Motivation to become great

All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
Walt Disney


After watching this past weekends coverage of the Hall of Fame ceremony one thing has become more clear.  That is that most athletes have a driving force other than just pure talent.  It's their need to be the best and their overwhelming sensation to do it for the people that they look up to the most.  Deion Sanders said that he created his Prime Time persona for his mother, so that people would treat him different from just the average defensive player, and Shannon Sharpe said that he pushed him so hard so that he could provide for his grandmother.  These are 2 of the most gifted players to play their position ever and they did it all for the people they love.  So we ask ourselves what does it take to be a great man or woman, and it has to be our desire to want to do so.  I'm sure there were times when these 2 athletes wanted to give up and not try as hard, but that would have just placed them in the pack with the average player, but their quest to be the best would not allow that.  Deion stated that when he faced adversity and all of the naysayers started questioning the way he carried himself he saw his Momma pushing a cart at her job.  He said that he was once ashamed that his mother did that for a living and he refused to see her go back to that.  Once he became a pro he said that his mother never worked again a day in her life and he took care of every bill she has ever had.  Motivation to be the best person you can be doesn't always come from someone else prepping you and pumping you up to do good, it has to come from within.  You have to be able to get up every morning and say to yourself that I will be great no matter what the outcome.  Let's try to teach the upcoming generation to be motivated to be great, anyone can be average but only those that truly want it will exceed being average.  There is nothing wrong with being average, but settling for the bare minimum should never be acceptable for anyone.  It's important that we teach our kids not to settle for the bare minimum, because when you settle you stop growth.  Without growth we learn nothing and continue to deal with not having what we deserve which is anything you can dream of.  Sometimes it gets hard to push through adversity especially when you feel that you are doing your best and your not seeing anything positive come out of it, but you have to believe you will.  You have to believe that every good deed you do will have some type of positive benefit whether it comes sooner or later.  I find it hard to push through a lot of my own issues, but I know that what I'm doing benefits somebody even if I'm not happy all of the time.  As people we sacrifice something each day whether it be rest because you have to go to work the next day, or fun because you have children to take care of that night, or just time to spend helping someone resolve a problem.  The one thing I took away from watching those 2 great men speak on last weekend was the fact that no matter what they wouldn't give up on their dreams, and to capture their dreams they would have to pay some sort of price.  Lets try everyday to not allow our sacrifice of time and effort go be en vain.