When you sit back and relax to watch a sporting event or any type of performance, you end up looking into the lives of other people. The underlying factor here, is a certain feeling you want to get from the experience. Whether it is a professional athlete or anyone devoted to a singular focus, their life in essence is a great sacrifice. David Foster Wallace described this human condition between the viewer and the performer as:

“They give themselves over to a pursuit to endure great privation and enjoy a relationship to perfection that we admire, even though we have no desire to walk that road ourselves.”

In sports, it is common to default into thinking athletes get paid to play games. On the outside looking in, all that the viewer can see is the performance of the players. So while it is true that people are paid based on the type of value they produce, inside the minds of individuals who are exceptional in their craft — they know a secret. Athletes do not get paid based on the games they play. Athletes get paid for their practice. In other words, they are not that different from most people. Such professionals are rewarded for their work, dedication and time.

Beyond performance, the life of a professional in any field revolves around decision-making. The key principle to a person’s execution comes from what they are best at. Knowing your strength and developing it, is the driving factor to produce results.

A person can perform only from strength.
One cannot build performance on weakness,
let alone on something one cannot do at all.
 — Peter Drucker

There are four main elements to strengthen every day. Mark Verstegen championed this formula with the simplicity of the four pillars:

Prepare for IT.
Fuel for IT.
Train for IT.
Rest for IT.

Your IT is the mission statement that guides every step of action over the course of each day. This gives you the context for everything you do or choose not to do. Your performance for IT is revealed in your mindset, nutrition, movement and recovery. When you make the commitment to turn pro, you realize one thing: every day is game day.

Everything requires time and without it, nothing gets done. All of us have the same amount of hours to use in a single day, and in the long run, time is the great equalizer. So what can you do with what you have? Do all that you can with what is given to you. And, if you are asking what it is, understand that time is all we have.

A person’s life turns out to be the accumulation of all the choices made each day, so make time for what you value. Put your strength in practice now. Strength is found only in the present.

If there is something you want to do to create a certain type of change, make today the day.

It’s Time.