Once again this year, my son is playing football in a local youth league. His team consists of kids from three different grade levels. As you can imagine, the older kids get the bulk of the playing time. Often times, this is upsetting to the younger kids (and their parents). It’s hard for them to practice all week long and then just sit and watch for the most of the game.

During a recent game, it was almost painful to watch them squirming on the bench, waiting for their chance to play. The motivational speaker in me wanted to run onto the sidelines and tell them the story of Jeff Hostetler.

After a standout college career, Hostetler was a standout college quarterback who was drafted by the New York Giants. During his first two seasons, he did not get to throw a single pass in a regulation NFL game. For most of the next three years, he played sparingly. That is, until New York’s star quarterback, Phil Simms, was injured late in the season.

After five long years of riding the bench, Hostetler finally got his chance to play and did he ever play. He led his team to five straight wins, including a win in perhaps the most dramatic Superbowl of all-time, Superbowl XXV. Later, Hostetler went on to become a starter for the Giants and eventually for the Oakland Raiders, where he was named to the Pro Bowl. Not bad for a perennial bench warmer, huh?

Of course, Hostetler’s story isn’t unique in sports nor is it particularly unique in life in general. Most successful people first go through a period of bench warming; a period where they must sit on the sidelines and prepare themselves for a role they will play in the future. In the theatre, we call these people “understudies.” In the trade professionals, they are called “apprentices.” And, in many entertainment fields, they are called “interns.”

Yet, regardless of the title, they all have one thing in common – patience. They have the patience to be able to wait for the moment in the sun. And unless you’ve already arrived in your chosen field, it’s likely that you’ll need to develop similar patience. Sure, you may never want to play quarterback in the NFL, star in a play on Broadway or host your own radio program, but it still requires just as much patience to become the head of human resources, the President of your local Rotary Club or an elder in your church.

The simple truth of the matter is that the best things in life take time and how you spend this time determines your ultimate success in life. You can choose to spend the time by griping and complaining or you can choose to learn from the experience.

In business, this means that instead of spending your time thinking about how much better you’d run the sales or marketing department, you can use your time as the back-up to learn from your boss. Watch how she conducts herself during meetings. What does she do well? How you can improve when you eventually assume the position?

Most importantly, play your current role as well as you can. If your job is to just run errands, then run the best darn errands that have ever been run. If your job is to just make copies, then make the best copies that have ever been made. Do such a good job that people wouldn’t think of going to anyone else to get their coffee order filled or their copies collated.

Now, you may ask, “Why put so much time and effort into doing such menial tasks?” The answer is two- fold. First of all, unless you want bench warming to be your ultimate destination, and not just a temporary stop along your career task, you must excel at doing the little things. After all, who is going to assign you the responsibility of running an entire department if they can’t trust you to put both cream and sugar in their coffee?

Secondly, you want to keep yourself in the action. After all, where do you think Jeff Hostetler was standing on the fateful day when Phil Simms was injured? You guessed it. He was standing right next to the head coach, holding his clipboard. Who else was the coach going to get to enter the game at that point – some guy who had just been cut by the Detroit Lions? The coach went with the one person who had proven himself faithful over the last five years.

Your goal during the bench warming stage is to be that person. Just keep honing your skills and waiting for that opportunity, so when that opportunity arises you’ll be ready to shine.