Paul McDonald’s dream in high school was to play quarterback in college. He only received a few scholarship offers, but one of them was from a national football powerhouse, the University of Southern California.
The dream came true, but he faced a shocking reality on the first day of practice at USC. The team’s depth chart was posted on a bulletin board in the locker room, and under Quarterbacks, McDonald saw that the team had nine quarterbacks, and he was listed ninth. He was the 9th-string quarterback!
To make matters worse, as McDonald walked onto the field for his first practice, he saw a shirtless player flinging passes 70 yards downfield with seemingly little effort. Built like a linebacker with a cannon for an arm and lightning speed, Vince Evans, the Trojans’ starting quarterback, was a supreme athlete. On a GameChange Livestream Forum, McDonald recalled his despair, “I immediately thought to myself, ‘If you’ve got to look like that, run like that, throw like that, I may never play here.’”
McDonald ultimately became USC’s starting quarterback, leading the team to a national championship, and he was named All-American before embarking on an eight-year career in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys.
So, how did he do it?
Authentic Self
It would have been easy for McDonald to enter the program at USC, see the type of quarterback the starter was, and try to become him. It would have never worked.
Instead of trying to become someone he could never be, McDonald set out to focus on making his strengths the things that gave him a competitive advantage. He explained, “I knuckled down into those areas that I thought I could be better than the other guys. And one knowing the playbook better than anybody else, knowing the reads better than anybody else. So, I studied like crazy. I got in the film room like crazy. I did extra work there, and I got the highest score in training camp of all nine quarterbacks.”
We each have our own set of unique gifts, and focusing on our strengths allows us to set ourselves apart. It creates a positive mental environment where we feel good about those abilities. McDonald’s success story is a great example that doubling down on your strengths is something we should all do.
Developing Confidence
Rising from the bottom of the mountain to the very top (in McDonald’s case, becoming an All-American and NFL player) takes confidence. But how do you become confident when everything seems stacked against you?
Dr. Michael Brown used the analogy of a train to explain how confidence can be built. “In the caboose are things like confidence, motivation, happiness, joy, positive emotions. It’s in the engine of the train that we make choices. Even in the hardship, even in the isolation, even in the challenging times, and even when there’s a lack of support.” He stated, “There are choices you can make to build your confidence.”
What are those choices? If you don’t have support from family or a coach, you can choose to find a mentor. You can also choose to work harder. In McDonald’s case, he chose to practice throwing every day during the summer while most of his buddies were at the beach. It is the choices that you make that will help you build confidence; it doesn’t just magically appear.
Hustle Over Talent
Every person, no matter how athletic or smart they are, will hit a ceiling when they’ve reached the full extent of their natural abilities. The ones who are not willing to push themselves past just relying on their God-given talent will inevitably fail. Success comes with the work you are willing to put in.
McDonald was clearly not as natural an athlete as Evans, but he was willing to do the work. He explained, “When all my buddies were going to the beach in the summer, I grabbed a receiver or two, and we threw routes in the San Gabriel Valley in 95-degree weather.” There is a saying that champions are made when no one is looking, and McDonald’s story of going from 9th string to All-American and the NFL epitomizes that.
Trust the Process
McDonald’s story of going from ninth string to All-American and the NFL sounds awesome, but it did not happen overnight. During his freshman year, McDonald rose to third string, and in his sophomore year, he was the backup. In the modern era of the transfer portal, there are lots of players who quickly transfer when they are not instantly the starter.
It takes years to develop your craft, and it is your series of choices day after day to keep growing toward the goal that eventually gets you there. Dr. Brown stated, “You keep stacking those choices; instead of looking at the summit of Mount Everest, you’re just looking at the next step in front of you. And those choices, those challenges, they’re not actually a disruption to who you’re becoming and to this success that you want to achieve. It’s actually the pathway to it, but you have to slow down, and you have to take each moment, each day at a time, and realize that you are actually building what is… sustainable and strong.”
