Behind Hard Work Will Be Success

Emil Zatopek said “When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.” Most people will do what’s easiest and avoid hard work and that’s precisely why you should do the opposite I believe in hard work pays off.

I was upset when I left National Championships 2005 for Track and Field in Bermuda without a medal I was so furious and upset with myself so I made a promise to myself that I was going to train harder.

I started by eating right so I could be in better shape the next time I ran. My mother had me on a strict diet. No salt, no red meat, and no grease, nothing but salads and a little starch.

I practiced harder and more often. Even when I didn’t have practice I would go on long runs. I ran up hills and even did extra drills to improve myself. My whole body was soar with doing new exercises I hadn’t done before but There were many days when I wanted to quit because I was too tired or it was too hard but, my coach kept telling me.“Keep at it and it and soon all your hard work will pay off.” Even though I was tired and wanted to stop I kept at it. I bought a whole new meaning to the word dedication. The more I practiced the more I got better at it and I saw it coming through. I came across some athletes who don’t work hard because they don’t feel it’s appreciated. They tried hard work, didn’t see any results and then eventually gave up, but my mother always said “without effort and hard work you can’t be prosperous.” Since then I’ve grown more self discipline.

Sometimes my hard work bought jealousy with other track clubs. A post was put in the newspaper about me and few other athletes that said that we wasn’t qualified and shouldn’t be able to go on track meets.

I had to be able to sacrifice something to become a better athlete. I remember when I had to wake up early Saturday morning for practice all my friends were going out the biggest party of the year but thinking back into 2005 and how it felt to not stand on that podium made me stay inside and get some rest for the next day. So I had to sacrifice going out that Friday night. Even On my spear time I watched videos of professional track athletes and I would compare myself to them so I can do better.

National Championships 2006 in Bermuda came and I was more than ever ready. I remember waking up that morning so focused and I still had flashbacks on what had happened in the previous year and I didn’t want to see that happen again. My race came and I went up to the finish line, bending down and getting in the blocks I said a quick prayer saying “please let all my work pay off. Amen,” with my head down while the starter was saying “On your mark…get set” taking a deep breath and then “GO!” The race went by quick but when I reached that finish line I was the first one through it. That’s when I realized that through hard work and practice come success.

That’s why I believe that with hard work comes success. Like my mother always said “without hard work you can’t be prosperous.”