The home page of Derek Jeter's Hall of Fame site says, "Derek Jeter's career was defined by excellence from beginning to end."

Jeter was a 14-time all-star, 5-time World Series champion, World Series MVP, Rookie of the Year, 5-time Gold Glover and Silver Slugger, and has his number 2 with the New York Yankees.

His former strength coach, Dan Cavala, wrote an article after he was inducted that talked about Jeter's discipline, creating this career defined by excellence.

He wrote, everything important to Jeter's performance was scheduled and ritualized from training, to meals, to work, to rest and recovery.

To get and maintain this type of rigid structure, Coach Cavalea suggested asking yourself these questions:

What do I do in the AM when I get up?
What do I do in the AM before lunch?
What do I do after lunch?
What do I do after work/school?
What do I do after dinner?
What do I do right before bed?

These questions will help you as an athlete develop the habits and rituals to become the highest performer possible. These should especially include improving and executing valuable sleep, nutrition, and recovery practices.

Training in skills and performance are usually the "easier" things to get done as a motivated athlete, but they are only a part of what it takes.

Coach Cavalea quoted tennis champion, Rafael Nadal saying, "To win, you have to be prepared to suffer."

There's nothing fun about doing all these things consistently. But this is the sacrifice that all great athletes and high performers will make to be the best for themselves and their teams.