The Percentages of Life

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” -

Herb Caen

The post is a "link-o-rama," where I am essentially posting about someone else's comments that I like, find witty, humorous, or beneficial for hockey referees to see and hear. This is a post from a newsletter I receive from Dan Kennedy. Without blabbing on too much, I am just going to post his words, giving him all the credit, because...after all...he has even written a book about "Brass Balls."

note: All emphases are Dan's...

EVERY population divides roughly into 1%, 4%, 15%, 40% and 40% groups. Many more at the bottom than at the top...

YOU may choose to move from one group [in life - in our case, a league, level, or playoffs] to another by "moving" your ambition, thinking, acquisition and use of information, initiative, effort. But regardless of your choices, the fact that the majority of your peers are dead-wrong won't change a whit. For the most part, where a particular person gets to in this continuum from the top 1% to the bottom 40% has much less to do with differences in genetics, upbringing, education, opportunity or luck than it does decisions. Associations matter a lot, but they are or can be chosen. The first critical decision for upward movement is ALWAYS distrust the majority. It's not an easy decision to make. It's even harder to stick to. To see a majority stampeding north and stubbornly turn south. Not easy at all. To remember that whatever "everybody" is infatuated with you should spurn, a damnably difficult task.

from the NO B.S. Newsletter, May 2009

Here are my $0.02 thrown in:

• The majority of officials I see who want to make big things of themself are dreamers. Just that. Nothing else. They dream and DON'T do. Real successful hockey referees take the bull by the effing horns and go. ACTION.

• Association with the right people can do greater wonders than any other characteristic or trait.

• Every notice that most of the refs (A) don't take conditioning seriously, (B) don't work very hard when reffing, (C) bitch about a lot of things and do little to change anything, and (D) wonder when their ship will come in, wondering how to get to the next level (or maybe they just don't give two sh*ts and are happy where they are)????

Ever want to belong to a group that is going somewhere, even if it is north when the rest are heading south? Ever want to super-charge yourself to a high level that you operate at each and every time you hit the ice? Ever want to referee at Mariucci arena when 10,000 are in the house??

I am blessed to be with 13 guys/gals just like...and the number is growing! [see here]

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