The Franchise Player by Darren Hardy

I was watching a major sporting event recently and the commentator kept referring to one of the athletes as a “franchise player.”

Wanting to know exactly what this description meant, I did what we all do nowadays—I looked it up on Wikipedia.

The Great Wiki said a “franchise player” is an athlete who is not simply the best player on the team, but a player that the team can build its “franchise” (team or business) around for the foreseeable future.

The game I was watching was on the line, the outcome dependent on the performance of this franchise player. If he came through, his team would go into the playoffs, resulting in many more games, with additional coliseums filled with excited fans buying tickets, food and merchandise.

I started to think about the owner of the team. His or her entire annual return, maybe the entire future value of the enterprise, was riding on the shoulders of this one player. One player determined the difference of hundreds of millions of dollars. I thought, if I were the owner of the team, I would hire and pay a few people six-figure salaries just to manage the well-being of this one player. It would be worth it.

Last year I read Tom Rath’s book Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. Tom explains that true well-being encompasses your professional life (liking what you do every day), social life (having positive relationships and love), finances, physical fitness and health, and community involvement.
Thinking about this franchise player, I started masterminding the different ways the team owner could keep the player’s job fun, challenging and enjoyable (ya, SUCCESS always on the brain!).

Then ways to ensure he was hanging out only with people who were supportive, loving and positively reinforcing. Certainly I would hire the best and most trusted financial advisers. Every aspect of his physical health, nutrition, training and rehabilitation would be managed and monitored by a team of world-class trainers. Then to complete the well-being management, I would be sure he was actively involved with charitable endeavors to make sure he gained a sense of his higher purpose and felt the fulfillment of contribution.

Then I thought, Hey, I’m the owner of my team, I should take care of my franchise players like this as well. My financial future is in their hands. If I take great care of them they will take me all… the… way… to my goals and dreams.

Then I thought one step further: Hey, I AM the franchise player for my team— family, business, life—as well. I should take care of my well-being with this much care, consideration and investment.

It’s the shrewd and prudent thing to do.

That’s what I want to encourage you to do as well. You are the franchise player for your family, business and life. Invest the time, money and thoughtfulness to be sure your well-being is well-managed. The future of your team—family, business, life—depends on your performance.
That is what our current issue of SUCCESS (on newsstands now!) is focused on helping you achieve—greater well-being in all five essential areas of your life.

The game is on the line (every day): Is your well-being in peak-performance condition?
I hope so. (watch my free nutrition and fitness videos here)

What do you do to take care of your franchise players–your key team members and yourself? Share your ideas in the comments below.