(In May 2014, I was invited to speak at the first Sports Business Class Graduation at University Anahuac Querétaro, where I currently serve as an associate professor. This is the message shared.)

In 1986, a very curious structure was built by the company Space Biospheres. 

The company built the most amazing and controlled ecosystem the world has ever seen on over three acres of Arizona land.

For three decades, this massive bubble was used by multiple universities and organizations to study the relationship of over three thousand species of animals and plants with their environment. 

The main goal was understanding and possibly solving our most significant environmental problems. 

In 1991, eight brave scientists joined the project by attempting to live inside this mini-world for two years without interacting with the outside world. 

They quickly found out that nature had no agenda. 

Less than a year after the scientists arrived, the oxygen, water, and food levels were at alarming minimums.

The «crew,» to secure their survival, was forced to receive external help. Throughout ducts similar to the ones used on air conditioners, oxygen was reintroduced to the sphere in hopes of saving the scientists and the project overall. 

The solution succeeded, and no one died. Nevertheless, in the process of failure, this group and the entire world learned one of Nature’s biggest lessons ever communicated.

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Graduates, when you asked me to come and deliver a message for your graduation, I immediately tried to reconcile how you must be feeling now. 

I quickly realized how naive that was. 

I cannot know what is going through your mind because the world is perceived differently depending on who is experiencing it.

No one really «understands you,» but gladly, I can say that within that uncertainty, you will find joy in living.

Today, you will wear a ridiculous cap and gown that, on top of being uncomfortable, won’t tell you much of its significance. You will swipe the tassel from side to side to represent the end of a life stage.

Unfortunately, the tassel does not come with any directions or guidance.

What life stage are you ending? 

We do not know, and because of that and the unavoidable fact that life is full of uncertainty, I found it futile to talk about your next steps. Instead, I present myself here just to share an opinion that I hope serves you better. 

All decisions we make impact our lives in some way, but there are three that I believe are the most consequential. 

1. Who we decide to relate with, including our life partner.

2. What do we decide our dreams will be, and how do we go about them, including the school path we choose.

3. And most importantly, how do we decide our relationship with adversity will be? 

The first decision is full of magic. 

Even though we might think we control who we meet, we do not, and the exciting part is to understand why we end up meeting and relating with our people. 

For this, I hope you never forget that the art of listening will help you better understand this. 

For this, let me share a short story. 

In 2014, Roger Federer had more than seventy titles and was considered one of the best tennis players in history. During one of his practices, he felt that only «a few» of his backhand shots were aimed right. Feeling his frustration, his coach approached him and made a risky and almost unimaginable suggestion, «You might need to change your racket,» he said. 

Now, let’s think about this for a second. 

Asking Federer to change his racket at this stage of his career would be like asking Tiger Woods to alter his golf clubs, Leonel Messi his shoes, or Lewis Hamilton to position his hands around the steering wheel differently. 

Well, all these stories happened and share the same underlying principle.

They all listened. 

After changing his racket and slightly struggling for a year, Federer won twenty-one more championships, including three majors.

When you navigate the world, I wish you never forget the power of listening. All great ones do it several times before they even think about speaking.

They all understand that listening is the best tool we have to grow. 

In your future jobs, try not to look for the company’s name but for people you can listen to. In your future relationships, do not look for comfort and a self-reaffirming ego but for people you can grow with.

Now, about the second and third decisions, we all know they are related, but seldom do people explain that their relationship is consequential.

Your relationship with adversity will determine your success. 

Dreaming, wishing, and visualizing are relatively straightforward; the hard part is understanding the price to pay. 

Think about it; it is naive to think that the decision to enroll in this program was made whole of certainty. Ultimately, it was a decision the world forced you to take when you were seventeen or eighteen years old.

If you feel lost, it is not because you took the wrong path but because there was never one. 

Invariably, you will apply for tens of jobs you will never hear from, try to contact people who will never respond, and end up doing stuff you never thought you would. 

In the middle of this confusion, I will ask you not to forget our second story—a more powerful one this time. 

Months before the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps suffered a shoulder injury that prevented him from practicing. His entire team of coaches, staff, and representatives quickly designed a program based on rest that would ensure Phelps’s emotional well-being. 

For all of them, the champion did not need as much training as he needed to remain mentally sharp.

Micheal had different plans, tho. 

He immediately ordered the installation of an indoor bike in his room, and over the following months, he added over two hundred hours of exercise. 

By himself, pedaling in front of a wall…over and over again. 

You know the end of the story: Phelps won eight gold medals, breaking the world record on seven of them. 

No matter your background or trajectory, I guarantee you will face a moment in your life when you feel lost and frustrated. You will feel like no matter how hard you pedal, the wall in front of you will not move. 

It is at this moment that I wish you to find your biggest inner strength and let it out with a smile because this will be the moment when life starts to teach you how it feels to pay the price for a dream.

It will be that moment when I wish you remember that your sweat, inner conversations, tears, and resiliency will become your most significant tools to finally build your path. 

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Back in the biosphere in Arizona, scientists discovered that the lack of oxygen was mainly caused by a phenomenon never seen before. 

Although the trees planted inside initially grew at a faster pace than those outside, they were surprisingly falling and dying just before reaching maturity.

When analyzing these trees, scientists discovered that the cause of the death was the lack of a type of wood called «compression wood,» which is commonly found in the circumference of a tree cortex. 

This wood, later they understood, allows a tree to resist the wind by constantly bending and positioning it elegantly toward the sunlight. 

The trees do not grow strong enough to survive without this type of wood. 

Without wind, the trees die. 

So, before I leave, I want to leave this message with you. 

In life, one way or another, we all want to grow. 

In your process of doing it, I wish that when adversity hits you in the form of wind, you find how to bend and adapt to it. When the circumstances feel hopeless, you intelligently position yourself towards new sunlight. 

With all my heart, I wish you that in the face of crisis, your love for the things you do helps you listen to the wind’s direction and strengthens your heart because, as we now know, that is the only way a tree becomes invincible. 

Thank you.