You can have anything you want, you just have to be willing to pay the price.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Everything has its price — and if that price is not paid, not that thing but something else is obtained… It is impossible to get anything without its price.”
Hardwork is always required. But the greater the thing, the greater the price.
Do you want to be the best in your industry?
Do you want a phenomenal body?
Do you want to be a millionaire?
Ask yourself, “What is the price I need to pay to get this?”
CONSIDER KOBE BRYANT
One of the greatest players to have ever played in the NBA. He has won five NBA championships, two Olympic Gold Medals, and is a perpetual All-Star and All-NBA selectee with 18 and 15 picks respectively.
Kobe paid the price to be great. If someone tried to outwork him, he just sacrificed more until no one else was willing to pay the price that he was willing to pay.
Read More: The Slight Edge
Consider this Reddit post from an athletic trainer that worked with Kobe on the US Olympic Team:
I was invited to Las Vegas to help Team USA with their conditioning before they headed off to London. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in the past, but this would be my first interaction with Kobe.
The night before the first scrimmage, I had just watched “Casablanca” for the first time and it was about 3:30 AM.
A few minutes later, I was in bed, slowly fading away, when I heard my cell ring. It was Kobe. I nervously picked up.
“Hey, uhh, Rob, I hope I’m not disturbing anything right?”
“Uhh, no. What’s up Kob?”
“Just wondering if you could help me out with some conditioning work, that’s all.”
I checked my clock. 4:15 AM.
“Yeah sure, I’ll see you in the facility in a bit.”
It took me about twenty minutes to get my gear and get out of the hotel. When I arrived and opened the room to the main practice floor, I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn’t even 5:00 AM.
We did some conditioning work for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Then, we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that, we parted ways. He went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow.
I was expected to be on the floor again at about 11:00 AM.
I woke up feeling sleepy, drowsy, and pretty much every side effect of sleep deprivation. (Thanks, Kobe.) I had a bagel and headed to the practice facility.
This next part I remember very vividly. All of the Team USA players were there. LeBron was talking to Carmelo and Coach Krzyzewski was trying to explain something to Kevin Durant. On the right side of the practice facility, Kobe was by himself shooting jumpers.
I went over to him, patted him on the back and said, “Good work this morning.”
“Huh?”
“Like, the conditioning. Good work.”
“Oh. Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it.”
“So when did you finish?”
“Finish what?”
“Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?”
“Oh, just now. I wanted 800 makes. So yeah, just now.”
To recap his day of training:
4:30 am — Conditioning Work: warmup, sprints & running.
6-7 am — Weight Training
7-11 am — 800 Made Jump Shots (It doesn’t say how many misses but probably hundreds more).
11-UTC —Team USA Scrimmage.
So, why was Kobe so great. He was willing to pay the price, to sacrifice more than anyone else. From his documentary Muse:
“There is a choice that we have to make as people, as individuals. If you want to be great at something, there is a choice that you have to make. We all can be masters at our craft, but you have to make a choice. What I mean by that is, there are inherent sacrifices that come along with that: family time, hanging out with your friends, being a great friend, being a great son, nephew, whatever it is. There are sacrifices that come along with making that decision. I knew that I was not going to be stopped. At the age of 18, this was my life. You can’t possibly become better than me because you’re not spending the time on it that I do. Even if you want to spend the time on it, you can’t because you have other things, other responsibilities that are taking you away from it, so I already won.”
I knew that I was not going to be stopped. – Kobe Bryant
Onward,
Chief
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