“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”
-Napoleon Hill
John Maxwell shares a great story about legendary basketball coach John Wooden. Wooden shared that during basketball practice sometimes the kids would loaf or not give 100%. Maybe they just had exams, maybe they were mentally tired, maybe they were a little discouraged, or maybe they just broke up with their girlfriend.
Wooden said he would watch his players and if they weren’t giving 100% he would go over to them, put his arm around them and say something along these lines:
“I know you’re not giving me 100% today and I know you’re probably tired or you’ve had exams or something, but you’re just not giving 100%. I want you to understand something about your effort. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that tomorrow you’ll come back and give a little extra. You’ll give 120% or you’ll make up for what you didn’t do today.”
Then he’d look them in the eye and say, “I just want you to understand that you can never give more than 100%. So, if you only give 60% today, you don’t give 140% tomorrow and make up. If you give 60% today, you leave 40% on the table and you NEVER get it back.”
This powerful story illustrates the importance of giving maximum effort today. Life is not about living 70, 80, or 90 years and hoping we lived a good life. Life is about living fully today, maximizing today and making today victorious (however YOU define “victorious”).
Mostly, I’m talking about living an intentional, conscious life. Are you making conscious choices about how to live your life or are you coasting along doing today what you did yesterday? Daily victories are earned when you lay your head down at night knowing that you did YOUR best today.
Life is not perfect. Sometimes we blow it. Sometimes our best efforts fall short. I’m not asking you to judge your daily victories by comparing yourself to others or to some standard that we can’t reach. I’m asking you to judge your daily victories by reflecting on whether or not you are living an intentional life and giving YOUR best effort.
Please do not coast through life. It’s too important!
Focus on today…because daily victories add up to a victorious life!
Now…go! Do something special today. Live a full life TODAY. Don’t wait until tomorrow…
