“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.”  ~ Henry Ross Perot

I’m comfortable using this analogy as I was a wrestler in my youth.  Wrestling is an extremely  physical sport. Your spot on the team is not determined by your coach, rather by wrestle-offs against teammates. During a competitive match it’s only you and your opponent on the mat, in a gym full of people (many of them cheering against you). By the 3rd period, you’re exhausted and struggling to breathe. Reflecting back to those times, here’s what separated the successful athletes from the unsuccessful ones. Mentality – even if you’ve used your best moves and you’re down 15 to 0. Even if there’s only 30 seconds left, you know that some way, somehow, you’re going to put your opponent on his back and pin him. He will not leave the mat without having his ass whipped. The unsuccessful wrestler just stalls it out, waiting for the match to end or even goes to his back. It’s a great metaphor for getting a life. 

You’re going to have periods in life when you’re exhausted, struggling to survive, with the crowd cheering against you. Decide today on your mentality. Will you dig deep and find a way to overcome the obstacles before you? Or will you stall and find it easier to just give in to the pressures? Like the wrestler, you’re not going to win every match. Even with the toughest mentality and best effort, once in a while you lose. However, I witnessed a lot of guys down 15-0 turn around and pin their opponent with only seconds remaining in the match. 

Under the best of circumstances, life is challenging and no one gets a free pass. The best way to stack your odds of winning is making self improvement a daily discipline. Will you keep striving for a better life or stall and wait for the buzzer? Decide today if you’re tough enough to go for a victory, staying the course even when the odds are against you.

“It is difficulties that show what men are.”  ~ Epictetus