The Price of Success
I will do the work that a failure will not do.
Og Mandino in "The World's Greatest Salesman"
Goal #8: I will make the sacrifices that a failure is unwilling to make. I will do my best to determine what God has put me here for and then do it. I will do the difficult things that a failure is too lazy to do. I will count the costs and then pay the price for those things worth sacrificing for.
It was at a sports banquet in Happy, Texas that I heard one of the best formulas for success ever given by a coach. The keynote speaker was Danny Wrenn, the head coach for the state champion basketball girls from Plainview, Texas. He was sharing his insights into what made a state champion caliber team when he said something along these lines: "Championships are not made in practice with the coach. They are made in the gym after practice".
I have thought about those words on many occasions since that night. His point was that as important as team practices with the coaches are, real winners will have to put in something extra on their own. They do this becuase they have a thirst for excellence - a passion for the extraordinary. The fact is that every athletic team practices with the team and their coaches, and most of these teams would like to be winners. Since this is the case, the team that truly wants to excell will have to have something extra: they will have to give that additional effort that teams who fail are unwilling to give.
Now, as fine as it is to have state championship teams, championships are not the point of this goal. The reason that I included this concept in my list of goals is because I am convinced that if God and Christ are indeed worth serving, then They are worth serving to the utmost of our ability. When Jesus said that the greatest command is to love the Lord with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, He was showing that our love will inspire an absolute passion for excellence. We must realize that our service to God is not just a game; that bare minimum effort will not suffice when we are talking about something as great as being a servant of the most High. Are you willing, in your service to God and Christ, to do those things that a failure will not do? If so, you may prepare yourself for the most fulfilling and worthwhile life that a soul can imagine.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved...
II Timothy 2:15, NIV
