As you may have noticed during my brief hiatus, I shared some of my most highly reviewed blogs throughout July. During this time, I traveled to Europe with my family, enjoyed summer in Michigan and spent time away to refresh.
Now it’s August, we’re back, and I’ve decided to lead off with Rocky!
I have my Rocky poster behind me, which you may recognize from my old office. It’s been in the background of many of my blogs, and I get quite a few comments about it.
So, let’s talk about Rocky, my favorite movie character of all time!
What I love about my Rocky poster is that it says, “his whole life was a million to one shot.” If you’ve seen the Rocky series, you know where he began and where he ended up. How did he do it?
There are many reasons, but I want to talk about three characteristics that made Rocky who he is.
- Work ethic. Who can forget the training season scenes? These scenes were in all the Rocky movies, and now they’re in the Creed movies. It starts off in the first one with the Rocky theme song, “Gonna Fly Now,” showing his training montage. I remember seeing that when I was eight years old, and I was hooked. As every movie came out, I anticipated the training scene. I can’t see Rocky on television without stopping and watching it. The training scenes make you want to get up off the couch and get after it. Rocky’s work ethic was totally there!
- Heart of a champion. The next characteristic that made Rocky great was his heart. Nobody could forget his fight with Apollo. At the end of the 14th round, Apollo knocks Rocky down, and everyone thought he’d stay down, but he didn’t give up. He wouldn’t give in and was able to stand back up. You see Apollo’s shocked face; nobody could believe it. He showed his heart of a champion. If you keep getting up, good things will happen.
- Toughness. I know Rocky’s not a real person, but I just love his character. He’s a great guy, a great person, a softy inside and has a heart of gold, but don’t mistake that for lack of toughness. People sometimes doubt nice and caring people, thinking they lack toughness. That’s not true. Nobody is tougher than the Rocky character.
We should reflect on these characteristics as we prepare to roll into the Fall. Think about Rocky’s work ethic, heart, and toughness. If we embody these characteristics of Rocky, I think we’ll all find success. All of our lives can turn into a million to one shot!
