THE INVENTORY OF SUCCESS

Here are some characteristics of successful athletes:

• Successful athletes earnestly want to succeed, and they do something about it.
• They set goals for themselves.
• Successful athletes realize that everything worth having in athletics has a price tag in terms of training and competitive effort.  They understand that success has its cost, but they pay their way knowingly, keeping their eyes on their goals.
• They realize their future success in the final analysis will depend upon their own personal efforts.
• Successful athletes consider work a privilege, not a chore.
• They accept personal responsibility for their own success.
• Successful athletes don’t depend upon luck. They know that success goes only where it’s invited.
• They know that willpower, not magic, turns dreams into reality.
• Successful athletes have a high frustration tolerance. They don’t become discouraged at temporary setbacks.  They learn from these setbacks and look ahead to the next competition with optimism.
• They don’t waste time thinking the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  They don’t complain about what they haven’t got. They develop to the maximum what they have.
• Through willing to change for the better, successful athletes do not flit from one training method or technique to the other from day to day.  They determine a long-range course of action and follow through on it with faith in its effectiveness.
• Successful athletes profit by their own mistakes, and they profit by the mistakes of others.
• They avoid negative thoughts and defeatist thinking.
• Successful athletes don’t have head-trouble, but they do have guts.
• They are totally reliable and responsible in training matters.
• They don’t alibi. They know the best excuse is one you never make.
• Successful athletes set examples for others.
• They are cooperative with both coaches and teammates.
• Successful athletes are by far the easiest to coach.
• They are not injury prone. They have far fewer injuries than the less successful.
• Successful athletes are enthusiastic. They generate their own enthusiasm. They don’t grumble, moan, groan, and complain.
• Athletes who fail tend to be cynical.  They believe their coaches are not leading them properly. They are unwilling to be impressed or inspired.  This is expected of the phony, the snobbish, the pseudo-intellectual…but it dooms an athlete when the coach tries to inspire him and he just sits there saying this is a lot of nonsense.  The good athlete does not ridicule the capacities and the ideas of the coach… HE RESPONDS!