Practice Makes Perfect
Elite Athletes May Have Widespread Benefits, but They Aren’t the Key to Success
It’s a cliché that is often true and one of the reasons why professional athletes do so well at their sport
How many high-achieving athletes do you know? If your answer is “None,” it might be time to reevaluate how much importance you put on athletic accomplishments…because no matter how impressive their skills may be, extreme sports or professional players just aren’t the key to success.
The people who do reach the top are a lot like everyone else; they have both good and bad days.
They don’t always say all the right things — or know all the right things to say — and they tend to feel their way through difficult situations rather than analyzing them mechanically.
It’s hard to remember that sometimes.
In our quick-scrolling, short-attention-span culture, athletes like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Serena Williams have become larger than life.
Those three have been the faces of Nike, EA Sports, and Gillette respectively since the 1990s. Their famous slogans — “Just Do It,” “Impossible is Nothing” and “Swoosh.”
The same goes for other high-achieving individuals in other fields.
The most talked-about startup founder on the planet, Mark Zuckerberg is perhaps best known for giving his commencement speech at Harvard in which he advised students to;
move fast and break things.
He’s been a hero of mine since I decided to be an entrepreneur and writer. Like so many other people, I’ve always wanted to be first like him — until I realized that’s not the key to success.
There are four traits most high achievers have in common; confidence, curiosity, persistence, and motivation.
There has been much research into how these traits relate to success, but there is a lack of studies training the spotlight on what they mean.
The reason is simple: while they are used interchangeably in the field, each one means something different.
The traits that I’ve picked out here — confidence, curiosity, persistence, and motivation — aren’t as clear as most would think.
For instance, the concepts of confidence and curiosity are not mutually exclusive.
First and foremost, I want to make it clear that it’s not just “confidence” that leads to success.
Confidence is a necessary but definitely not sufficient trait. It’s the same with curiosity, persistence, and motivation.
To be successful a person needs all four traits. Each one is essential; one doesn’t exist without the other.
Curiosity is similar to confidence in that it’s a trait that can be developed like any other.
It can be learned through practical experience and education, but there’s another factor that determines how much you learn; your willingness to take risks and make mistakes.
Not everyone learns faster or more completely than others.
But everyone learns differently. You may learn more through studying the successes and mistakes of others, whereas I might find it easier to learn by doing.
The key is that your learning process should be tailored to maximize results. Accept what works for you and discard what doesn’t; you know more about your learning style than anyone else does.
Persistence is also similar to confidence in that it’s not always as simple as it seems.
Just because you’re persistent doesn’t mean you want to do the same thing all day. As a writer, I know that the best stories change and evolve as I write them. It’s the effect of persistence that changes — not my desire for a good story.
The same can be said for everything else in life. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and it is overcoming our weaknesses that gives us confidence in our abilities. It is persistence that makes us stronger with time.
This may be hard to do now, but try to look at the world through different lenses and see how your perspective can change.
Motivation is a lot easier to understand and identify than the other traits.
It is vital that you are motivated towards your goals — but it’s not enough for you to be motivated today.
A single motivation won’t give you long-term success; instead, look for ways to keep yourself energized over a sustained period of time.
The difference between someone who fails and someone who succeeds is not that the latter is willing to do whatever it takes.
There are plenty of students and professionals who are willing to meet any challenge.
Instead, think about people who hit the same goal time after time, showing amazing consistency in their behavior.
There are some truly amazing entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other high-achievers who inspire us to keep going. But what I have found is that they don’t inspire me to do things better or differently — they remind me of the things that I am good at.
In short, I stay motivated because I’m good at it. The same can be said of anyone else who has reached their current level of success.
Many people see success as a competition. Paradoxically, it can at least be thought of as a process of self-discovery.
When I change my perspective, it transfigures me into the person I’ve always wanted to be. As Michael Jordan said himself:
I just take what the game gives me. I don’t want to be too predictable. To try to be perfect is foolish; you’re always going to make a mistake. You just live with it.
The same applies here: don’t try this process yourself because of the pressure that comes with having “the right stuff.”
You don’t need that pressure, and it will hold you back from reaching this core truth.
Like Michael Jordan, I’ve always thought what’s most important is how you get the things done in life.
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J.D Rehbein-Wrightstein founder of The Savytech articles is a writer who loves to help people discover their hidden potential as well as their true purpose in life. He inspires and educates people on living an awesome life with inspiring articles. Connect with him on Twitter for more!