I believe that self motivation is the key to success and achieving that self motivation comes from accepting one’s strengths and weaknesses. While acceptance is vital it is also important not to settle for preconceived limitations. Through my experience this belief is what sets me apart from my peers.
In the sport of rowing it is difficult to overcome the limits of size. However, separating one’s self from such tangible disadvantages allows for limitless possibilities. I have often been looked at with doubt due to how I compare physically with other people that I am placed against in a race. For me it has been a struggle to challenge mental acceptance, instead blocking such thoughts, and to learn to use other people’s doubts to strengthen myself as a competitor as well as a person. I have learned not to dwell on what others may see as my disadvantages but rather to set my own limits. The only disadvantages I may truly carry come from the extent of my motivation and self acceptance.
This idea not only transcends into the sport of rowing, rather it can be applied to other efforts. Self motivation is often the driving force in the story of the underdog coming out on top. However, in my mind there is truly no underdog, only public opinion dictating the possible outcome of a situation. If the underdog accepts his position, his position will not change. He has set himself up for mediocrity. It is only when one challenges their position that they may move up on the ladder of success. Although this may be a difficult thing to do as it involve stepping out of one’s comfort zone, it is a way to overcome the competition and realize one’s pure and undisturbed self value. While self value is the result of years of efforts, its exact statues is hard to measure, and in fact ever increasing. This ever increasing self value is at the core of my belief, for if one’s limits were constant and never susceptible to progress, there would be no need for that ever important motivation.
In conclusion, putting aside public cries of weakness is the only way in which one can achieve unlimited success. Success is not something society can mandate, for in reality it lies in the personal choice to obtain the unobtainable and live up to one’s own greatness and limitless self worth.