“Even the person whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life” — As A Man Thinketh

Whether you like Bobby Knight or not, you have to respect his ability to produce championship teams. One of his winning principles is one I have come to embrace: “The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.”

For all of my life I’ve had the will to succeed. Like most people, I’ve always wanted to stand in the winner’s circle — to win the championship — to wear the gold medal. But for a good part of my life I never fully understood that champions aren’t made on the day of the game. That’s simply the day the world recognizes all of the preparation that took place before that day arrived.

It has taken me many years to learn that none of the “big” things I’ve done have helped me to succeed. Instead, it’s all of the little things that I did over and over. For example, the discipline to plan each day’s work the night before, no matter how tired I was, has had more to do with my success than any “big” thing I’ve ever done. Not a “big” thing, but a necessary thing in getting prepared to win.

The adoring crowds and television cameras aren’t around when Champions are made. They’re made in the early morning hours when the rest of the world is sleeping just a little bit longer; in the late evening hours when fatigue has overtaken the average person and sent them to bed. In thousands and thousands of little ways that they discipline themselves to do the things that everyone could do, but most people won’t do. As one of my heroes, Muhammad Ali, said, “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

“A person cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” – As A Man Thinketh

In her outstanding book, Choose the Happiness Habit, Pam Golden writes: “Take the story of two brothers who are twins. One grows up to be an alcoholic bum. The other becomes an extremely successful businessman. When the alcoholic is asked why he became a drunk, he replies, “My father was a drunk.” When the successful businessman is asked why he became successful, he says, “My father was a drunk.” Same background. Same upbringing. Different choices.”

The brothers chose different thoughts about the identical experience. Those thoughts over the years shaped the circumstances they now find themselves in.

There was a time in my life when I chose to think about challenges and obstacles as just more of the “bad luck” I seemed to attract. Ever hear the expression “when it rains, it pours?” That was my constant mantra when others asked me how things were going. So what do you think I got more of? If you answered “RAIN,” you’re correct!

Bob Proctor says “you’re either living in the problem or you’re living in the solution.” Now, when I’m confronted with what I used to think was a negative situation, I use a different thought process. I force myself to replace those negative thoughts that creep in with positive thoughts about how I might solve the “problem.” Sometimes I’ll take a notepad and just start jotting down ideas that might be a solution. At the same time, my thoughts are focused on the possible lessons I might learn from the situation so that I might profit from the experience in the future.

If you’ve guessed that it doesn’t “rain” as much in my life as it used to, you’re correct again. In fact, most days it’s a beautiful, cloudless and sunny day! Only occasionally now do I get any rain, and it’s good rain, the kind that makes living things grow.

And that’s worth thinking about.

Note: This was previously published in Day by Day with James Allen, but its message bears repeating many times.