IT'S DRIVE!

Kobe Bryant was once asked: What makes one guy a champion and not the next guy?

"It's drive.  It's the will.  There are certain people that have a tremendous hunger.  There are certain people that have a will, determination, hunger that you need to be the best in the world.  Those people -- and those people alone -- become champions."

GREATNESS IS A CHOICE

The following comes from "Above The Line" by Ohio State coach Urban Meyer:

Talent is a gift.  Greatness is a choice.

Talent can take you to a level of ability that produces good results.  But talent by itself will not take you to the elite level.  Exceptional performance is the result of an uncommon level of focus and discipline in the pursuit of greatness.  Build skill every day and consistently get better.  Be coachable.  Train and practice Above the Line.  Be intentional and on purpose.  Complacency is the enemy of exceptional.  Grow beyond your talent!

Embrace discomfort.  Discomfort marks the place where the old way meets the new way.  Discomfort indicates that change is about to happen.  Push through the pain.  If it doesn't challenge you, it will not change you.

MYLES GARRETT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOCUS

"Drinking, smoking, going out -- unnecessary to me. You have to know what you're doing to help people and have an important stance in life. You can only do that by staying focused, and I can't lose focus for a second. It's just like in football, it's a game of angles and seconds. As soon as you lose depth or that amount of time, you can lose that play, you can lose that game. You lose focus, you slip up, you're not in the same place you were before."

                        -Myles Garrett

YOUR DAILY GUT CHECK QUESTIONS

At sunrise, ask yourself, “How will I be a champion today?”

(This speaks to your Intentions)

 

At sunset, ask yourself, “Was I a champion today?”

(This speaks to your Accountability)

 

 

From "The Champion's Mind" by Jim Afremow

YOU HAVE TO KEEP PUSHING YOURSELF

You can go through the annals of history and it will be documented that the vast majority of greatness came about as a result of long, hard, dedicated work -- at times unsupervised -- because of the desire of the individual to excel.

"I found this sandbank by the Pearl River near my hometown of Columbia, Mississippi.  I laid out a course of 65 yards or so.  Sixty-five yards on sand is like 120 on turf.  But running on sand helps you make your cuts at full speed.  I try to pick the heat of the day to run in, but sometimes the sand will get so hot you can't stand in place.  It'll blister your feet.  You get to the point where you have to keep pushing yourself.  You stop, throw up, and push yourself again.  There's no one to feel sorry for you."

-Walter Payton

HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

How bad to you want it? Look closely and see how many NBA "stars" you recognize. Than take a moment to understand that all of these clips have them working out not with their team but with individual trainers they hire to grow their game. How bad do you want it? The "stars" of the game weren't born that way! They got there through tremendous hard work on a continuous basis. So ---- how bad do you want it?

HOW MJ BECAME THE "BEST TO EVER PLAY"

The following is conversation between Coach Roy Williams, then an assistant at the University of North Carolina and a young freshman named Michael Jordan:

When Michael Jordan first got to UNC, we were sitting at the track one day after conditioning. It was just the two of us. “Coach,” he said. “I want to be the best player to every play here.”

“You’ll have to work much harder than you did in high school,” Williams said.

“But, Coach. I worked as hard as everybody else.”

“Oh, excuse me. I thought you just said you wanted to be the best player to ever play here. Working as hard as everybody else is not even going to come close, son.”

That was the end of the conversation.

Two days later, after the next conditioning session, Michael comes up to me and we were sitting there alone again. He said, “Coach, I’ve been thinking about what you said. I’m going to show you. There will never be anyone who will outwork me.”

He did that. From that day on, Michael tried to kick everybody’s rear end in every drill.

From "Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court" by Roy Williams

MJ ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONDITIONING AND NUTRITION

MUHAMMAD ALI ON TRAINING

“Running is the source of my stamina. Early in my career I learned to run until I’m tired, then run more after that. The running I do before the fatigue and pain is just the introduction. The real conditioning begins when the pain comes in; then it’s time to start pushing. And after that I count every mile as extra strength and stamina. The reserve tank. What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re tired. Training is tough and boring; sometimes it helps to have something to think about and take my mind off of the pain. 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.”