Derek Monn

They cut @MikeTrout. The greatest baseball player of our generation. The story you have never heard and the lesson to learn: Back in 2008, I was a high school junior. I was an up-and-coming baseball player and my first big break was an invitation to the USA baseball team trials. You see each year USA Baseball brings in 100+ of the best baseball players in the country to try out for the 18u national team. That year, USA Baseball had arranged for two players each to stay with a host family. My roommate was a player named, Mike Trout. Mike had incredible athleticism but was from the Northeast so he didn't come into the event on the "hype train" like some of the top prospects from California, Texas, and Florida did. We both performed well at the event and made it to the final stage of the trials. Here USA Baseball chose the final 18 players for the national team. Mike didn't make those final 18 players. Fast forward 15 years and Mike is the best player of a generation. A surefire Hall of Famer and arguably one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Funny, how life works sometimes. Look the lesson we can all learn from this is life is full of things that are outside of our control. You will be told no. You will suffer adversity. You will face disappointment. Accept it as part of your journey. My friends, we focus far too much on the end destination and completely miss the beauty in the journey. The come up, the adversity, and the struggle are what you will talk about one day. It makes the destination worth striving for. So, the next time you face a setback, remember Mike's story.