As human beings, we are prone to making excuses whenever we are unable to achieve what we set out for. Yet that may just be unbecoming of human society. What do you feel separates good athletes from the best athletes? The answer is a great athlete will always have their own self-rules that they will follow every day. For example, the world all-time greatest athlete Michael Phelps. The reason why he is the greatest is all due to his dedication to his craft in swimming. He won 23 Olympic gold medals in total and went to 5 Olympics games. Before his 2008 Olympic game, he trained harder than anyone else in this world. He trained 5 years straight and didn’t miss a single day of workout, even on his birthday, party, holiday, etc. As an athlete myself, the most important rule that I follow every day as an swimmer is never ever make any excuses. There are lots and lots of rules that great athletes said before, but I think the most important one is never make any excuses. I think why a good athlete can’t become a great one is because they have a weaker mental strength. People often time will say: “Oh my leg is so sour, I need to end this workout early today; Oh, I am too tired today, I won’t go to morning practice tomorrow morning; It’s too cold outside, I don’t want to wake up this early and swim in that cold water. What if I get cold? What if... What if…” I think those mindsets are normal for normal people that don’t really want to be at the top in the end. But a great athletes’ mindset needs to be way higher compare to other normal people. Because if you want to do something, and you want it that bad, you will make sacrifices. Let me tell you a story. You know for me growing up as a kid, I made a lot of sacrifices. I go to the pool and train for 2 hours instead of hanging out with friends after school. I go lift weights in the gym instead of a party on Saturday and Sunday. I wake up early at 5 o’clock 5 times a week and swim a 2-hour practice in the water right before school starts instead of sleeping in until 8 am. But all those things I give up, it made me get to my final goal at the end. There are definitely times when I want to be lazy and want to skip a practice or two. But I used my mental strength and push through it. Swimming has taught me many things. Discipline, honesty to myself, and fairness to others especially during competitions most. importantly the mental strength to push myself through the pain and physical gains to achieve what I want. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who is good for making excuses is seldom good for anthing else.” What he means by this is that if you have a person who constantly makes excuses they may not be someone who is reliable. Another good quote from George Washing Carver, “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses” really drives home what Benjamin Franklin stated earlier. He emphasizes the importance of being humble and true to your roots in order to succeed. So from now on forward, let’s start to not acting weak in front of the others, face the fact even if it is not what you wanted, and most importantly don’t try to come up with different kinds of excuses anymore. You can be the greatest and you will be the greatest. If you want to be a success at the end, you will make sacrifices. So make the change today. Eric T
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