If You Knew

If you knew that the work you were doing today would reap rewards tomorrow... would you do it? If you knew that something you SHOULD do today COULD reap rewards in the future... would you do it?

Therein lies the problem with life. Nothing is guaranteed.

There is a direct relationship between work, and reward. For the most part, reward comes not from luck, not by chance, and not from knowing the right person or from being in the right place at the right time. In most cases, reward comes from being prepared for a situation when it's presented to you. Those key situations, the ones that offer a way to advance yourself, will be coming your way throughout your entire life, and in every PART of your life -- athletics, career, academics, and social. The question is always: Are you ready to answer the call when opportunity is offered?

As an athlete, you KNOW you have to attend practice to succeed. What's not so obvious is that WHAT you practice and how you EXECUTE the practice is what determines how WELL you succeed. Attendance does not equal success. Attendance with correct focus allows success. Attendance with desire allows success. Just because you show up at practice, and keep showing up a hundred times during a season or thousands of times over an athletic career, doesn't give you an automatic pass to success. Anyone can show up at practice and go back and forth. It's those who show up with a purpose who succeed. It's those who execute today's practice as if it's the ONLY gateway to their goals who will be closer to their ultimate goals.

Look at your everyday life. Look at your school work or career. If you KNEW that reading an extra 30 minutes a night would guarantee you better grades, would you do it? If you KNEW that studying those formulas an extra 15 minutes a day would assure you of passing next week's test, would you do it? If you KNEW that by understanding the needs of each potential customer would get you the sale, would you study your customers? If you KNEW that by streamlining TIGHTLY off every wall you'd travel faster while swimming LESS, thus improving your times with no additional effort, would you do it?

You wouldn't answer NO to any of those, would you? And, if you did, there are other websites for you to look at. ;)

Preparation is the key to EVERYTHING if you want to be successful. While it's easy to argue that people DO still win the lottery, I personally don't know anyone who has. I'm sure there is someone out there with a story of a lottery winner. I'm sure it's very exciting but, alas, it's not ME and it's probably not you if you're reading this. Most of us are destined to be on the work/reward track. But if you keep a positive attitude about this, you can take a lot of pride in the fact that you have created your own success in life.

To stay positive you need to embrace the challenge. The path is clear, but it's not easy. The hard-work path requires that you stay current on your work so that you can stay current on reaping your rewards. Success will come with more regularity when you prepare for it. Remember: When it comes to success, luck has NOTHING to do with it.