On Saturday I had the wonderful pleasure to watch my son, Jonathan, graduate from Cal State Fullerton, obtaining his BA degree with Magna cum Laude honors. This mother could not be prouder!
Being one who always is looking and listening for the lessons to be learned, I was looking forward to hearing from graduation speakers. The Keynote speaker, Richard K. Davis, did not disappoint the crowd. (See link below)
Mr. Davis is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Bancorp, upon whom the University conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters, in recognition of his significant contributions to the University and to his community.
Mr. Davis had a fresh take on bestowing wisdom to the graduates sharing how they are at the “halftime” in their life. I want to share a little bit of his message with you.
“This is a personal pleasure for me to be here,” said Davis, noting that 31 years ago, he graduated from Cal State Fullerton after working toward his degree for eight years. “That was halftime,” he said.
“While tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life, today is your halftime,” he said, explaining that like halftime in a basketball game, when the two opposing teams enter the locker room, they review and go over what they’ve done and what they have to do in the second half.
“The first quarter of your life has been your wonder years, the second quarter, your college years. The third quarter is when you evaluate what you really want to do, to love it, and the fourth quarter is when you commit to it; let it be the moment you’ve been waiting for.
“It’s halftime; the crowd is expecting you.”
Although Mr. Davis’ message was for these graduates who were beginning a new chapter of their life, I feel his message about “halftime” can be applied to any time in our life.
We reach pivotal points throughout our life and need that time in the locker room to re-evaluate what has transpired and strategize about what we need to do to move forward and win the game.
Halftime is about evaluation, contemplation, and inspiration.
Whether you are ahead at halftime or behind, a little time in the locker room can be a real game changer.
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