A Life Changing Quote
- Job Manikkam
- Feb 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 24
“If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do”- Michael Phelps
I came across his quote in one of my readings some time ago. Michael Phelps is no stranger especially if you have been following the Olympic games over the years. He is the winner of 28 medals and 23 of them are gold medals. He is one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history.
Ever since, I read this quote it has stayed with me for a long time. Many times this quote has inspired me and motivated me in terms of going after the goals that I have in life. His quote signifies commitment, discipline, consistency and persistence.
I believe this is what separates average results with extraordinary results is the fact that you are willing to do what other people are not wanting to do. In this article I would like to highlight what are the things that people usually don’t want to do that if they did, it will put them on the path to success and some questions for you to ponder.
1. Most don’t try after failing the first time.
Whether be it starting a business, sitting for an exam, cold calling or even learning something new, people give up after the first failure.
Failing shouldn’t be seen as something that is negative but it is to be seen as something that we could learn from. In Neuro Linguistic Programming we believe that failures are only feedback.
Every failure that we face in life and business gives us feedback on how we can improve as we try again. Without failure no real learning actually happens and of course a lot of people let failure stop them from moving forward and trying again.
As I am writing this article, I’m reminded about the story of Roger Sanders of how the idea of KFC was initially rejected a 1000 times before it became a success. He didn’t let those rejections convince him or stop him but moved confidently as he believed in his idea.
Some questions for you to ponder.
a)Is there anything in your life that you allowed failure to stop you?
b) What can you learn from the failure?
c) How will you do it differently the next time you try again?
2. Most will give up when things get tough
If achieving success was easy everyone will be successful but the reality is, it requires commitment. I need to be committed to show up even when things don’t go according to plan. I need to be able to put in the hours everyday, learn and improve. It’s about doing the things that needs to be done whether I feel like doing it or not.
Every new year people make resolutions of maybe quitting a bad habit, loosing weight, eating healthy, saving money and so on but as we progress towards the mid part of the year much of the resolution is forgotten. Why? Because the change causes inconvenience to them.
People prefer to be in the comfort zone and anything that causes discomfort in their life is usually avoided. I remember what Steve Harvey said in one of his motivational videos about comfort zone, he said something along this line ‘you are guaranteed to fail if you stay in your comfort zone.’
Studying Steve Harvey’s life also shows how much he was committed to living his dream even though it meant that he had to sleep in his car for a period of time because he was broke. He didn’t let that stop him but he continued to believe in the vision that he had for his life.
Commitment is not about being in the comfort zone but rather moving into the growing zone and being committed to do whatever it takes! I can only imagine how many setbacks and disappointments that Steve Harvey would have gone through but nothing was able to deter him!
Some questions to ponder
a) What did you give up on recently when things got tough?
b) How can you increase your commitment level to the things that you really believe in?
c) Are you willing to move from your comfort zone to a growing zone?
3.Most don't want to make the sacrifices required.
If we want to achieve anything worthwhile in life it’s going to require sacrifice in terms of time, effort, money and so on. This is one of the main things about success, everyone wants to be successful but they want to be successful without paying the price.
For Michael Phelps it was to put in the thousands of hours into training. So what did it look like? It meant sacrificing his time, waking up early, following a routine strictily, following a diet plan. That means he had to put his goal first in his life with laser focus.
If you are not willing to sacrifice your time and putting in the work, what it simply means is that, it does not matter to you. If success was something that you really wanted in your life, there will be no “ifs” and “but” you will have a laser focus on the goals that you want to achieve in your life.
Remember pain is temporary, the sacrifices that you make today will be the seeds for the harvest that you will have in your life in the years to come. If I’m not willing to put in the hours and make the sacrifices, I will eventually have average results.
Questions to ponder.
a) What’s stopping you from putting in the effort and the time?
b) How can you overcome distractions in your life?
c) What will help you to put in the time and the effort necessary?
Finally, in conclusion don’t let failure stop you but try again better and smarter. Don’t give up when things get hard because you never know how close you are to success and lastly put in the hard work and pay the price because anything that is worthwhile in life requires the price to be paid.
You can follow me on my Linkedn www.linkedin.com/in/jobthecoach
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