Success comes in many shapes and forms. What is success to one person may be less significant or unimportant to another. One thing is for sure though, position or money does not necessarily measure success. Many would agree that Mother Teresa was an outstanding humanitarian and more successful in her mission than anyone else – but she held neither position nor wealth. She stands as a beacon to our generation of what one person is capable of achieving and how we might best measure success.
Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the USA wrote:
“There are two kinds of success. One is the very rare kind that comes to the person who has the power to do what no one else has the power to do. That is genius. But the average person who wins what we call success is not a genius. She is a person who has merely the ordinary qualities that she shares with others and has developed those ordinary qualities to a higher degree.”
Young people can learn a great deal about success by applying themselves to achievable goals. Small successes can build confidence in their ability to achieve. By putting in extra effort to any task, whether in school, in sport or in a cultural program teaches young ones and older students about the concept of ‘no gain, without pain’. Success for most people is incremental…. It happens in small steps, small gains that over time realise much greater gains. It happens with dedication, committed practice and it happens because of perseverance in the face of adversity.
Noted author Dr Kerry Spackman tells the story in “The Winner’s Bible” of Loretta Harrop who like many young Australians enjoyed sport. Very early she decided that she wanted to be a professional athlete and set about training for triathlons. In order to receive funding she had to go through a process of ‘being measured’ by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) to see if she ‘had what it took’ to be a successful triathlon athlete. When the AIS finished its testing of Loretta they returned the verdict, that not only was she not championship material, but she was ‘below average’.
Rather than taking this to heart, Loretta decided that even if the AIS didn’t think she was champion material, she believed that she would be a champion. She had incredible self confidence and self belief that she would be successful. Loretta didn’t get her funding and almost in defiance of the AIS and so called experts, she continued her punishing regime of exercise and running – even after competing and not winning any competitions, she never doubted her ability to succeed. She had plenty of reasons to give up and try something different, but she didn’t. She stuck with it and continued the rigorous and painful training day after day.
This was not the only obstacle that Loretta Harrop faced. Bike racing is a dangerous sport. To toughen up, Loretta use to train with her brother, who was a top triathlete who had great bike control. She would learn more by riding with her brother. Tragedy struck, however; only months before the World Cup, her brother was killed while out training on his bike.
Devastated, Loretta went through a total loss of confidence and for the first time in her life, feared riding her bike. In her own words though, Loretta realised that she “had to face this fear head on.” She realised that she was more afraid of having to live with this stupid fear beating her, than she was in crashing. Facing up to her fear and riding competitively again, Loretta went on to win the gold medal at the World Triathlon Championships and a silver medal at the Athens Olympics. What an outstanding feat and a lesson to us all on determination and courage?
Life is not always a bed of roses and often there are many obstacles to overcome before we experience success. Working through these difficulties is one way that we build up our resilience – our capacity to ‘bounce back after a setback’. If young people don’t learn to overcome these obstacles independently and rely instead on parent or adult intervention, they often miss developing this important life skill. This is true of both school and interpersonal relationships.
Inspirational true life stories like that of Loretta Harrop make us realise what is possible within all of us. Others may doubt our ability or skills, experts may measure our potential and make judgements or guesstimates about our future, but when it’s all said and done, if we have confidence, and unshakeable self-belief and determination to succeed, we will.
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