Larry Weidel presents a short motivational talk arguing that elite results come from discipline rooted in intrinsic motivation — doing things because you 'want to', not because you 'have to' or to avoid embarrassment. He contrasts transient, extrinsic carrot-and-stick incentives with sustained, above-average effort maintained when no one is watching, and emphasizes that compounding effort over time produces elite outcomes.
A winner's life is a discipline life. And not rigid, you know, discipline and everything, but pretty much discipline. You pretty much stay on track and certain things done at certain times to get certain results. Successful parents, successful students, successful musicians, successful athlete. There's an element of discipline involved in there. To be successful not. And why do you do that? Why do you do that? Because you have to. Oh, I gotta have to. I have to. No, not because you have to, because you want to. You have to because you want to. If, if the want to is not there, the want to has got to come first. It's got to be in your gut. It's got to be something you really want to do. Because if there is no want to, there is no going to be no discipline. And there's going to be no extreme effort. And without extreme effort over consistent periods of time, there's not going to be, you know, any elite results. See, average people get average results because they make the average effort and they never make that extreme, above average effort over a long enough period of time to make a difference. They could from time to time go on a blitz and everything, but they don't stay with it long enough to give time for their efforts to compound and multiply because they really don't really not into it. It's the people that are into it that are doing that. So you know, they might do it because to avoid embarrassment or because people are watching them. You know, that's where the idea of carrots stick type motivation, you know, if they do it, you'll give them a carrot. If they don't do it, you know, you hit them with a stick, you know, carrot stick motivation. And the problem with that, it's temporary. It never results in sustain because you're never going to be making that extra effort when nobody's watching and see as a result, you're not going to be a serial winner. And so it starts with want to. That's why it's so important for you to think through what are the things that are really inside you that you really want to do with your life that you get excited about. What attracts your attention, that decision? Make sure you're following the scent of something that speaks to you. Then you won't mind the effort it takes to follow and pursue it. It all starts with want to.
