Watching Muhammad Ali box is like watching poetry. He’s fluid, fast, powerful. He looks his opponents in the eyes, stares’em down, looks into their souls.
His brilliance carries outside the ring. He’s an amazing speaker too – and one of the most inspiring individuals I’ve yet to come across. Here are 5 inspiring quotes of his, and what they mean to athletes everywhere.
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
When your eye is on the prize, you gladly make sacrifices. You don’t mind the pain of training, because you’re smiling at your thoughts of victory.
You don’t mind going hard through every session, because you’re seeing yourself 5 years down the road, and smiling inside at how awesome you’re going to be. But when your vision doesn’t extend into your future – training becomes a dull task. It hurts. It’s hard. And so you quit.
You need a reason to keep on fighting. Actually – find the reason you want to train, and you won’t be able to help but fight.
“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.”
If you know in your bones that becoming a college or pro athlete is for you – don’t let anyone bring you down.
You know your truth. Be true to it.
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”
You’ve gotta believe in yourself. You have to believe that you can do it.
I once knew a guitar teacher whose tagline was, “If [insert great guitarist’s name] can do it, so can you.”
His philosophy was simple: every great guitarist was just some guy or gal who decided they were going to be great. So they did the work required.
There are amazing guitarists with one arm, missing fingers, and who face other hardships. Yet they became amazing. How? They decided they would be great, and they got to work.
“If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.”
This one’s just funny ;-D
You don’t have to be as cocky as Ali to your opponents. It’s okay to be courteous and respectful. But inside, even if it’s your own little secret, believe in yourself so much that your opponents had better apologize if they even think about beating you.
“A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.”
This ties in to what I was saying before. Know your truth. Know where you want to go. Decide that you’re going to be great.
And then work your butt off getting there.
It’s that simple. And when you go through your life this way, it doesn’t matter if you succeed or fail. You’re being true to what you are – and at the end of the day , even if you didn’t make the cut, you can sleep well knowing you had the guts to at least go for it.
On the other hand, if you want to make the cut – this is the only way to do it.
You have to surrender to your goals, and go after them like you were Muhammad Ali.
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