How to Stay True to Your Values | Tim Tebow’s Process for Making Meaningful Choices (in 17 Minutes)

If you constantly try to, you know, to reach perfection at everything, you're not going to reach it, but you're going to get close.

If all I ever did was win or lose at a game, I don't really look at my life as a lot of significance.

He's a professional baseball outfielder playing for the New York Mets. He's a former professional American football player who played 3 seasons in the NFL. He was selected by the Denver Broncos in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He's Tim Tebow, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 9 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best. And as always, as you're watching, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it in the comments below. Put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well, and when you write it down, it's much more likely to stick with you as well. Enjoy.

Why baseball?

When I was 4, 5, 6 years old, it was my first love, the first thing I fell in love with. And I thought most of my life, I thought that I was gonna pursue baseball as a profession. Second hardest decision of my life. I remember sitting on the edge of my bed crying over it, deciding what I was gonna do, and I ended up choosing football and I don't regret that, but I do believe in pursuing passions and what's on your heart, and this is something that I'm passionate about.

What's it say about you that you're even given the opportunity as a 29-year-old man who hadn't played baseball in a decade?

There's certain things in life that we love, and we have chances to pursue them, but a lot of time the fear of the unknown, the fear of failure gets in the way. I don't want that fear to creep in. I don't want the unknown to creep in. I want to be someone that I I pursue whatever is on my heart with everything that I have, and if I fall flat on my face, then guess what? I'm gonna get right back up.

I've read that you're a farce. I've read that you're a joke. I've read that you're an embarrassment, not only to yourself but to the game of baseball.

The first thing is I'm so thankful that I don't have to read it. I don't have to listen to it. I don't have to live the roller coaster that the rest of the world lives of my life. I don't care what they write about me. They've written a lot of things over the last 15 years about me, some good, some not good, some just because they want to sell papers. I don't necessarily care. At the end of the day, I want to pursue my passion because I believe when you're pursuing what's on your heart, when you're pursuing what you're convicted by, then I don't have to live with regret 10, 15, 20 years from now looking back saying, what if? What if I would have tried that? Worth the success is if I give my all to it, if I get to live out that dream every single day, whether that's in single-A, double-A, triple-A, or it's in the big leagues. You know, because joy doesn't come from success. Joy comes from knowing your design and being able to pursue that every single day and knowing that I get to live out a dream.

Here goes Tebow. He's got the first down. He's got the touchdown. He's got it! Yes!

When someone watches me do something, they say, that's how it's supposed to be. Be done. And that's how we have to teach it, just like that. Because if you do something to the level of success like that, then that's going to carry over into every aspect of your life. If you constantly try to, you know, to reach perfection at everything, you're not going to reach it, but you're going to get close. And that means you're going to get close to excellence, and that's what we're always striving for.

Certainly the game not out of reach, but the Broncos offense is going to have to get something going. This is what you want in Denver, so you're going to get a look at Tim Tebow, he's going to have to spark this offense. Tebow's going to run this football. Tebow inside the 10. Tebow's at the 5. Tebow's got a dip for touchdown! At least you got a little emotion in Brockton's offense.

You know, now I don't watch TV too much, and, you know, it's hard because most of the time I watch a lot of ESPN, but not anymore. And, you know, just Honestly, you know, try to stay focused and stay focused and set little goals for myself every day. Get a little bit better, learn one new thing, improve one way every day when I step out here. And when you set all those little goals and you keep hitting them, then you're constantly going to keep getting better and, you know, not worry about everything else. Just let that take care of itself and worry about what I can control.

This is better than any jailbreak you will ever see.

I think for me, in playing sports, it's not being focused on winning or losing a game because, yeah, you want to be the best, you want to try to win Super Bowls or make it to the big leagues and all these things, but you want to, at the end of the day, be more than just the sport you're trying to play. You want to transcend that sport. If all you do, if all I ever did was win or lose at a game, I don't really look at my life as a lot of significance. But if I can transcend that sport to inspire people, to put a smile on people's faces, to encourage people to make a difference, to change one person's life or a million people's lives, then I would consider that significance and meaning. The goal is not to be famous. The goal is not to have money in your bank account. The goal is not to have what the world defines as success. The goal is to change lives.

On the other side, Luke can get him. Tony Satchin twice, and there's a touchdown reception!

When you believe in yourself that you're doing the right thing and you're giving it your all, you have to block out the criticism.

You have to block out the naysayers. And, you know, a lot of times people will say, you know, well, let it go in one ear and out the other. And I just think, don't even let it go in one ear. Don't even listen to it. Don't even go on social media. Don't read it. Don't you know, watch the TV. And for me, it's just, you know, stay focused on what your goal is and don't let the naysayers sway you from your goal.

For me, it's, you know, when a door opens, that's exciting.

When a door closes, you look for the next one.

And you handle that every opportunity opportunity as best you can, and you treasure the opportunities when you have them, and when they close, then you look forward to the next thing. And you stay patient, but you stay passionate about whatever it is that your dream is, and you push forward and continue to be your best at anything you set your mind to.

Over the middle, got his man, touchdown!

Well, my priorities in life are number 1, my faith in God. Number 2, my family and my relationships with my family. Number 3 is academics, and number 4 is football. You know, if those get jumbled around and you get the wrong one first, you know, you could have a lot of problems. For me, you know, trying to stay grounded, you know, that's the best way to do it, is have your priorities and try to live by them.

On first down, Tebow with time, throws over the middle, wide open to the 5, touchdown, Eddie Royal! Snap, Tebow with the carry, patient running, Tebow's gonna fight himself into the end zone, and Tebow has a Denver touchdown! Third and long, Tebow, for Decker, he's got it! Touchdown, Denver!

I wanted to stay in our hearts and keep hurting, because this will motivate me personally, and I think, believe everybody else, coaches and the rest of the players, to never let something like this happen again, especially when we feel we're better than the team and don't play up to our ability. And I just want to say one thing. To the fans and everybody in Gator Nation, I'm sorry, extremely sorry. You know, we were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal. 7-4 is never done here. But I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season, and you never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season. God bless.

Perfect. Tebow throws. Touchdown Broncos! Eric Decker wide open, and Tebow with a strike.

You weren't created by a mediocre God. You weren't created to be mediocre. You were created for good works which he planned beforehand.

You were created to do amazing things, and sometimes we just got to realize our potential.

We got to realize that we were created by an awesome God. We were created to do amazing things. And sometimes we just have the confidence that we were created to do something special, then go do something special. But you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe that you were gifted for such a time as this. You have to believe that you have the talent. You have to believe that you can make the choice every single day to wake up, to love it, to be passionate about it, and sacrifice.

As a football player and as an athlete, I'm someone who goes extremely hard, and so I need to train extremely hard and constantly keep going. I don't want a lot of rest because I want to be able to go, go, go in the games. And when other teams and other players get tired, I want to be able to be at my peak and keep going. And so this is a workout where you're gonna put your body under fatigue, but you're gonna be able to keep going. And that's a lot how I play.

He loves to train hard. The harder the workout is, it elevates him through the workout.

As a team, as a player, I like being able to wear people down where I feel like I have an advantage in the fourth quarter and in the second half. And, and that's something than how I like to train is to be able to feel like, you know, I have an edge and I feel like that is my edge and so I like to train that way. You know, whatever you're doing, put everything into it, put your whole heart into it and you're gonna get something out of it. So if you really want to become your best, push yourself in whatever you're doing as hard as you possibly can and you will find results. It's not always about the workout, it's about the work ethic and then when you have the work ethic, then you can find the right workout to fit your body and fit what you're trying to accomplish.

What's he doing?

He's pushing against each other.

Think I'll be too busy to get a picture with you.

Of course.

I'm so excited to see you. Yeah, have a blessed day.

That's a 450 to ride there, boy.

My philosophy since I was a little boy is hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work as hard. I think the biggest example is just how I go about living every day and honestly practicing. And when people say, "Why do you practice so hard?" or "Why do you run every sprint so hard? You don't have to do it. You're in good enough shape." Well, it's not just because I'm doing it to get in better shape or I'm doing it to be a leader. No, I'm doing it because everything I do, I want to, you know, set the mark that this is how, you know, I do it because I do all things for the glory of God. I do everything as hard as I can because I do want to set a good example, because I do want to be a good leader because I do want to be in shape, because I do want to be the hardest worker, but more than anything, because when I do something, I want to be the best that I possibly can at it.

Get in here! Hey, we got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! That's our bet on first down. Anything happens, we get the ball, I promise you one thing, we're gonna hit somebody, we're taking it downfield for a touchdown. I guarantee you that. Guaranteed. Look at that face! Look at that face! Let's go! We got 30 minutes. Let's go for the rest of our lives. Let's go, let's go, let's go!

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Hector Sanchez asked me to. Also, if you want to nominate someone for the next top 10 video, please check the description for a link to a video where you can vote for people and put in your suggestions as well. I'd love to know what did you take from this video? What was the most important most important lesson that you learned that blew your mind that you're going to immediately apply to your life or your business somehow? Please leave it down in the comments below. I'm super curious to find out. I also want to give a quick shout out to Mike Markham from restauranthr.com. Mike, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. I really appreciate the support and I hope you're enjoying the read. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. As always, much love. I'll see you soon.

I think whoever you are, you can at least respect that I have an opinion on it and that I believe in something and that I'm going to stand up for what I believe. And so that's something that I'm taking pride in is that I'm standing up for what I believe in and I'm showing conviction about something. And for me, that's big.

Most people don't wake up every single day excited to take on life, excited to take on the challenges, and ready and able for whatever life throws at them.

Now, once they have to have a coffee and, you know, I got to figure it out first and I'm gonna get excited—

are you actually passionate about what you do? Are you willing to sacrifice for it? Are you Are you really excited about it?

Do you really love it?

Do you really love it? Because I'll tell you this, if you do, you will have such an edge because people will want to be around you.

Why?

Because not many people live like that.

There's just not many people live like that.

There's not really that many people that wake up every single day and say, man, I love life, I'm passionate about it, I'm ready to take it on. I'm gonna sacrifice for it. You don't get that a lot, but you can be that person.

Do you know why?

Because it's not a gift, it's a choice. That's a choice.

You wake up every day and you can say, I am— today I'm waking up to get better.

I'm not waking up to get by.

Today I'm waking up because I love it.

I'm excited about it. I'm passionate about it. I'm willing to sacrifice today.

I'm willing to go all in today.

The way that I have to train for baseball is different than I did for so many years for football, and taking 11, 12 years off of baseball, I definitely have to— off of baseball and playing football— definitely have to play a little bit of catch-up. But it's also fun when I'm getting to live out two dreams.

I think we all think if you're, if you're not a certain age that you have to give up on certain dreams, or you can't try something new or change your direction. That's another great lesson.

Absolutely.

And then also a thing is people People would do something based on the chances they have of succeeding. Since when were dreams based on the chances? Dreams are based on something that's placed in your heart.

That's right.

It's not based on the chances of succeeding.

It's going to happen.

You have to believe in it every day.

That's right.