Terry McLaurin Got Cut in 9th Grade. Here's What He Learned About Long-Term Success.

Play multiple sports for as long as you can

McLaurin credits his multi-sport background — baseball, football, track, basketball — with skills that still show up in his NFL game. His ability to track deep balls on either shoulder, make contorted catches, and move fluidly as a route runner? "I think that's a derivative of baseball," he says. Cross-training builds an athletic foundation that single-sport specialization can't replicate.

Work ethic outlasts talent

McLaurin was 5-foot-4 and 125 pounds as a sophomore. He wasn't the fastest, the biggest, or the strongest. But he made every optional workout. He did his own side training. He showed up when others didn't. "I haven't always been the fastest, the biggest, the strongest, but I will put my work ethic up against anyone," he says.

"Continue to have confidence in who you are. Because you've been created solely to be you, not to be the next Terry McLaurin, the next LeBron, the next whomever."

Parents: follow your child's lead

McLaurin's father believed baseball was his son's best sport. But when his son chose football, he supported that choice — even when his son was a 5-4 sophomore who didn't look the part. His mother drove him across town to workouts before school. Neither parent made the sport about themselves. "They didn't care what I chose to do, but I was gonna work extremely hard at it," McLaurin says.

Focus on the process, not the destination

McLaurin says he used to get bogged down in results. What changed his experience of sports — and of life — was learning to focus on the middle part: the process, the growth, the lessons available whether things work out or not. "Comparison can be the thief of joy," he says. "Your journey is different than the next."