To win and to achieve success, one has to practise and practise and practise without letup. This is a recognized truth accepted by all athletes and sports teams looking to win and enjoy the rewards of winning. Most of us have no trouble accepting this truth as it applies to sports, and would respond with a contemptuous snort to a loss by a non-practising athlete lost: of course the person lost, because they never practised!
The fact is that practice, practice, practice applies not only to athletes but to all of us who are in pursuit of winning and reaping success in whatever endeavour we are engaged in—whether it be work, marriage, cultivating a positive attitude, overcoming a destructive habit, learning to walk in faith, or any other worthwhile pursuit.
None of the abovementioned will happen unless we are determined and consistent in our practising! So, what does this look like in a marriage, for example? Practising kindness and forbearance for a week or two won’t achieve the success you crave; what’s needed is ongoing practice that will eventually develop into a habit. Then you’ll have a marriage that will be the envy of all who know you.
Similarly, if in the workplace you practise outstanding performance for a couple of weeks and expect immediate results, you’ll be disillusioned and quit. It takes ongoing, determined practice and perseverance to develop a winning habit capable of delivering excellence at all times. Do this long enough, and you’ll be a winner who is noticed and promoted. You’ll achieve success.
In my 85 years of life on this earth, 70-plus of these spent in the workplace and 40 as CEO of my own business, I have seen many people start with all kinds of good intentions, only to become discouraged and give up when the going got tough—as it inevitably does—and success was delayed. Such people fail to realize that they are forming a “quitting habit” which will inevitably lead to mediocrity at best, or outright failure at worst. And the really sad thing is that they’ll then blame fate, their workplace, spouse, society at large, and often God for their lack of achievement, when all along it is their lack of persistent practice and determination to win—something fully within their control to remedy. Don’t tell me that’s not so! I know it is, for at one time in my life I was that guy.
Winning demands the cultivation of a winning attitude, and that takes practice, practice, and more practice. Yes, attitudes are developed—winning ones as well as losing ones. Athletes and sports teams that don’t practise and practise with a winning attitude are doomed to lose, as are you and I if we do likewise.
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before, but it’s true… hard work pays off.
If you want to be good, you have to practise, practise, practise. —Ray Bradbury, author
I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end. —Psalm 119:12
