JJ Birden, former Wide Receiver NFL Veteran and was the featured speaker for SECUs Annual Meeting in Greensboro, NC on October 14, 2026. He played for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys (practice squad), Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons from 1988-1996,
JJ provided some encouraging information to help change one’s mindset. It is important to operate responsibly and avoid making excuses. He suggested that we must control our decisions and identify the whys in our life. Determine the reasons we are making the decisions we make. What is the purpose and understands the impact it will make on us and others. Ultimately, what is at stake?
Execution separates potential from performance. We can say we will do a thing, create a plan, platform, or develop a skill but what really matters is the things we do to accomplish or follow through with the work. Action is required to make it happen!
JJ provided the following situations to use as Development Tools:
- F-Failures
- A- Adversity
- S- Setbacks
- C-Challenges
- O- Obstacles
These are not disruptions in our life but provide prospects for individuals to identify growth to help us understand why this happened? What did I learn? How must I turn it around into opportunities for advancement. These circumstances are not just on the football field but may be used throughout life. Consider if you are in a business, relationships, employment and your spiritual growth. How might you utilize FASCO in your life?
It is important that we seek to meet the challenges of life with a desire to grow and move forward, what must I do to make things better for me and others. It is never about us, but choosing to help others become better than they were before.
I was very impressed with his story, raising three biological children and agreeing to adopt five of his sister’s children to raise as his own. He shared that all eight of the children are successful grown adults and they are now empty nesters; what an amazing accomplishment to help others become successful!
