As anyone who reads my training journal may know, I'm a big BYU sports fan. Well yesterday, BYU's legendary former head football coach LaVell Edwards passed away. He won 257 games, all of them at BYU, coached 35 All Americans, 1 Heisman Trophy winner, won 2 national coach of the year awards and the 1984 college football national championship. Suffice it so to say, he was a tremendous football coach and an even better man. So yesterday while remembering his life and the indirect influence he had on me (he was always a hero of mine, especially after I learned more about who he was off the field), I came across an old address he gave at BYU a few months after he retired. In that address he talked about success and shared something that I thought perfectly describes how we can succeed in what we choose to do. It reminds me why I need to go run especially when I don't feel like it for stupid reasons.
"To me, preparation is the key to success in any endeavor. I have often heard the phrase “He [or she] has a great will to win.” What it should say is, “He [or she] has a great will to prepare.” The greatest athletes are not always the fastest, strongest, or most gifted athletically. The greatest players are those who have the ability to recognize their potential and prepare themselves to meet that potential.
On a Saturday afternoon in the filled stadium with the excitement of the band, the cheerleaders, and the crowd, a player can have all the desire or will to win in the world, but it will be for naught if he hasn’t prepared. The same is true in our personal lives. We can have the desire to do something well, . . ., but it will be for naught if we are not willing to work, study, and prepare. Every one of us has the potential to successfully achieve our goals in life, but most goals won’t be realized without effort on our part."
LaVell Edwards 1930-2016