Walter Payton was a beast of a professional football player.
But more than talent, work and determination got him there.
The funny thing about grit and persistence is that it might not be that easy to teach though.
If you are thinking about giving up on something, your motivations might just be the issue.
Focusing more on legacy, and less on rewards will usually do the trick.
Walter Payton is a model for all those engaged in arts that don’t properly value effort. How many times have you heard a person say, “He was a great player but just did not work hard enough,” as if work were different from talent, more prosaic, something anyone could do if he wanted. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to believe the ability to persist is as much a gift as speed or soft hands. Not everyone has it. Those who don’t, fail. Those who do, leave no proof of it in statistics.
-Rich Cohen, Monsters
Also published on Medium.
