MOTIVATION - The Will

MOTIVATION – THE WILL


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC

Today’s quote comes from Muhammad Ali who said “The will, must always be stronger than the skill.”

Now this one gave me huge opportunity to dig down deep, to understand what exactly this means to me.

You see, I have always believed that in order for a person to hone the skill, they must have the will to practice and get it right.

I really don’t believe that there is a creature on the planet who can say that they got their skill or their gift, if you like, without putting hours of work and effort into getting it just quite right. None of that would have happened if they did not have the will to make it happen.

Look around for a minute and really think about it, we often hear of an “overnight sensation”, and we take that to mean that this person went from absolute obscurity to being famous – overnight! Yeah right! Perhaps the recognition has come “overnight”, but you can rest assured that that person has worked their absolute butt’s off to get where they are. The “recognition” comes after the will to succeed has driven them far beyond and above anything that they ever thought it would take to achieve that ‘recognition’.

Yes, some people have been blessed with a natural talent for something, but that talent would lie dormant, without life until such time as the will or the desire to use that talent became so strong that that person did something about it. I don’t believe that there is any skill in the world that would manifest itself into being without the ‘will’ of the person to put it in place. That ‘will’ then becomes an action, and believe me it is a repetitive action, to perfect that skill and in doing that, they eventually succeed and if they are really lucky, they will get the recognition.

So remember that the next time you make a mistake or fall over! It is a repetitive action, but you have to have the will to get yourself up, dust yourself off and get back in the game – not once, or twice, but time and time again. Each time you get back up, and perform the task again, you will do – just that little bit better, until before you know it, your skill will become effortless and second nature. And when that happens, you too – will be that ‘overnight sensation’.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za.