Secrets Of a Champion...

From Pastor Rob at the Men's Brakfast:

The Secrets of a Champion

“I press toward the mark for the prize, of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 3:14)

You don’t succeed because of what you are, but rather what you are willing to become. Only an average person attempts to get what a champion has without having to do what a champion has done to get it. Your circumstances have nothing to do with who you decide to be. Winners and losers are not separated by different skill, but rather different decisions. Below are secrets of every champion:

1. Champions get knocked down. They just don’t stay down. It’s not what knocks you down that changes you. It’s what makes you get back up that does. Winning is not the result of not failing, it’s the result of not quitting. Your success will only be as significant as what your recoveries have taught you. God doesn’t use the perfect. He uses the recovered. (Ps. 37:24)

2. Champions never wait for others to make a change. You will have to be angry enough to change something, or you will be passive enough to tolerate anything. Idleness is the result of waiting for God to speak when He is waiting for you to move. Those who can only discuss problems usually cannot remove them. (Prov. 13:4)

3. Champions leave legacies, not tragedies. Your life is the classroom for the next generation. Burnout will be the result of not teaching others to do what you insisted on doing yourself. The next generation will either repeat your integrity or your dysfunction, depending on which one you practiced more of. The only thing worse than failing is not helping others to succeed. (Deut. 34:9)

4. Champions finish. Creativity starts a goal. Endurance finishes it. It would be better to complete something achievable than abort something difficult. Anyone can be productive when they have the answers. Champions can be productive when they don’t. The difference between finishers and quitters is finishers are consumed with their goal; quitters are consumed with what others think about their goal. (John 17:4)

5. Champions Make Improvements, as fast as Losers make excuses. Decide to be a Student of life. Always be teachable. Invest in yourself, your desire to improve never exceeds your personal development. What book are you reading right now? (II Tim. 2:15)