Champions aren’t made in gyms, champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
—Muhammad Ali
When you switch your focus from instant gratification toward long-term accomplishment, create a mental image of why you should reject the instant rewards and keep going — despite hardships, failures, sacrifices, and lack of compensation.
A detailed vision of your wished-for future will fuel your resolve, compensating for any weaknesses you might have or difficulties that might stand on your way toward success.
For example, I struggled with extreme shyness as a teenager. I set a goal to develop selfconfidence and feel relaxed in all kinds of social settings. I was, and still am, an introverted lone wolf who needs solitude more than I need other people.
However, my will was strong. I knew I needed to make this change in order to stop limiting my personal growth, something I found and still find is one of my most important values. This deep desire kept me going, despite my personality being extremely unsuited to social settings .
Note that your deep desire doesn’t have to be about you. You’ve surely heard stories about people performing incredible feats of strength to rescue a victim of an accident. For example, in 2003 in Oregon, teenage sisters Hanna (age 16) and Haylee (age 14) lifted a 3,000-pound (1360 kg) tractor to save their father, who was pinned underneath it.
The mechanism that supports such impossible actions still baffles scientists. We only know one thing for sure: under normal circumstances, Hanna and Haylee wouldn’t be able to lift a tractor. It was their will — their immense desire to save their father — that gave them superhuman strength.
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【365天自律成长英语笔记】 DAY 54-On Underestimating the Long-Term Approach
