Practice Makes Perfect
A young gymnast loved his sport. He didn’t mind the long hours spent practicing, pushing himself and his teammates to perfect their routines. The time in the gym was part of the whole experience for him. Practice was a joy, the thrill of trial and error and the challenge of getting better a bit at a time. When the competitions came, it was the reward of testing himself and his preparation as much as actually winning gold, silver or bronze that kept him going.
One of his team mates didn’t like being in the gym for long hours. He’d put in the minimum time required to keep a place on the team. When it came to extra workouts, he’d rather go to a movie or spend time with friends. He loved traveling to competitions, but when he didn’t win he complained to family and friends that the meet was rigged. His natural talent was high, but his lack of practice and sacrifice couldn’t match the hard work of others, and he rarely did well.
The key of success for the 1st gymnast was that he was willing to put in the time, to practice, to work hard, and sacrifice other things for his love of the sport. The work wasn’t hard for him because it’s something he loved to do.
The failure of the 2nd gymnast was that he wasn’t willing to practice, to work, or sacrifice. He didn’t enjoy doing those things, so he didn’t push himself in things which would make all the difference to his success.
There are two morals here. First, you can’t succeed without being willing to do the work ie. practice, stretch yourself, sacrifice and pay the price for that success. The second is that it’s better to be doing something you love, so the work you have to put in to be successful doesn’t seem like work at all.
Remember, you’ll spend much more time in the journey than the destination. You may as well enjoy the ride.
