Lack of Motivation and Discipline

Cerutty often wrote about needing to have a belief in the worthiness of the goals we said we desired. I always found this to be an insightful point because if you didn't truly believe in the worthwhileness of your goal you would sooner or later abandon the effort. Haven't we seen, or experienced ourselves, a quest being derailed and given up due to our job, lack of apparent progress, relationships, injury, boredom or any variety of distractions? Of course we have. Without a belief in the worthwhileness of your goal, what they call sticktoitiveness and discipline will be hard to maintain.

 Cerutty said we must consider deeply whether we really wanted what we said we did or were we just engaging in some "fanciful dreaming"?

It seems with a New Year coming that this would be a good time to "consider deeply" what we would like to accomplish athletically. Combine this with some serious self-evaluation. Ask yourself if you have become complacent, jaded, lazy, or bought into the lie that setting your sights on athletic goals is something for a time that has long passed you by. Do you feel a gnawing sense of unease when you think of what you might have done if things would have "gone your way?" I say? What are you waiting for? Go for it! Don't be like the majority of people who settle into a life of sameness,comfort and routine. You say you don't have the time? There are 24 hours in each day, you don't have one, occasionally two hours a day to dedicate to you becoming a better person in every aspect of your being? If you don't, which I doubt, you need to make some drastic changes in your life. And if you think this commitment you'll make is all about winning, p.r.'s and medals, think again.

Consider these words from Cerutty from his book, Success: In Sport and Life: "Perhaps the greatest success is found when we achieve victory over ourselves, And that, perhaps, is the greatest reward that can be obtained from participation in athletics and sport, generally--the victory over our own nature, our weaknesses, our tendency, perhaps, to rush to alibis, palliatives, and excuses, rather than to admit our moments of weakness: of capitulation."

Yeah, that's worth more than any medal or trophy.