Ask me what my favorite college basketball team of all time was, and I’ll tell you: The 2011-12 Missouri Tigers. I loved that team. They could pass. They could shoot. They were insanely entertaining.
With a few weeks left in the season, I remember a conversation I had with a buddy of mine, a fellow Mizzou fan. Our Tigers had only lost 1 or 2 games all year. They were ranked as one of the four or five best teams in America.
We were watching a truly great team playing in a special season. The only question left was:
When it was all over, what would they have to show for it?
Success in a sport like college basketball is a pretty strange thing. Only one team gets to win the championship, but even winning three or four games in the NCAA Tournament is considered a pretty big accomplishment. Our Tigers didn’t have to win it all — to be considered one of the great teams, just making it to the Elite 8 or Final 4 would do.
Then Mizzou lost its first game, a monumental upset at the hands of Norfolk State. And that’s what fans remember about that team. Not the huge highs. Not the Big 12 Championship.
Two years later, fans remember what Mizzou had to show for it: A big “L” when it mattered.
Because this is how it goes. You have to find the right people. You have to put in the work. You have to put in a lot of it.
But at some point, you need to go out there and show the world what you’ve got. The end product matters — it’s what they remember about you.
So when you’ve put in the work, you have to ask yourself: What do you have to show for it?
Better make it count.