Do what you hate to do

"Do what you hate to do and do it like you love it." Mike Tyson

I recently learned more about the life of Mike Tyson whom many of us believe to be the best raw boxing talent to have ever entered the ring. I had always assumed he had been a brutal person most of his childhood having grown up in one of the roughest sections of the Bronx in New York.

However, it turns out Tyson was a pudgy, weak and bullied 13 year old boy with a lisp who was labeled as a "fairy" by his peers who entered the gym for the first time. It was what he did that transformed himself into a boxing legend.

Tyson would get up at 4 am to begin his training. He would run miles before most young men his age had even rolled over in bed (months of that in snow). He would spend over 55 hours training in the gym and over 200 rounds of sparring each week.

In the evening, he would study film of the greatest fighters and be in bed by 9:30 pm so we could get up the next morning and do it again. Tyson was quoted as saying. "Nobody likes to get up at 4 am and run but I did it because I knew the other guy would not."

That statement in and of itself is gold. If you want to be successful in whatever you endeavor to do then you have to go the extra mile and this means you have to do things you don't like doing. As a coach, I dislike breaking down practice film; yet, I know that it is one of the most important elements to helping a player get to the next level.

We can tie greater success in our program to this single initiative so I know the value but this does not make it any easier to accomplish. It does take away time from watching the opposing team's game film (which I enjoy watching) but is every bit as important because I know in the end we have greater control over what we can do than we have over what the other team does.

So, what is it that you hate to do but is the key to your greater success? Focus on that and declare it to be the focus of your time and energy.