Do You Have What It Takes?

“The difference between the impossible and possible lies in a man’s determination.”

Tommy Lasorda

I’ve Been Thinking . . . about all the implications of this comment by Langston Hughes:  “I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.”

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching certain people separate themselves from the average -- the mediocre.  Careful evaluation of these folks reveals an irreplaceable spirit of tenacity.  Their determination evolves from a passionate desire to be all they can be, which helps them channel their energies toward their dreams.

Michael Jordan really wanted to play basketball.  Yet, as a sophomore at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, he failed to make the varsity team so settled for playing junior varsity.  Jordan was determined to develop his abilities and committed himself to working harder and improving every aspect of his game. 

“The starting point of all achievement,” wrote Napoleon Hill, “is desire.  Keep this constantly in mind.  Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.”  Michael Jordan combined talent with desire and determination to become one of the truly great basketball players of all time.

Desire and determination create the “wantivation” to take you where you want to go, help you become what you were meant to be.  We are designed in such a way that when the fires of passion are fanned, impossibilities tend to drift away.  People with a desire to thrust themselves totally into their pursuits make it impossible for them to be an average person.

John Havlicek (my basketball hero as a kid) literally thrust himself into every game he played in 16 years with the Boston Celtics.  Hustle, grit, guts, self sacrifice, and determination earned him the nickname “Mr. Perpetual Motion.”

Dan Gable earned an incredible reputation in the wrestling world.  As a student and wrestler at Iowa State, Dan won two national titles and lost only one match.  Prior to the 1972 Olympic Games, Gable became a target of the Russian Olympic wrestling team.  Ironically, this team had pushed Gable to raise the bar on his performance and now they were looking for a wrestler who could defeat him.

Prior to the games, Gable tore the cartilage in his left knee.  Rather than submitting himself to surgery, he opted to alter his wrestling style and score on his opponents in new, creative ways.  In his first match, he experienced a cut over one eye requiring seven stitches but his desire to compete and determination to excel carried him to the medal stand to experience the elation of receiving the gold medal.

“The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated,” believes Ben Stein.  “It is finished when it surrenders.”  Dan Gable knew that.  He refused to surrender and those of us who followed his wrestling coaching career at the University of Iowa understand his passion for instilling that same spirit in his wrestlers. 

I watched Jim Marshall display incredible desire and determination as one of the most indestructible linemen in professional football.  He was an inspiration for the Minnesota Viking’s “purple people eaters” as he gave 110%, starting in 282 consecutive games and playing defensive end with an unquenchable desire until he was forty-two.

I hope you’re getting a sense of what separates successful people and others.  It’s not a matter of strength.  Knowledge has minimal impact.  Heredity is insignificant.  Desire compounded by a determination to excel often separates winners from losers.  David Ambrose believed:  “If you have a will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don’t, you have achieved half your failure.”  The desire and determination to do -- creates the ability to do. 

In case you haven’t noticed, the world isn’t coming to your door with your every heartfelt desire being delivered to you on a silver platter.  You may even get the feeling at times that the world has little interest in your success.  Some of you might even feel pulled down about the time you’re reaching another rung on the ladder.  In fact, Edgar W. Howe suggested, “If you succeed in life, you must do it in spite of the effort of others to pull you down.”

How badly do you want to achieve your potential?  How committed are you to do whatever it takes to accomplish your dreams?  Do you have the courage to step out in a direction others might consider ridiculous?  How hungry are you to experience success?  These questions aren’t for the faint-hearted.  Answering these questions in the affirmative will require you to ante up and place your bets based on the intensity of your desire and determination to accept full responsibility for your future.

“If you don’t get what you want, it is a sign either that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price.”

Rudyard Kipling