If this weren’t true, sports practices would be much, much shorter – not to mention a lot less challenging.
At my alma mater, which boasts a strong football program, the coaches ruthlessly assert a one-word maxim: “Finish.” After half a century, they have honed the trade. It’s not about getting started – it’s not even about how you move – it’s about how you finish, if at all, that forges the habits and constitution that will take your further the next time.
And this is far from an athlete-owned credo. In a life spent pursuing greatness of any kind, pressure is inevitable. Never let a perfectly good moment of fatigue, affliction, or tension go underutilized.
Character (habits, values, beliefs, perspectives) is both revealed and forged when the bearer is weakest. Our decisions and actions from our last encounter with pressure are merely emphasized and carried forth to the next encounter. So let us retire a long-time misconception: Pressure doesn’t change you into someone you’re not, it’s makes you more of who you are.
Stand strong when weak at the knees, dry in mouth, gasping for air, and reaching for relief. These are the circumstances of personal alchemy – the moments of which legends are made.
Proceed in good form – or at least come prepared to try. It’s not a mystery… to be successful, do what the majority won’t: Finish, well.
Be a Maverick,
– Kent
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