Chris Pronger

And so as I thought about that question and then the ensuing questions as he peeled back the onion layers, I set out three very simple standards.

I needed to be the hardest worker in the room.

I needed to, you know, from a fitness and health perspective, I needed to fuel my body.

And if I was going to be the hardest worker in the room, and then thirdly and most importantly, I needed to have a stronger mindset.

I had very much a victimhood mentality.

Blaming others, blaming the fans for booing me, blaming my teammates for whatever, my coach for yelling at me, you know, every excuse in the book.

And until I took ownership and accountability for not only my actions, but my decisions, I wasn't going to take that next step and really take ownership of my career and understand what it's going to take to get to that next level and fulfill that dangerous word that we hear called potential.

and get to the other side of that.

aren't there absolutely and one of the things you don't understand as a young player and i certainly didn't and i struggled with it is number one you're coming in you're happy to be there there's expectations on a team there's expectations on you you know in my case second overall potential uh pressure and things of that nature what you don't understand coming in is that

Players are playing for jobs.

Coaches are playing for their job.

Trainers, managers, owners trying to make a living and make money and all the rest of that.

There's a lot of people, and by the way, don't forget about the fan base.

They're trying to be entertained, and they want to see more victories than losses.

and so you know that the weight of all that and the understanding of that early on in my career certainly wasn't there and then as my as i became more mature as i grew into my my role grew into my body and started to have a better understanding and took ownership of of my career in the sense that i started training properly started eating properly started pushing myself uh to a higher standard at a higher level

You know, then things started to fall into place much, much easier.

Yeah, you have to grow with it.

You have to learn it.

And you may have part of that in you, but you have to gain the experience of the league.

You have to gain confidence in the league to understand when to use it, when not to use it.