Everyone want to be the best, because being the best is the best. But today the question I want to tackle is what makes the best ? Is it the talent, the hard work or is us it a little bit of both? I think everyone has heard the saying of hard work beats talent but how much of that is true. Is hard work with no talent enough to be great ? And if the answer is neither of the above then what results in greatness? That is what I am going to briefly explore in this article.
As a random guy on the internet my opinions should not be taken as fact but I would love to share my thoughts anyways, so here goes.
It seems to me that everyone who is great has a winning formula that makes them the goat in their respective aspect of life. And if you take their life stories and compare it with one another you find that there are some similarities here and there. Compiling it together will give you this.
The winning formula
(Unrealistic) Expectations
For a little backstory, when I was a kid I was a pessimist, I didn’t believe in the impossible. Why even try when it can’t be done? I mean dreams are called dreams for a reason right? Unachievable goals that only give only give false hope to innocent kids who think they can accomplish anything in the world. Why have hope for an impossibility when keeping yourself grounded to reality is so much easier. No expectations no disappointment.
Winners don’t have this hinderance. They expect to be the best even if the chances if making it are infinitesimally small. Professional NBA player CJ McCollum was a mere 5’2 (157cm) when he was a high school freshman. If you know anything about basketball, being that short with dreams of going to the NBA is laughable. The average height of an NBA player being 6’6 (196cm) a whopping 8 inches taller than the average height of a male (5’7, 175cm). Despite this fact, CJ did not stop at anything to reach his goal, despite being the smallest person on his high school team he continued put in the work and now thanks to an insane growth spurt and his incredible work ethic CJ is currently a key player for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The expectation to reach your goals regardless makes you stronger. Whether it is grounded in reality or not, you have to believe in it. People usually underestimate their abilities all the time. Don’t be one of them. Believing in yourself is already half the battle. The rest is up to you. They might laugh, mock and criticise. But the moment you stop believing, you let them win. like I said before, place all your chips in your best bet. You
Obsession
Obsession can be seen has having that drive in you. Not to be confused with perseverance. Obsession related to wanting it, wanting it more than anything else in the world. Becoming unhealthily obsessed with your activity whatever it may be, until you become it.
Buzz Peterson, a former teammate of Micheal Jordan recalled a story of his obsession with winning. One time he came over Buzz’s house and was playing cards with his mom. Micheal was still getting used to it so obviously he was losing. But when she left the game for a bathroom break, he took this opportunity to attempt to cheat and win the game. This need to win is what made Micheal Jordan, Micheal Jordan.
The inability to accept and comprehend loss might be coined as stubborn. But it should be adopted if you want to be a winner. Not accepting defeat allows for infinite potential to grow. By not taking no for an answer in anything you do, you allow for courage, tenacity and ferocity. Being complacent, being content with your current status no matter how you good you are you will never make it. Being great, is not being enough. You always can be better.
Adversity
I wanna talk about shoes. Buying a new pair of shoes is great, they look nice and clean and always feel the best right out of the box right? But I bet we can all agree that shoes take some time to break in before they get completely comfortable. And thats the thing with people too, they have to be broken in in order to perform at their best.
Take famous actor Sylvester Stallone. Before Sylvester was famous, he had that one dream of making a living through acting. So he worked odd jobs to make ends meet. And he would do so while taking on any acting roles he could find. He did this for seven years gaining some small roles in movies but it was never enough to launch his career. During those seven long years, he came face-to-face with near poverty. In order to fuel his dream, he sold his wife’s jewellery, his own dog and he was even homeless for a period of time. But he never wavered. Next thing you know, he got the lead role in the movie Rocky and the rest was history.
In any successful persons life I have never heard the phrase of ‘I had no struggles in the journey of reaching where I am today’. There is no such thing, period. Successful people are forged under adversity. It weeds out rest of the crowd to make sure those who do come out on the other side are victorious. Tough times build tough men.
Perseverance
This is probably the most obvious one. Working hard gives you results. This however relies on your intensity. Sure you can go through the motions and just work hard. But without focus, you will lack direction and without direction, your hard work will be useless.
Thomas Edison could be very well described as working hard with a purpose. While trying to invent the light bulb he tried and attempted 2774 times before reaching a working lightbulb.
There is a quote that goes ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.’ Which is why making sure your head is in the right direction is really important. You must have the work ethic and the ability to say that there is nothing more that you want in this world than to reach your goal. Nobody will babysit you or help you to work hard, it comes from within. So how personal do you take it to want to work for that goal, to want achieve it is up to you.
Becoming the star
Now in order to become the best you need all 4 of these traits. But ‘How do I become the star?’ is what no one asked but I will explain about. Basically sometimes even if you somehow manage to excel in all 4 aspects of winning, you still might lose. We must understand that once we have done everything in our power to become the best, the rest is up to fate. Sometimes even if you deserve it more than others, if you’ve worked harder than them, or are more talented, they will still beat you. Sometimes you just need a little luck to win. And sometimes, some people just aren’t blessed with that luck.
Anyways, as an average person writing this I just want to let you guys know that none of what I say is backed in science, these are just my thoughts that I would like to write down.
But if you are interested on how to get that winning mindset in you please take a read of these books Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins and Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within by David Goggins. Both are very helpful in explaining what mindset is required in order to be that guy. Please take a look if you are interested.
It Never Hurts To Try
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