The Road to Success
In analyzing the great athletes of
the world, almost all of them have followed certain steps in achieving success,
even if they didn't realize it at the time.
Most of these steps have also been used by people who have become a
success in school, business, industry, or their personal life. Even though this information is centered
around athletics, it can be applied to almost every human endeavor. What, then, are these steps along the "Road
to Success"?
DESIRE- Ultimate victory goes
to the athlete with the most desire. The
principal difference between winners and losers is the amount of personal
motivation- how much an athlete wants to succeed. Motivation determines just how good you can
be. The amount of desire you have
determines the limit to your potential.
You will not become a champion because your parents want you to or
because your coach says you have the ability.
You can reach the top only if you want it badly enough. Others may give you some help and moral
support, but you must be self-motivated.
Desire is the most important
quality along the road to success. If
the desire is sufficient, nothing can stop you from becoming a champion. If you are properly motivated, if you want
something badly enough, you are dedicated to attaining you goal. You will work toward it no matter how long it
takes, and you are determined that nothing will block you path. Your desire has to be strong enough to shake
off all urges to quit, to take it easy, to give anything less than your best
effort.
Your first step to success is to
have this intense desire. Before you can
do that, you have to recognize the difference between wishing for something
and wanting it. Many athletes wish
for something like success, but they don't want it badly enough to work to
achieve it. Athletes who want success
are willing to pay the price by making the sacrifices necessary to reach their
goals.
Here are some things you can do to
help develop your desire:
1. Anticipate what becoming a
success or a champion will mean to you.
Knowing what the rewards may bring will help stimulate your desire and
make you work harder for them.
2. Learn everything you can about
the sport.
3. Watch and follow the sport at
every opportunity.
4. Identify with someone in the
sport. There are several role models to
gain inspiration from, i.e.Galen Rupp, Jake Rossmango, Dan O’Brien, Tyrell
Yardley, Sergei Bubka, Zach Watson, Michael Johnson, Mark Calvin, Mayra Franco,
Hannah Williams, etc.
5. Constantly remind yourself of
your dreams. It is easy to forget
your dreams without constant reminders.
Place posters, slogans, etc. in places where you will see them often.
ATTITUDE- Much of your
success will be determined by how you approach your workouts, races, school,
work, etc. A Positive attitude can make
the difference when most other elements affecting the outcome are equal. The following ideas about attitude will help
you along the road to success:
1. Eliminate the negatives and
accentuate the positive. Build from
failures, don't dwell on them. Find
something positive about each workout or competition.
2. Champions come from people who
are great every day, not just once a week.
3. "Nothing can stop the man
with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the
wrong mental attitude." (Thomas
Jefferson)
4. Focus on the things you have
control over, not those things you cannot change. Look for things going into a workout or
competition which you feel are to your advantage and build your frame of mind
around them. If you are anticipating the
worst while hoping for the best, you will get the worst. If you believe you are beaten, you are.
5. Success comes in
"cans", not in "can nots".
"The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist, the opportunity in every
difficulty." (L.P. Jacks)
6. You must practice having a
good attitude. Always look forward
to the best thing that can happen to you.
POTENTIAL- Realize your
abilities. One important difference
between champions and average athletes is in the development of potential. Champions have paid the price; they
are dedicated and have worked long and hard to develop their potential. Ordinary athletes have
explored only the tip of the iceberg
of their potential. Psychologists state
that most of us seldom use more than 25 per cent of our potential. At 25 per cent, you can attain many
goals. However, if you tap only a small
part of the remaining 75 per cent, you will surpass your wildest dreams of
success. To develop your potential to
its fullest, you should:
1. Never doubt your potential. Believe in yourself and expect to succeed.
2. Never think in terms of limits
to your potential. No athlete can
exceed self-imposed limitations. You
will not surpass any mark until you first believe that you can do so. How much you do depends on how much you
think you can do.
3. Visualize yourself at the
top. Picture yourself as already
successful. Visualize yourself not as
you are now, but as you expect to become.
PERSONAL GOALS- If you have
already decided that you desire to succeed and that you have the potential to
be a champion, you must now formulate specific goals to give direction to your
dreams. Goals are organized plans
showing your specific and general aims.
They show how far you have come and how far you still have to go. Goals help you see your progress often and
provide incentive that will help you drive for greater achievements.
Goals are not fantasies. They are dreams that you act upon and intend
to make them realities. You have to
know what to do and how to do it. You
must have a plan for success.
In order for goals to benefit you,
you must establish three levels:
long-range, intermediate, and short-range.
Long-range goals represent a
level of achievement that you hope to attain in the future, perhaps as distant
as five or more years from now. Examples
might be to become a State Champ, compete on the collegiate level or in the
Olympics, etc. Long-range goals weaken
if you do not constantly have some shorter range goals within your grasp. This lets you see you are getting somewhere.
Intermediate goals represent
levels of achievement that require less time to achieve. You can see progress toward them and believe
in your ability to reach them with hard work.
These may take a few months to a year to reach. Examples are to qualify for State, place in
Region, make the Varsity team, etc.
Short-range goals are
confidence builders that you can achieve in a month, a week, or even
today. These goals need to be adjusted
as frequently as each previous goal is met.
Examples are to improve on a specific facet of your event, complete the
workout with certain times, set a PR for your event, etc. Reaching these short-range goals help you
achieve intermediate goals, which are necessary steps along the road to your
long-range goals.
Goal setting should be guided by the
following principles:
1. Set challenging goals,
ones that demand a great deal of effort and dedication on your part. It is better to shoot for the stars and
miss than aim at the gutter and hit.
At the same time you must be realistic and set goals that are
within you skills.
2. Set new, higher goals as you
reach the old ones. Never become
satisfied with yourself, and seek to constantly improve by setting higher
and higher goals. The moment you
stop improving is the moment you begin to decline. Winners achieve a goal by giving an
all-out effort, are thrilled with victory, and are still not satisfied. This achievement merely proves to them that
they can improve even more and they plan to do so.
3. Set your own goals. Ask for advice of others and seek their help,
but be positive that the goals to which you commit yourself are those that you
really want and that you will work hard to attain.
4. Expect to reach your goals. Don't just think that you might succeed, but
expect that you will.
5. Visualize your goals. The more clearly you can visualize your
goals, and visualize achieving them, the more your desire will inspire you to
greater effort.
6. Never lose sight of your major
goal. Never forget what you are
striving for. Also, don't spend too much
time looking back on past successes.
Once you begin to feel satisfied with your achievements in the past, you
lose sight of your objective. Go all
the way. Never look back.
7. Record and post your goals
where you will be constantly reminded of where you are trying to go. Commit yourself to follow the necessary
steps to reach them, eliminating all things which will detract from the
success you desire.
8. The most important part of a
goal is the journey. if you have set
a goal, established a plan for achieving it, and done everything possible to
reach that goal, and still fall short, you are a success. If you reach a goal by taking shortcuts or
circumventing the rules, you are a failure. Thousands have set a goal of becoming an
Olympic champion and have fallen short.
If they did everything possible during the journey to reach the goal,
they have been successful, and they are winners. "The highest reward for man's toil is
not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it." (John Ruskin)
DEDICATION- You must be
willing to pay the price. You must have
complete commitment to a purpose and will not abandon your goal no matter what
happens. You must be willing to work
harder than you ever have before. The
are several elements involved in becoming a dedicated athlete.
1. All great athletes are totally
committed to their goals.
2. Dedication involves a total
commitment of mind and body to the completion of a purpose.
3. The realization of any goal
involves a great deal of hard work; the
more you work, the greater will be your success.
4. To become a dedicated person you
must be willing to work harder than ever before, and must set up a daily
practice program and stick to it.
WORK- Hard work is the
preparation for victory. There is no
such thing as a born winner. Some people
may be blessed with more talent than others, but his is no guarantee of
success. There is nothing more
common in sports or life than unsuccessful people with great talent. On the other hand, you will never find a
champion who got there without persistence and hard work. Others may have more ability, but if they are
not willing to put in the long hours it takes to become a champion, you can
leave them behind. Never allow an
opponent to have an advantage over you in physical conditioning. You must not only practice regularly, but you
must learn how to practice. Spend
twice as much time on your weak areas as you do on your strong points. Place some element of competition into your
practice. Imagine that you are in a
competitive situation and practice how you will react to it.
DETERMINATION- Setbacks and
obstacles are inevitable to all athletes.
They can be frustrating, disappointing, and impede your progress. Winners overcome obstacles and learn from
them to help them become a better athlete.
There are many times when it would be easier to just plain quit instead
of "gutting" it out and continue the battle. Determination prevents the winners from
giving in to the urge to quit.
Refuse to worry about failure or become pre-occupied with mistakes. If you are overly concerned with failure, you
cannot perform at your best. If you are
afraid of failure, you become tentative and lose your confidence.
Determination should follow these
guidelines:
1. Your entire program should be
built upon your desire to reach your goals.
Unless you really want it and until you are dedicated, you will not have
the base needed to achieve.
2. Refuse to worry about failure
or to become pre-occupied with mistakes.
Let others worry about them. You
don't fail until you accept defeat as permanent and stop trying. Few worthwhile achievements are made on the
first attempt. The only difference
between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you view them.
3. Keep your head up. Be positive in your chances to correct any
errors you may have made. Always feel
that your next attempt will be better.
4. Make it a habit to finish what
you start. Determination become a
habit. You will find that you will not
be able to quit no matter how hard things seem to be going. Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.
5. Don't expect too much too soon. The top can only be reached through long and
hard effort. Concentrate on making
steady and sure progress.
CONFIDENCE- You must believe
in yourself. Failure is the consequence
of a lack of confidence. Doubt, worry
and fear affect your effort both physically and mentally. They cause you to tighten up and prevent you
from relaxing. With confidence, you have
the feeling that nothing will prevent you from winning. Confidence is an acquired
characteristic. The following are things
to help build confidence:
1. Practice positive thinking. Believe you can be successful.
2. Hard, dedicated practice is
the best way to develop confidence.
3. Expect your goals to become
reality. Closely follow your goals,
update and build on them.
CONCENTRATION and VISUALIZATION- The ability to focus on what you are
attempting to do is vital in becoming a success. You must be able to block out all things
which can adversely affect your performance.
This prevents you from being "rattled" or distracted in
performing to the best of your abilities.
Visualization is a form of
concentration. If you visualize your
dreams in a positive way, it can help turn them into reality. Since the brain controls all physical
activity, the performance of athletic skills involves the working together of
mind and body as a unit. We can only
achieve in life what we have previously visualized ourselves achieving. We can only do what we mentally picture we
can do. Act as if you are a
champion and your mind will convince you that you are a champion. See yourself performing what it takes to win
and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Some thoughts on concentration and
visualization:
1. Perfect execution of fundamentals
requires perfect concentration.
2. The most common source of
error in sports is a failure of concentration.
3. Visualization is a type of
concentration in which you actually see yourself succeed in your mind.
4. Visualization succeeds because
the mind cannot distinguish between reality and imagery rehearsal. The
mind will make your body perform the actions you have fed into your mind
as pictures.
5. Whatever you visualize
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if your mental image is clear and strong
enough.
6. Make mental practice just as
much a habit as physical practice.
COURAGE- If you plan to
become a champion, you have to have heart.
Courage is a measure of you heart, your desire, your inner
strength. It will help keep you from
being intimidated by the prospect of failure.
Keys to courage are:
1. Courage is largely the result of
confidence. The more you work, the
better you become; the better you
become, the more confidence you have;
the more confidence you have, the more courage.
2. Be aggressive and bold. Take initiative and don't worry about
failure.
3. Never look to short-cuts for
victory. You won't find them. Worthwhile accomplishments are difficult and
it takes courage to avoid the seemingly easy path to success.
4. Accept the pain that comes
with competition. Many athletes are
unwilling to give the full measure of their strength. They want to win only if they can do so
without pain, if they don't have to push themselves extremely hard. You must be willing to give 100%. A hero is one who knows how to hold on for
just a minute longer.
5. Welcome crucial, do-or-die
situations. Have a desire to be the
one who puts it all on the line to help the TEAM. Do not shy from pressure.
6. Learn to block out hostile
environment and difficult situations. Don't
be intimidated by anyone or any situation.
PRIDE- Pride reflects an athletes' sense of their
own value and ability. Champions are
proud of their achievements, of where they are now and of where they are
going. Whatever they do reflects on them
as a TEAM and as individuals. Proud
athletes don't want their names associated with mediocrity. A winner wants to do the very best no
matter what the field of endeavor.
A winner expects more of themselves than others do.
Many things are entailed in pride:
1. Champions are driven to great
accomplishments by a pride in themselves that prevents them from giving
anything less than 100%.
2. Athletes with pride are proud of
what they have done, what they are, and what they plan to do.
3. Pride should serve as a motivator
toward success.
4. Live up to what you expect of
yourself. Refuse to accept
mediocrity.
5. Anything worth doing at all is
worth doing the very best you can possibly do it.
PERSPECTIVE- This is the ability to look realistically at
all important facts and points of view in any given situation. This allow you to make the wisest and most
careful decisions possible. Real winners
are constantly aware of the relationship between their sport and their
lives. They never lose sight of the
relative importance of sports and winning, and they know that they alone must
set and try to reach their goals. Above
all, an athlete with a proper view of life knows that there is a place for losing; even a champion does not always win. Losing should just motivate you to perform
better in the future. While winning
is important, it must be kept in perspective.
It is obvious that not everyone can bring home the gold. Winning does not alone make you a champion,
and losing does not indicate failure. Doing
your best is more important than being the best. The winning attitude is not just a feeling
for those standing on the top pedestal to experience. It is felt by anyone who does everything
possible to reach their full potential.
