Determination - Firmness of Purpose

So many times people think that success has mostly to do with talent and luck. It's easy to think this when we see athletes standing up on the podium receiving their trophies and medals. That's the problem, though we only see what they display to us publicly. What we see is the result of what they have done in private. Few people get to see what these athletes go through when they are not publicly competing. Few people fail to realize that these athletes put themselves through intense rigorous training for years.

Michael Phelps said that he worked out days seven days a week for 4 years. Most swimmers will take a day off each week, but he didn't. He said the reason was that every time he takes a day off, it takes him 2 days to get back to the same level he was at that took him 6 days in a row of training to obtain.

It is easy to look at him and say the reason he won was because of his body shape or his longer than normal arms. I'm sure if most people went through the same training as he did for 4 years, they wouldn't be all that surprised by his results. That one shining moment was made possible by the thousands of hours of sweat and hard work that was put into it. If you want to experience great success, outwork all of your competition and you will have a good shot.


* Naomi Campbell & Cheetah by Jean-Paul Goude @ Harper's Bazaar '2009