The Enemy Of Success!

Don't let anybody stop you from rising to the top!

"The Big Three" has certainly lived up to all of the hype of last summers "Decision" and more, even if they fall apart right now in my opinion. I didn't expect for them to make it to the Finals when the playoffs started because I thought that they were at least a year away. However, they've stepped that up by a year.
LeBron James scored 35 points, Chris Bosh added 22 and Wade showed up big defensively when all of the marbles were on the table as the Heat went on to beat the Bulls 101-93 in an amazing Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the series.


"You could tell that neither team wanted to lose," Wade said. "Both teams were clawing. If you're a fan of the game, this was a great basketball game. ... This was will." Miami will look to send the Bulls fishing on Thursday in Chicago, where the Heat will take their first trip to the finals since 2006. "It's one game away," James said. "We're not taking anything for granted."

All of the haters in Cleveland and around the country, for that matter, are sick to their stomachs watching LeBron do exactly what he set out to do...Win! Yeah, it hurts to see someone accomplish their goals when you put all of your energy into seeing them fail. The good lesson here is, people can't control what you can become or what you accomplish in life.

Not everybody is going to be happy about your success. I've got two kids that are always looking for people to like them. They many times look for the approval of their peers when they are doing something. I'm constantly reminding them that everybody doesn't want to see you succeed.

One of my favorite lines in a movie was from American Gangster. The old Italian guy told Frank Lucas, "So your success took a shot at you. What are you gonna do now? Are you gonna kill them? Look Frank, you can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends." Well... I don't want very many friends.

That was the best line of all-time for me. I learned years ago that you can't satisfy everybody. You've got to be the best that you can be and the decisions that you make have to be genuine. If LeBron felt like going to Miami was best for he and his family and winning was paramount, then the approval of the rest of the world was irrelevant.

The only reason most folks thought "The Decision" was disgraceful was because he decided to leave. If he had stayed "The Decision" would've been pure marketing genius. Again, people that put so much energy into what someone else is doing isn't focused on making moves for themselves. Why would I care what other folks are doing if I'm on my grind?

If I've got time to analyze another man's hustle, I'm way behind the eight ball and I'm losing. Please understand that ambition is mandatory. I don't care what you've accomplished in life you should never reach a point of satisfaction. My older brother once told me when I first graduated from college, "You rest when you die". That simple statement made all of the sense in the world to me.

It's OK to celebrate the success of other folks when you're secure in who and what you are.


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Jay Graves Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.