When I was a high school coach, I would huddle my players and tell them, “I see a lot of ordinary athletes here. How many of you will step up and make this practice extraordinary?” This is where I found team leaders and captains.

It doesn’t matter where you are in life at this moment. You can turn every ordinary situation into something extraordinary.

This could be parenting, as a spouse, at work, diets and exercising, athletes or maybe through volunteering.

You see, it’s possible that your ordinary is a waste of time, so make your hours extraordinary.

Yes, putting more effort into something will take you out of your comfort zone, but the rewards could be life-changing.

For some, trying to discover extraordinary within yourself can be a challenge. Life can knock us down, and we get caught up feeling sorry for ourselves.

It took many setbacks and a tragedy to discover my extraordinary. You must realize hardships are life’s way of forcing you into extraordinary.

For me, when I feel like giving up, I find strength through my late grandmother Frances Tepera. She buried a husband when my dad was an infant, raised five successful children and she only had a seventh-grade education.

I could write a book on grandma’s struggles, and how she would conquer each day. She became our family’s backbone.

So, when you get down on yourself and life, who can you look for strength to become extraordinary?

If you can’t discover that person, then guess what? You are the chosen one. It is you who will teach other family members to fight in this world and create extraordinary into the bloodline.

It’s in you. Go look in the mirror, focus deep into your eyes and soul search. Tell yourself over and over, “I have been chosen to be extraordinary and today the world will see it.”

Now, get out there and be extraordinary. We need you.