Grandpa noted Daniel’s name at the top of the list. Daniel and Thomas were best friends as well
as friendly rivals. They were always challenging each other to see who was the better.
If the competition had been confined to schoolwork, Thomas might have been the victor. He
learned his new spelling words faster, he was quick to pick up on addition and subtraction, and he
could read aloud quite effortlessly—but these are not the things that are really valued among little
boys, and education is a lot more than reading, spelling, and math.
Daniel had the physical prowess. He could run faster, climb higher up a tree, and throw a stone
farther. When it came to designing and building a paper airplane, Thomas was quick and creative,
but Daniel always seemed to fly his farther.
Some days they would take the long walk home from school through the woods. There they
would climb to the top of a granite outcrop and engage in the ultimate little-boy challenge: to see
who could pee the farthest. Daniel always won. That in itself was infuriating, but it wouldn’t have
been so bad if he didn’t laugh at Thomas. Thomas felt hurt.
He was also worried, for the annual school football tryouts were coming up, and Thomas des-
perately wanted to be selected. He had no doubt that Daniel would be. Daniel always was. He ran
fast, he handled the ball well, and he didn’t get frightened when other kids tried to tackle.
One weekend, Thomas arrived at his Grandpa’s looking forlorn. Daniel had beaten him again
when they stopped at the granite outcrop. Again he had laughed at Thomas, and boasted about how
he’d be on the football team.
“What’s wrong?” asked Grandpa kindly.
“It’s Daniel,” said Thomas. “He is always better than me. No matter what he does, he always
seems to win. He’ll get selected for the football team and I won’t. He beats me at everything I do.
We have the grand championship coming up in a few weeks and I know that he’ll win... and laugh
at me again.”
Thomas’s grandpa gently stroked his grandson’s shoulder and said, “You and Daniel have been
friends for a long time and in that time there is something I have learned about Daniel. Over my life
I have met a lot of other people like him. You see, I used to be a champion swimmer.” Thomas had
seen the dusty old trophies in his grandpa’s den and the ribbons that hung from the bookshelf. He
had seen the couple of framed photographs of his grandpa as a younger man, proudly holding a tro-
phy. He knew this about his grandpa but they had never spoken about it before.
“In my experience, the best athletes have a few secrets that you never hear them talk about,” his
grandpa confided, as though he were a master magician finally agreeing to tell his student some safely
guarded magical tricks of the trade.
Thomas was eager to learn the secrets. He wanted to know what he could do to beat Daniel.
“First,” began Grandpa, “it is helpful if the ability comes to you easily. You see, there are some
things you do very well and some things Daniel does very well. We all have our different skills and
abilities. The secret is to concentrate on your strengths. Know what they are and how to use them.
Be aware of what you are not so good at, too, and make the choices as to whether you want to fo-
cus on those things less, or try to develop them. Thinking too much about what you can’t do may
stop you from doing what you can.
“In my time as an athlete I have seen many people who have the ability, but they tend to be lazy.
They could make it to the top but don’t put in the effort.
“The second secret of top athletes,” continued his grandpa, “is that they train. Have you ever
DEVELOPING SKILLSDeveloping Life Skills 171