ONE OF THE most damaging attitudes in any organization is a sense of entitlement. When people begin to feel that they are owed something, their desire and ability to compete and attack dulls. The Program differentiates between the terms “deserve” and “earn.” These terms are often used interchangeably and it drives us crazy. Merriam-Webster says that, “deserve is used when a person should rightly receive something good or bad because of his or her actions or character.” The key word in that definition is “should.” In a perfect world, we would get everything that we deserve. However, that is rarely the case in our imperfect world. With all the adversity that Sam Cila has faced, he deserves every accolade and achievement that has come his way. However, he did not make the National Paralympic Triathlon team because he deserved it. He made the team because he worked harder than those he beat out. Instead of making excuses about how much he deserved to be on the team, Sam earned it on his bike, in the water, and on the road during long and miserable training sessions that he didn’t want to do, but that he went and did anyway.

We don’t always get what we deserve, we only get what we earn. While “deserving” is a passive term involving “should,” “earn” is an active word. Merriam-Webster says, “earn is used when a person has spent the time and effort to get what they deserve.” Teams and organizations that base their success off what they feel they deserve will always be disappointed. They may be rewarded occasionally, but “occasionally” will not allow us to compete for championships.

“We don’t get what we deserve, we only get what we earn” is the mantra of a highly successful Division 1 wrestling program with whom we had the privilege to work. In practice, this meant that you could wrestle in the program for three years and win three national championships, but if you wanted a spot in the lineup your senior year, you still needed to defeat everyone else in your weight class. If the team recruited a stud freshman who then beat the senior in a wrestle-off, then that stud freshman would represent the team despite all of the hard work and accomplishments the senior earned in prior years. This may seem unfair. It is. It’s a cliché, but life isn’t fair. In a perfect world, we would get everything we deserved. Unfortunately, we don’t live in one. It isn’t about what we deserve. When we fail to accomplish our mission, we can make excuses about how unfair the process was. Or we can go and earn it.