When does the hard work come to an end?

Life can be consistently hard and require an excess amount of effort to lighten the burden of these difficult occurrences. As soon as circumstances seem to improve, more effort and work comes into play to continue towards different goals. The same theme goes for sport and performance. As progress is made and skills are built, the hard work never seems to stop; that’s because it doesn’t ever actually come to an end. The consistent effort put into first learning how to bounce a basketball and make a basket will persist even when the athlete becomes a professional basketball player. An elite basketball player doesn’t learn how to make free throws and then completely ceases to practice them. They don’t get signed to an NBA team and then just stop putting in any sort of effort due to their high athletic status and abilities. The further the athlete goes in their sport, the harder the work becomes, the higher the effort they will need to exert, and the more they will achieve.

 Think of the training regimen of Olympians: they spend every day of their lives training for an elite competition that only occurs once every four years. To get to the high level and caliber of competition they are at, they must put countless hours and vast efforts into training and competing at lower levels in their sport of choice; and it doesn’t end there. An athlete doesn’t just reach a certain level and suddenly quit putting effort into bettering their sport performance. No, they work even harder as they progress further and further into their sport. If anyone thinks the elite athletic life is easy, they’re in for a surprise when they not only discover the hard work that went into getting those athletes to their prestigious level, but also what it takes to keep them at that level. The hard work that is put into any type of sport and performance will always show. No matter what level of sport or stage of life someone may be in, or even the awards they’ve received, hard work will always be present.

To become better, we must work to be better by identifying exactly what we want to achieve and putting a massive effort towards that goal. We can desire all the progress, awards, and achievements in the world, but we won’t achieve it solely through wanting it. The commitment towards goals, which requires hard work, is often where people drop out of the journey towards achieving what they set their mind to. Without hard work, true success cannot be attained. Even when goals are reached, the hard work will only continue.

Take a few minutes to think about the achievements you desire to accomplish in both your sport and in your life. Be as specific as possible and think about what it will take to ultimately get there: the steps, the level of commitment and effort, the barriers, and so on. Remember that you will get out what you put into it, and the hard work never ends no matter how far you go. Reach out if you’d like to take this journey together!