Hard Work Will Beat Out Talent Eventually

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You Are Not That Good

I’ve been around sports probably all my life. My dad was an avid sports fan thus making me exposed to sports for as long as I can know. I was blessed with the ability of being very athletic and the source of my success was speed. For whatever reason I was really a fast runner which allowed me to have tremendous success in virtually every sport I tried. My older brother Roland was much faster than me. I was extremely competitive and never liked to lose. I am the same way till this day. I just like to win ya know? Why lose if you can win? I realized that to be able to not be beat just being fast wasn’t good enough. I began trying to figure out ways to get faster. I remember the day that I finally beat my brother in a race. It was one of the best feelings. My brother didn’t care if I beat him as he wasn’t really competitive. I remember he didn’t even try to find new ways to get faster. Roland just wasn’t good enough to keep winning as long as someone like me was out there willing to do more work to beat him. It was a valuable life lesson for myself. As I grew older and more involved around sports this story line has played out every time. I always saw some kids in a sport with amazing talent. So much talent when they played it was effortless. Whether it was baseball, volley ball, soccer or any other sport there are athletes who are born to do it. You can just tell who they are. It’s the athlete who doesn’t even try to jump high to get that basketball but when they jump they leap over everyone. You all have seen this situation before right? There’s always that kid in the corner though who can’t jump as high but is willing to practice more than anyone else to get better. That’s really the equalizer of sports. Who’s willing to put in the work to become the best? 
Till this day I am still around sports. Being a Sports Performance Coach allows me to see this story line play out all day and everyday. Hard Work Beats Talent Every Time. Talent is not permanent first of all. It will digress and eventually disappear unless you nurture it with hard work. Talent won’t grow without hard work. After puberty is when talent really starts dying slowly. The hard working less talented athlete is the one who is willing to do more to be better. The less talented athlete usually has to learn more than the talented athlete. The less talented athlete eventually becomes smarter than the talented athlete. The less talented athlete figures out the following requires ZERO talent to be good at:

1. Being At Practice On Time. 2. Work Ethic 3. Effort 4. Body Language 5. Energy 6. Attitude 7. Passion 8. Being Coachable 9. Doing Extra 10. Being Prepared

The less talented athlete knows that if they can master these 10 points in sports they have a better chance of developing to be the best they can truly be. Don’t  get me wrong. There are talented athletes who have figured it out that to be their very best they have to exceed more than just their talent. They actually have to work hard and smart to get to the next level of development. These talented athletes that work hard are the ones who become Super Human. They are willing to develop their gift and make it even better. The problem is there are more talented athletes not willing to put in the work to be the best. They rely on their talent and don’t watch over their shoulder for the hard working less talented kid who is staying late after practice or showing up early to put in work. If you want to be the best whether you have the greatest talent or just a little bit of talent hard work and being smart is what will eventually win. Hard Work & Smart Work Always Beats Out Talent….Always!!