Standing here with 19 championships is something I never thought would happen. I went on the courts with just a ball and a racquet and a hope. –Serena Williams after winning her 19th Grand Slam title
I never imagined leading my junior high and high school teams in scoring. I never imagined being named MVP of those teams. I never even imagined being a member of the University of Memphis Lady Tigers basketball team.
All I wanted to do was simply play basketball. At first, I only played at PE in elementary school. My first personal goal was made out of a milk crate. As an 8th grader, I saved my allowance and purchased my first real basketball goal.
When I became an adult, my desires moved to wanting to stay involved in basketball. I only had 5 participants at my first camp. Two of the participants were my sister and her best friend. I lost $1,000 putting on my first exposure event.
“Every step of the way in life, there have been people that said that I can’t do things. Said I couldn’t ride a bicycle. There have been people that said that I couldn’t live on my own. Couldn’t’ get a good job and support myself or I couldn’t go to college and graduate. I don’t listen to much to people when they tell me I can’t do something. There’s not a whole lot that’s going to stand in my way.” -Richie Parker
I’m pretty sure there are people that have not reached their potential, did not even start the journey towards their goals or dreams because of something someone else said.
When I was in the 7th grade, I walked up to the girls basketball coach and asked if I could try out. He looked at me and told me “NO” and said I was too skinny. TRUE STORY. I went home crying and devastated. My story could have stopped right there and you would not be reading this blog today.
Success.
Achievement.
Reaching a Goal.
Achieving a Dream.
STARTS WITH YOU.
BUILDS WITHIN YOU.
THRIVES IN YOU.
People will tell you NO.
Family will say it can’t be done.
Friends will not understand.
However, it still boils down to YOU. What YOU believe. What YOU TELL YOURSELF.
The young man in the video below had all the reasons to believe that he couldn’t ride a bike, drive a car or live on his own. But he BELIEVED HE COULD!
Don’t let anyone discourage you from what you want to do. Keep It Moving!!!
Nick Saban is successful in college football. No question about that. From 2009-2012, his Alabama teams dominated college football by winning 3 National Championships. I thought to myself how in the world is he dominating college football like this. What is he doing? Fortunately, I found an hour long YouTube video of him giving a speech on his philosophy of success and more.
Check out some of his quotes:
What it takes to continue to be successful –
“Success is not continuous. It’s momentary. The biggest requirement to be successful is to ‘be where your feet are’. Don’t worry about the failures or success of the past. Don’t get caught up looking at the future. Think about today. Where are you right now? The best chance you have to be successful is to be able to stay focused on the things that you want to get done and you want to do right now.”
On Being Complacent –
“Complacency is the killer of being successful; the poison that kills all great attitudes because you get satisfied and want to relax. You don’t want to continue to do the things that made you successful. It creates a blatant disregard for paying attention to details and doing the little things right.”
What it takes to win –
“Mindset. 1st – You have to have a vision for what you want to do. 2nd – What is the process it takes for you to accomplish that vision. 3rd – Have the discipline to execute everyday. That’s when most people fall off the wagon.”
Thoughts on Discipline –
“Everyday we are going to have something that we know we should do; that we don’t want to do. Can you make yourself do it. Then we will have something that we know we shouldn’t do, but we want to do it. Can you make yourself not do it. Undisciplined players do dumb things. Discipline players seldom do dumb things. Which are you?”
Thoughts on Vision –
“Do you want to focus on your vision or be affected about your circumstances?”
“You reap what you sow. You can invest your time or you can spend it. Sit down and evaluate how much time am I investing in my vision that I want to accomplish. How much time am I spending just doing nothing.”
Thoughts on Leadership –
“Leadership is your ability to influence and affect someone else for their benefit. To be a leader you have to care about other people. No one cares what you know until they know that you care
Sacrificing for Success –
“Pay the price for success up front. Got to work. Got to have perseverance. Got to stick with things. You can not have a great victory in life if you don’t overcome adversity. The adversity makes it a great victory.”
