Whenever people call me the first female this or that, it doesn’t make it more special because no one in front of me wanted the same job. I’ve always wanted weird stuff and enjoyed things differently than other girls.
I try not to get caught up on how cool I am. That way nothing ever gets done. I’m always thinking about what I haven’t done.
If you can’t dream big, ridiculous dreams, what’s the point in dreaming at all?
Once you give them the power to tell you you’re great, you’ve also given them the power to tell you you’re unworthy. Once you start caring about people’s opinions of you, you give up control.
I am not looking to escape the pressure. I am embracing it. Pressure is what builds up in the chamber behind a bullet before it explodes out of the gun.
Success is the result of hard work, busting your ass every day for years on end without cutting corners or taking shortcuts.
Making a change in your life is as easy as making a decision and acting on it. That’s it.
No one is ever going to give you anything of value. You have to work for it, sweat for it, fight for it. But there is far greater value in accomplishments you earn than in accolades that are merely given to you. When you earn something, you never have to worry about justifying that you truly deserve it.
People want to project their own insecurities on others, but I refuse to allow them to put that on me. Just because you don’t think that you could be the best in the world doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t have the confidence to believe I can do anything.
One of the greatest days of my life was when I came to understand that other people’s approval and my happiness were not related.
To be the best, you have to constantly be challenging yourself, raising the bar, pushing the limits of what you can do. Don’t stand still, leap forward.
The moment you stop viewing your opponent as a threat is the moment you leave yourself open to getting beat.
It is one thing to fight other people, but fighting yourself is different. If you’re fighting yourself, who wins? Who loses?
A sleeper just waits and when the time is right, they come out and wow everyone. That’s you, kiddo. Don’t you worry.
Everything in the world is information. The information you choose to acknowledge and the information you choose to ignore is up to you. You can let outside factors beyond your control throw off your focus. You can let aching muscles hold you back. You can let silence make you feel uncomfortable. By choosing to focus only on the information that is necessary, you can tune out every distraction, and achieve far more.
I want her to look at me. I want her to stare me in the eye. I want her to see that I have no fear. I want her to know she stands no chance. I want her to be scared. I want her to know she is going to lose.
She taught me that it is not enough to just be better than everyone else. You have to be so much better that no one can deny your superiority. You have to realize that the judges are not always going to give the win to you. You have to win so clearly that they have no choice but to declare you the winner. You have to be able to win every match twice on your worst day.
Michelangelo who said, “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
My punishment lasted a month. Knowing I could push through pain and succeed has lasted a lifetime. Pain was just something I became accustomed to as part of life. If you’re an athlete and want to win, something always hurts. You are always dealing with bruises and injuries. You’re testing how far you can push the human body, and whoever pushes it the furthest wins.
I might not have had the tools at my disposal that my opponents had, but I created advantages of my own.