Do not give up: you are closer to your goal than you think
Champions are not made in gyms. Champions are made of something deep inside of them: a desire, a goal, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the ability.” Muhammad Ali
Have you ever noticed someone who got so close to their goal, only to give up before they got there? A poem that I have always posted on my locker room bulletin board is about not giving up:
do not give up
When things go wrong like sometimes,
When the road you’re walking seems all uphill,
When funds are low and debts are high
And you want to smile but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit,
rest if necessary
But don’t give up.
Life is strange with its twists and turns
As each of us sometimes learns,
And many failures turn around
When he could have won if he had held his ground;
Don’t give up even if the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another hit.
Success is failure backwards…
The silver tint of clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are
It can be near when it seems so far away
So stick to the fight when you get hit the most…
It’s when things seem worst that you shouldn’t quit!
Anonymous
So what do you need to be able to stick to your guns?
You have to believe: When former football coach Lou Holtz took over the football program at South Carolina, they weren’t very good. South Carolina was preparing to play a game in which they were underdogs by 21 points. No one believed he could win: the players, the alumni, or the media. Holtz asked his team, “Tell me all the reasons why we’re going to win this game.” Silence filled the room. After what seemed like an eternity, someone answered. Although the process started slowly, within an hour Holtz had more than 50 reasons why he would win the game. The focus shifted from why they were going to lose to why they were going to win the game. They won the game!
“When the why gets stronger, the how gets easier.” jim rohn
You need a plan of action: President John F. Kennedy said, “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-term risks of comfortable inaction.” As my Uncle Harold used to say–Off and On–Off your butt and on your feet. Eliminate I can’t from your vocabulary. Go forward or go back. Do what it takes. But do something!
You have to have the desire to succeed: according to racing driver Mario Andretti, “desire is the key to motivation, but it is determination and commitment to the relentless pursuit of your goal, a commitment to excellence, that will will allow you to achieve the success you seek”. What if that football team in South Carolina believed they could win that game and the coaching staff had a game plan, but it wasn’t important enough for the players to succeed? What do you think the outcome of that game would have been?
You have to stay the course: H. Ross Perot, Texas billionaire and former presidential candidate, has this to say about persistence: “Most people give up just when they are about to achieve success. They give up on the one-yard line. surrender in the last minute of the game, one foot from a game-winning touchdown.” What if the Pittsburgh Steelers had given up when Arizona took the lead in the final minute of the game? There is a Japanese proverb that applies to sports, business, and life: “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”
How small is the difference between winning and losing, success and failure?
According to SL Parker in his 212 Degree-The Extra Degree, the difference between first place and being just another competitor is minimal. Parker cites the following examples:
1. During the period 1977-2001, the average margin of victory on the professional golf circuit was 2.36 strokes. Gold, 0.59 hits per day.
2. During the period 1998-2002, the average margin of victory in the Triple Crown horse racing series (15 races) was 2.2 lengths. Six of those races were decided by less than a length.
3. During the 2002 Winter Olympics the margin of victory between a gold medal and no medal was: Men’s Alpine Skiing 0.65 seconds, Women’s Alpine Skiing 0.93 seconds, Men’s 500m Speed Skating 0.26 seconds, Women’s 500 meter speed skating 0.62 seconds.
4. During the 2000 Summer Olympics, the margin of victory between a gold medal and no medal was: men’s 800-meter dash 0.21 seconds, women’s 800-meter dash 2.36 seconds, men’s long jump 29 centimeters, women’s long jump 16 centimeters.
“The line between failure and success is so fine that we are often on the line and don’t know it. How many men have raised their hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have made the success… A little more effort and what seemed hopeless failure can become glorious success.” Elbert Hubbard
So what’s it going to be? The choice is yours. Remember: “Failure will never get over you if your determination to succeed is strong enough.” og mandino