“Before you leave the locker room today, close your eyes. Take one moment. Think about the best version of yourself. That is who you really are. That person has everything you need to win today. Fall down seven times, get up eight......"Tim Cook, Pre-Game Locker Room Speech Iron Bowl 2017
Victory! That's what it looks like - toilet paper on trees! What?! It's a funny way to celebrate, but if you are an Auburn fan and your team just beat the number one team in the country this is exactly what you do! Winning is great - except when you don't win. There are a lot of times success doesn't happen the first time around or the second or the third. What do you do? You.Keep.Trying! That's what I have watched the Auburn football team do for the past four years - keep giving it all they've got. What I love is how this relates to life. I cannot tell you (due to my past struggle with anxiety) how many flights I couldn't get on, how many restaurants I had to leave, how I stood in the back of church instead of sitting and as a college sophomore how many times I walked frantically out of class. Tim Cook summed it up so well in his pregame speech to the Auburn players in the locker room before the game Saturday. I have read this over and over all week. Her it is.....
Apple CEO and Auburn University alum Tim Cook delivered the pregame speech Saturday before the #IronBowl:
“This is one of life’s rare times that you can create a memory that will last a lifetime,” Cook says. “For you. For everyone who’s worn that jersey before. For everyone in the Auburn family – and for every underdog out there who’s ever come against the establishment. You’ve earned it. You deserve it. You worked hard. You prepared. You fell down but you got up.
“… Our biggest obstacle today is not the team in crimson. It’s that little voice in your head that tells you you’re doing 100 percent when you’re actually at 85 to 90. We all have that. Extinguish it! Expel it! Expire it! Tell it you are not giving up your shot. You have worked too hard and come too far to only come this far.
“Before you leave the locker room today, close your eyes. Take one moment. Think about the best version of yourself. That is who you really are. That person has everything you need to win today. Fall down seven times, get up eight. Rise like the wave and never let them forget today.
“They have had their time! Their time is over! It’s our time!”
Wow - isn't that the best! Tim is so right - it is the thoughts in our head that most often trip us up. And I love when he says, "Think about the best version of yourself. That is who you really are."
And who created the best version of us? The Maker himself! God's love for us is SO great and He wants us to love ourselves too! - The Best Version (not the perfect version)!