Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
The will to win is not nearly so important as the will to prepare to win. – Vince Lombardi
Victory does not come from force of will. It comes from preparation. It does not matter whether we are talking about victory in sports, war, business or life. Preparation is essential.
Yet preparation is hard. Having the will to run a marathon is important, but having the will to get up each morning in the months before the marathon to do running conditioning, even when the weather is lousy, is even more important. Having the will to play piano at Carnegie Hall is important, but having the will to practice every day, even when you don't feel like it, is even more important. Having the will to pass the Professional Engineering exam is important, but having the will to study for it and go through the practice questions every evening, even though you are tired, is even more important.
Often that preparation is dull, tedious. It rarely provides the instant gratification sought by today's society. Yet it is necessary. Russian General Alexander Suvorov in the 19th century stated, "What is difficult in training will become easy in a battle." Yet it takes a lot of determination to do the preparation. It takes will.
I write books. Other people often tell me they would like to write a book, but they just are not smart enough, or talented enough. Yet becoming a published author relies less on intelligence or talent than it does on the willingness to get up every day and write something. Completing a book is a siege, relying on the writer's willingness to continue writing until it gets done.
It requires preparation, most importantly the willingness to do a lot of bad writing until you get to the point where you become comfortable writing. Failure is the price that has to be paid for success. Even once you become a fluid writer, preparation is everything, and the will - or lack of will - to do that preparation determines whether or not you succeed.
Discussion (13)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
We are moving in about 60 days. This morning I cleaned out a closet. Do about 50 more projects like that and we'll be ready to go when the time comes. Not as difficult as writing a book, yet some of the same principles apply.
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Probably more difficult than writing a book. At least to me. But, yeah, the principles are universal.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
But my expertise does not lie in winning, just in reading carefully.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Plans are useless. Planning is essential. --Eisenhower, who knew a little about planning.
Appreciate your thoughts, as always. Insofar as writing, I find that people have different ideas about what it's like to be a writer. Most people don't want to write, they want to have written something. I can understand; I've cranked out nine books and I'll never write another one (mostly because I discovered that narration is a whole lot more fun). It's work. The only way I got mine done was to mark out two hours every day, after my wife had gone to work and before I had to leave for work, to sit down and hit the keyboard with no excuses or distractions. When our son was born that window closed, for a good reason, but it closed. Just as well. Another great virtue of narration is that audiobooks seldom go out of print.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
So true!
And lest we forget: you have to be willing to do a lot of careless writing before you get to the point where you become comfortable writing carelessly.
You're seeing five of 13 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.