Now Hear This: Winning is all about attitude
All the great ones know the formula. A man who knows said, “If you want to be great, you have to lengthen your stride. If you just stride so that it’s comfortable, you’ll never improve. You always have to stretch the muscles just slightly. If you lengthen your stride and you even hurt a little bit once in a while, because you’re striving for one more level of excellence, your eyes will be opened and you’ll gain more intelligence and you’ll gain more understanding.”
He went on to say, “I think the difference between first and second place is clear intention. Intention is the magical word. When you go to a golf tournament, you need to ask yourself, what is my intention? Why am I here? Am I here to have a good time? Am I here to play at a level of golf never before seen? You need to tune that intention to a level that is just slightly out of your reach.”
Then he added, “The players who do that, who become great, are the ones who are willing to take a gamble on a shot where everybody thinks, ‘You shouldn’t take that gamble. It’s safer to go over here.'”
Those are quotes from professional golfer Johnny Miller from the book, “What Makes Winners Win,” by Charlie Jones.
The great ones have something else too.
Horace Greeley had a quote that Harry Truman used to like: “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow, only one thing endures ??character.”
The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
Neil Eskelin tells the story of the man who died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Realizing Saint Peter was a wise and knowledgeable person, he said, “Saint Peter, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me, who was the greatest general of all times?”
Saint Peter quickly responded, “Oh, that’s a simple question. It is that man over there,” he pointed.
The man said, “You must be mistaken, Saint Peter. I knew that man on earth. He was just a common laborer.”
“That’s right my friend,” replied Saint Peter. “But he would have been the greatest of all time ? if he had been a general.”
The people we admire are ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
It had been a particularly frustrating season for the high school basketball coach whose team had underachieved, and he was afraid they were on the verge of giving up. Just moment’s before they were to take the floor against their arch rival the coach said.
“Did Michael Jordan ever quit?”
“No!” They shouted in unison.
“Did Tiger Woods ever quit?”
Again they responded the same way.
“Did Elmer McAllister ever quit?”
One player slowly raised his hand and said.
“Coach who is Elmer McAllister, we never heard of him.”
“Of course you didn’t,” the coach fired back!
“He quit!”
The great ones have something else too.
Attitude. It is the single most important part of the formula. Attitude means you know you’re beaten before you begin often times, but you begin anyway.
Golfer Greg Norman said, “I am a winner. I just didn’t win today.”
It’s all about attitude, and we all have one.
What’s yours?
(Hope Hines is a television sports reporter and a Nashville personality.)