have discovered me and I would be a multi-millionaire too by now."

Then I started to think about other people who were born "lucky". People who were born with good athletic ability. People who were born good looking. The talented musicians. The Academy Award-winning actors.

It's at this point where most of us would start to feel inferior. We dwell on all the ways our lives do not match the "successful" and start to feel discouraged. We resign ourselves to lives of quiet resentment and resignation.

Ways We Discourage Ourselves

If you're not careful, negative talk starts to creep in. There's nothing wrong with facing reality but if you're not careful it could make you bitter. Here are some of the lies we tell ourselves when we compare ourselves to the "lucky" people of the world:

1. I'll never be that good. It's true, you will never be as good as Shaq. Otherwise, you'd be in the NBA too. But here's the good news: You don't have play basketball like Shaq. That's his game. Find your own game. Figure out what game you are good at and play at your highest potential.
2. I'll always be a nobody. How do you know that for certain? Why is the only measure of being "somebody" is to have your name on the back of a jersey? Figure out how you can be an authority in your field. In your community. In your church. Being "somebody" doesn't have to mean everyone knows your name. You are somebody because you are here and you matter.
3. I don't have any talents. That's not true. We all have a gift; but sometimes it's hidden. The trick is we need to dedicate time to figuring out what that gift is. Experiment with different things you find interesting. Pay attention to the activities that energize you. Pay attention any time someone compliments you.
4. I don't have anything to offer. Also not true. All the experiences you've had have lead to you this moment. And somewhere in your life is some wisdom that you can share. Some life lesson that could help someone else. Don't discount the value of the life you lead.

We Are All Six Feet Tall Somewhere

We all have an unfair advantage. We all have some part of our lives where we have it much better than most. Think about it.Are you good with math when everyone else cringes at the thought of adding two numbers together? Do you work through the problems in your college Calculus text book when you're bored? Am I the only one who does that?Do you have good people skills? I can't tell you how many doors that opens for you; both on a personal and career level. Are you a good storyteller? Are you a good listener?Can you carry a tune when everyone around you is off key? Can you pick up an instrument and learn how to play it after a few sessions? When you play, do you 'magically' come up with cool rythms or riffs?There is something that you do that comes easy to you and is hard for other people.

Consider all the activities that seem effortless to you. Make a list and give it some deep thought. Great. You've figured out you have an unfair advantage, now what?

You Still Have To Work It

Let's be clear, Shaquille O'Neal did not become a great basketball player by the mere fact that he was tall. He had to work at it. He had to get coached. He had to practice. It's no secret that his free-throwing skills were not very good in the beginning. Other teams began to capitalize on that. They would foul him on purpose (dubbed 'Hacking Shaq') so he could take free throws and miss. So how did Shaq respond? He practiced until he got better at it.Having an unfair advantage doesn't mean that everything will fall into place for you. You have to work at it. You have to exploit it. You have to take advantage of your unfair advantage.That's not cheating. That's recognizing your natural potential and using it to become the person you were born to be. To not live to your full potential is not only a shame, it's robbing the world of your gifts.

Life is unfair, that's a given. Yes, there will be others who have it better than you. But that doesn't mean your life is a failure. It doesn't mean that you can't have a great life. Look around and you will see that you're not as "unlucky" as you think you are. You are six feet tall in some area of your life. Work at it. Use it to your advantage and you may find that you are a superstar after all.