Because of 4am

Anthony Dyson¦ 22-06-18

There are a plethora of motivational speeches out there from impressive athlete’s, CEO’s and hard charger’s that highlight the mindset that it takes to be great, and I will mention quite a few here over time, but this one by Kobe Bryant has really stuck with me ever since hearing it.

This speech was given by Kobe when he was receiving an award at the ESPYS.

“We’re not on this stage just because of talent or ability,” Bryant said.

“We’re up here because of 4 a.m. We’re up here because of two-a-days or five-a-days.

We’re up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way. If anything tried to bring us down, we used it to make us stronger.

We were never satisfied, never finished and we will never be retired.”

This short speech perfectly represents what it takes to make it to the top level in your chosen domain.

A shit ton of hard work!

I personally think that hard work itself can be taken the wrong way sometimes so to clear that up it doesn’t mean you need to grind yourself into the ground.

This is how I see it:

It doesn’t necessarily mean that you actually have to get up at 4am.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to do five-a-days, unless of course this is exactly what your goals calls for.

It means that you need to be prepared to entrench yourself in the process.

To sometimes give up that thing you want for the thing you need.

To make the hard decision when the easy decision is right there teasing you.

To have a serious think about what you are trying to accomplish and decide exactly what your “4am” is and do that that every single day, no matter how tough.

There are plenty of talented people out there,

But…..

People willing to give it 100% of hard, smart and consistent work to accomplish their goals?

 

Not so many.

I’m still trying to become this person, will you?

 

Dice