WANT TO BECOME A CHAMPION? Got a really WILD dream you’d desperately like to turn into a reality? If so, then there is a really simple, though somewhat boring strategy that you can use to make that dream come true. This is a strategy that almost all successful athletes have, regardless of their sport. It is a strategy that will turn you into a winnder both on and off the athletic field! However, don’t get too excited just yet! This really simple strategy I’m referring to here is so VERY HARD to pull off on a regular basis.
What’s this succes strategy? PERSEVERANCE! Stick-to-it-ness! It’s the ability to hang in there on a quest, NO MATTER WHAT! It’s the quaility of being like a dog with a bone! You have a job to do, a goal to reach and you just won’t let it go until you see it through to completion. Far too many athletes get discouraged in their quest when the going gets tough. They experience some failure, disappointment and/or frustration and then mistakenly believe that what they’re pursuing is impossible for them. They may get cut from a team, have to sit on the bench for a good part of the season or allow coaches’ negativity to get them down. As a consequence, they lose their drive and hunger, and give up too soon! Winners don’t allow setbacks to set them back….for very long!
When I first started training in Okinawan Karate as a brand new white belt, my Sensei told me, “the real secret to success in the martial arts is very basic. You must come to train today and then come to train tomorrow. No matter how you feel, good or bad, emotionally up or down, you must train. And after tomorrow, you must come and train the next day, day after day, week after week, month after month!” I followed his advice and over the years watched so many more advanced students than myself, stop doing that and fall by the wayside. My black belt came six years later because I just kept training, day after day, week after week, month after month.
If something is REALLY important to you, then it’s REALLY IMPORTANT that you go after it with PERSEVERANCE. You set your WILL on a course and you follow it through…through all of the setbacks….through all of the frustrations….through all of the disappointments…..You do not quit or give up…You just keep plugging away. Sticking with the quest in this way is what will ultimately make you a CHAMPION!
