"WERE YOU PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE TODAY?"

Keri S.

February 13, 2010 - 3:00 PM

This week, I joined 15 of my fellow Alpha Kappa Psi brothers to attend the second annual Blazer Internship and Career Fair. Since I am interested in a career in sports once I graduate, I saw this as a great opportunity to network and begin to see some post-graduation career opportunities.

Before the career fair, there was a key note speaker from Howard White, a Nike employee who played a huge role in signing Michael Jordan to Nike and starting Brand Jordan. With a long history with Nike, he had a lot of great insight on how to be successful in the sports industry.

One of my favorite parts of his speech was where he polled the audience with one simple question: "How many of you made your bed today?" In a room full of college aged students, maybe 20% of us raised our hands (to be honest, I was not one of those people). He then went on to say that all successful people make their beds every morning. Even though nobody may see it, this simple act is something that shows habit and hard work. It was a very valid point, and one that I have heard many, many times before from my dad. While Howard called it "habit," my dad called it "personal responsibility," but it was the same basic concept. Every morning, my dad would ask my sister and I, "Keri. Katie. Were you personally responsible today?" My dad usually got one of three responses:

1. "Yes Dad, of course! I do it every morning" (with only a hint of sarcasm).

2. "No, but I will be in five minutes". My dad normally got this response when we knew making our bed wasn't an option. I think my sister and I have both been grounded once or twice for talking back on this issue, so sometimes we just gave in and made our beds.

3. The classic Sime sister eye roll and "Dad, you are such a dork!" to which my dad says: "Well...that makes you the daughter of a dork!"

I guess my point is this: sometimes you can hear a message over and over again without absorbing it, but once you hear it a different way or from a different person it changes the message. I finally got what my dad was saying all of these years. My argument was always "Dad, nobody besides me knows if I made my bed or not". This is true. But most hard work goes unnoticed by most. How many people know I have studied 5 hours for my management midterm on Monday? Not many, but that is not why I did it. I studied to better myself as a student and to be a responsible student. The same can be said for simply making your bed every morning.

All in all, it was a great speaker, a mediocre and crowded career fair, and a loss for the Blazers against Oklahoma City. But the entire experience was shared with great company, and was a good mid-week vacation from Eugene up to the Rose City. Needless to say, when I woke up Wednesday morning, I made sure I made my bed!