You paid attention to every cornerback that was drafted before you. You always tried to outperform those guys. And for me, that's always been in the back of my mind - starting with not being invited to the combine, of wanting to make sure I had a good Pro Day and then getting drafted at the end of the sixth round.
Being drafted 13 definitely motivates me, but I love where I was drafted, I love the opportunity I was drafted into. But the 12 guys ahead of me are in the back of my head all the time.
There's a lot of guys who are drafted and end up not playing in the NBA. They get their money for their first whatever years and end up going overseas or something like that.
Before we come to a challenging situation, before the universe squeezes us, how much of our effort is geared toward the reason we came to this world? The more focus we have on the front end, the less focus we end up needing on the back end.
I play in a league that's 70 percent black and my peers, guys I come to work with, guys I respect who are very socially aware and are intellectual guys, if they identify something that they think is worth putting their reputations on the line, creating controversy, I'm going to listen to those guys.
A lot of times you don't see that, doesn't matter when they're drafted, first round or not. You usually don't see guys come in and wow you.
I normally did isolation/bodybuilding-style workouts. But since coming to the Performance Center, the strength and conditioning coach has me doing a lot of different workouts I've never done before, and it's really shocked my body in a good way.
I listen to anything anyone gives me. I always go back to a few basic favorites. I can always listen to Django Reinhardt and hear something I haven't heard before. I like to listen to Art Tatum and Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Those are guys who never seem to run out of ideas.
The type of work I do is more like CrossFit, so I do track workouts, and I do boxing workouts. So it's a lot of different things that I do. I don't want to overload the body too much, but when we do the hill, it's not like workouts.
Now listen, guuuyyysss! Come on guys. Let's all, come on, let's be simple about this.
There is definitely that thing here a little where people are like 'Oh that Broadway girl has come to Nashville' and I'm like 'Listen you guys, I was singing country before I even got a Broadway show. And I'm from Kentucky.'
P90X and Insanity are awesome workouts for young guys who aren't beat up. DDPYoga is for guys who are beat up. It's the fountain of youth for beat-up guys.
So many guys come onto the scene who aren't supposed to be there. You pull for one, and then you see there's another and another and another, and you start to say, 'Who cares where a player was drafted? He can play football, and he can play at this level.'
I think for a lot of guys when they get taken down it's like the end of the world and they freak out about it but training with the team I have here, I have been in a lot of bad positions before and I'm no slouch on the ground either, so if it goes down there, I'm comfortable and can win the fight down there or get back to my feet and end it there.
Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give.
I always said in my mind I wanted to be an All-Star and show four-year guys in the NBA can be good players as opposed to just one-and-done guys. If I left after my freshman year, I wouldn't have gotten drafted, I probably couldn't deal with D-League and travel on the bus.