Over the weekend the Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls documentary “The Last Dance” came out. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, I strongly recommend it (check it out on ESPN if you get the chance). I think most people would agree that Jordan was one of the greatest if not the greatest basketball player to ever play the game, and if you want to take it a step further you could say he is one of the most influential if not the most influential athletes worldwide. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t know Jordan, whether it’s from watching him play or from his brand and shoes he has transcended the sport of basketball. So getting to see behind the scenes footage of the Bulls and Jordan’s career is rather special.

One of my favorite moment came in episode one when UNC coach Roy Williams was remembering a conversation he had with Jordan. In the conversation Jordan tells Coach Williams that he wants to be the best player to ever play at UNC, to which Coach Williams responds that he will have to work harder than he did in high school. Jordan responds by saying he worked as hard as everyone else in high school and Coach Williams says wait a minute I thought you wanted to be the best player to ever play here. Jordan comes back with I will show you, no one will ever work as hard as I will.

I absolutely love this mentality. Right here we see a player who is already one of the best in his age range and is already a highly touted recruit. He’s moving from high school to college under the belief that he can be the best and do just as much work as he was doing previously. His coach tells him he is going to have to go above and beyond and instead of fighting or arguing with his coach he tells him to watch him. Watch him because no one will outwork him. Watch him because he will be the best. This is a player that is facing the challenge head on. He believes in himself and his ability and he is not scared of what others have to say.

So my question to you is how are you going to respond to adversity? When you want something are you going to shy away when others tell you it is going to be difficult or are you going to step up and accept the challenge? How badly do you want it?