What do you want?

What do you want?
How badly do you want it?
How much are you willing to suffer?

I did a workshop this week with a group of 16 year old Premier League academy players and asked these 3 questions.

It showed me that they all wanted to end result, but very few of them wanted to do what it would take to get them there.

Most of the answers to the first question were things like; To win the Ballon d'or, to win the world cup, to play in the Champions League. These are great goals to have.

I then asked the question, 'how many of you train like a champion every day?' - not a single hand went up.

It showed me that people want the end goal. But don't want what it takes to get them there. It's the same with most people in life.

People want more money, a six pack, to run a marathon, a promotion, a great relationship... but they don't want to do all it takes to get there. The real work. They don't want to suffer. They want the end result. The immediate gratification.

If you don't want to suffer, don't want to put that work in, then it's fine. No judgement. But that answer to the first question of what you really want has to change.

Greatness comes with suffering. That voice in the head is relentless. Nothing is ever enough. The hours you put in when nobody is watching. The boring and tedious parts that aren't glamourous. The sacrifices, the pressure, the critics, the strains on relationships.. the list goes on.

You pay a huge price to be great. A price that many don't want to pay.

You cannot get for free, that the greatest have worked every single day for.

Have you gotten clear with what you want? Are you willing tom put in the work? To accept that suffering will play a major role in that?