There are people who teach you things by sitting you down and explaining. And then there are people who teach you just by existing — by how they carry themselves, how they work, how they think. De-Great Yartey is the second kind.
I've never had a moment where he looked at me and said "let me teach you something." But I've lost count of the number of times I've watched him and walked away knowing more than I did before. His intelligence, the way he asks questions, his work ethic, how serious and dedicated he is to what he does — all of it has quietly shaped how I move.
"The answer is usually already there — you just have to be patient enough to find it."
From him I learned that you can figure almost anything out yourself if you just force yourself to think. That the answer is usually already there — you just have to be patient enough to find it. I learned to push myself even when I feel like stopping, because stopping is easy and everybody does it. I learned patience. I learned to be humble. And I learned to cut out anything that doesn't benefit your life in any shape or form — because time is the one thing you can't get back.
He probably doesn't know he taught me any of this. That's the thing about people who are genuinely great — they don't have to try to inspire you. They just do.