Quote Of The Week - Week 8

“If I had to summarize the reason for my achievements, I would say that I always wanted it more. That’s my talent."

Tibor Benedek, Hungarian sports legend, 3 time Olympic gold medal water polo player on what it takes to win

Quotes of the week are usually about specific things that can be easily adapted to everyday life. People who became successful in certain fields offer their wisdom - general rules and truths that can apply to every aspect of life.

What this great athlete is talking about is the value of persistence. Never give up learning, repeating and practicing something until it is mastered and stay focused on your goal. Talent does not matter if it is not paired with hard and CONSISTENT work in making a goal a priority.

No matter how much talent you have, you still need to make thousands and thousands of shots (using water polo as an example) to build muscle memory and develop a sixth sense for shooting the ball. Since you cannot practice shooting 24/7, it usually takes years to become a great player and there’s no way to curtail the process.

One successful shot doesn’t make you a great water polo player. A consistent series of successful shots does – and for something to be considered consistent, it needs to be repeated over a long period of time.

Repetition and practice can become cruelly boring, monotone and time consuming. To cope, you need a strong mindset, an understanding of why you’re doing it and to build your days around your goal.

Here are two articles related to the subject: “Repeat to achieve” and “Attention and time management matters."