Quote of the Day — Percy Cerutty on Success
Hard things take time to do. Impossible things take a little longer. — Percy Cerutty
Australian coach Percy Cerutty is my vote for the best distance running coach of all time. He was a living triumph of the human spirit. An under appreciated innovator who was 50 years ahead of his time. A novel thinker. A scholar. And a pretty good coach too.
To Cerutty, “success is the result of deep thought. There is nothing lucky or fortunate about success. Great success is never easy and is usually earned by dedicated efforts the masses are not prepared to subscribe to. The greatest success cannot be measured by medals or records. No, the greatest success is found when we achieve victory over ourselves — victory over our own nature, weakness, our lazy tendencies, and misleading thoughts.”
If you’re interested in learning more about Cerutty here are four fantastic books from him which you’ll get a lot of take aways you can put to immediate use:
Today’s quote comes from the final pages in Training with Cerutty.
Here’s the quote from Cerutty in context: “You have to work hard to win. You can’t win if you don’t start doing something about your goal right now. Success and achievement awaits those who can grasp it. If an athlete wants to become a champion, they must work hard at their event, even if it means working for years to reach the goal. Work does things. Hard things take time to do. Impossible things take a little longer. Patience and persistent are the key to success in athletics!”
Now get to work and make impossible things happen.