Attaining Success is Difficult, That's What Makes it Great

All of us wish that success came easily. No one likes difficulty…no one likes adversity. No one likes obstacles and setbacks. But it is the struggle for success that makes success so great. If success came easy, everyone would have it. The fact that success is difficult to attain is what makes it so special and rewarding.

All the above, I believe, is why wrestling is such a great sport. It is why, once you have wrestled, you feel a part of a special family. No matter if you wrestled for only one year or for 20. Once you have wrestled you know what kind of a sport wrestling is, and, more importantly, how difficult wrestling really is. District, State, National Champion or not…just competing in the sport will give you a measure of success.

Few sports require all those skills and attributes that wrestling requires. Tactical and mental conditioning…knowledge…physical conditioning…power…strength…agility… flexibility…eye-hand coordination…cardiovascular conditioning…strategic and tactical expertise…quickness and rhythm to name just a few. Wrestling is truly one of the most difficult and grueling sports in the history of the sports world. Hand-to-hand combat, no one to back you up if you make a mistake. One on one, just you and your opponent, and when you lose it's tough!

Losing matches in wrestling is hard. Because of the one-on-one aspect of the sport, losing can become very personal. Not many wrestlers have had the good fortune to avoid losing from time to time. Cael Sanderson of Iowa State went undefeated his entire college career winning four NCAA National Championship titles. This is a very amazing accomplishment. I can't even imagine how he did it…how he felt!

But the majority of wrestlers, even great ones, experience many losses along the path to success. It is with these losses that we gain such valuable insight and knowledge. It is with these losses that we make adjustments and learn to change things that will help us to improve.

The process of overcoming these losses is what strengthens our mind and soul. Overcoming adversity is what makes us tough. Think about it…meeting resistance is exhausting. It tears us down - it wears us out. Compare it to lifting weights. In strength training we lift weights (resistance) so we can tear down our muscles. We get tired from lifting weights. And then with proper rest and nutrition, our bodies rebuild…stronger than before. Then we lift more weights for more repetitions, tearing down our muscles again, and then again through proper diet and rest our muscles rebuild to an even stronger state.

Losses are just like those weights. They are heavy, they are difficult to handle - they are no fun. But by experiencing losses it allows for, even promotes, the growth within sport that we desperately need to succeed. Without facing these losses head on and overcoming them it would be difficult to grow.

I recall in 1982, when I was 23 years old, I was training extremely hard and had been for a number of years, and yet I had never won a Senior National title. I remember discussing the fact with my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, Leslie. I remember how frustrated I was and telling her "I train my living butt off, and for what?"

The next day we were scheduled to leave Ann Arbor, Michigan where we lived and drive to Cincinnati, OH to compete in the US Greco Nationals. I remember suggesting to Leslie that we should just keep driving, right through Cincinnati, all the way to Florida and just take a vacation. "I'm tired of busting my butt for nothing," I told her.

Fortunately Leslie was thinking more rationally than I was so after I came to my senses and stopped feeling sorry for myself, I was back to my original plan of competing in Cincinnati.

Well, wouldn't you know it? The saying "it's always darkest before the dawn" really rang true. I went down to Cincinnati and won my first National Greco title by beating Mike Houck in the finals.

Losses, like weights, tear us down. But through proper evaluation, psychological and physical rejuvenation we get stronger. We overcome those losses and move forward in our quest for success.

From that victorious National Championship day forward, I looked at losses differently. I realize that I was afraid to lose. And when you are afraid of something you tend to hesitate or stay away from it. I made a conscious decision that I was going to run full speed ahead. No more caution about failure or losing. I was going to give it my very best every time and win or lose I would learn from my experiences and I would be proud.

"Expect to Win with Relentless Intensity"