A Standing Mo

I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and imagine something, and I want you to do it. Don’t blow this off.

I’m going to ask you to imagine 45,186 people standing and applauding for you for 90 seconds.

I’m going to ask you to imagine your colleagues stopping, standing, and doing the same.

I’m going to ask you to imagine your competition remarkably doing the same, too.

This just happened to the greatest baseball closer to ever play the game. On Tuesday night in New York, 43-year-old Mariano Rivera, walked from Citi Field’s bullpen to the mound while the entire stadium went gaga over him. His defensive teammates stood on the sidelines for a full minute-and-a-half joining in the applause and giving Rivera the solo spotlight. His National League opponents stood and did the same from their own dugout.

Lynn Zinser, writing for The New York Times, said: He is the rarest of all players, a Yankee everybody likes, one who could get this entrance at the ballpark of the crosstown rivals and no one thinks twice about it, not even Mets fans. He is just Mo. He seems to belong to all of baseball and not just the Yankees. And the All-Star Game rolled out a last red carpet for him. Perfect.

Rivera will retire at year’s end. He’s never asked for the attention. He’s a humble, funny, quiet pro who’s gone about doing the work at an Everest-high level for two decades.

He’s not a big man.

He doesn’t have superhuman strength or speed.

He doesn’t preen or beg for the spotlight. You don’t read about Mo on TMZ.

Now, let’s turn the spotlight on you.

I want to close your eyes for 90 seconds – set a timer – and imagine your audience giving you a standing ovation.

Where are you? Who’s there?

Most importantly, what have you done to earn it?

Did you do it with humility?

Did you do it with a sense of humor?

Did your actions speak louder than your words?

Start practicing the moment. Start seeing it real.

Then get to work.

Your audience is waiting for you to be awesome.

Start the timer.

Play ball.