“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”— This is a quote made by Brazilian football legend Pele.
Pele’s words suggest that success isn’t merely about luck or talent; rather, it is about the grind and hard work that someone puts in.
For Pele, his rise to becoming a football legend wasn’t easy. He grew up in such a bad state of poverty, so much so that he couldn’t afford a football. When he was a child in Brazil’s Bauru, he used to practice for hours with a sock stuffed with newspapers or by kicking a grapefruit tied with a string.
What does it mean
In simple words, Pele tries to convey that success doesn’t come overnight. He reminds us that luck is only a minor factor and that success is an outcome of hard work and perseverance.
By perseverance, he means working on a particular goal even when you are tired, bored or even if you’re failing. Basically, success is a step-by-step process of achieving a goal, and you build it through discipline and passion.
By sacrifice, Pele means you cannot have everything, and you will have to say “no” to a few things that you love doing (like leisure or social gatherings), in order to focus on achieving your goal.
Where it comes from
This quote comes from his autobiography, Pelé: My Life and the Beautiful Game, written by Robert L. Fish and published in 1977.
With this quote, Pele conveyed the idea that his skill wasn’t just a “gift from god” or pure luck, but that he honed his skills through hard work and studied the game deeply.
How to apply it today
Hard work: Hard work doesn’t just mean putting in the number of hours or multitasking. It means focusing on a single particular goal, and then getting onto the next. For example, Pele did not practise with five balls at once. Instead, he tried to master one move at a time.
Perseverance: Perseverance isn’t just about saying “I want to achieve this goal”. It is about showing up even when you are lacking motivation, because even a 30-minute effort of working towards a goal goes a long way in achieving it.
Sacrifice: Sacrificing something to achieve a goal involves cutting out your distractions. These distractions might be a hobby, social gathering, or even doing side projects. You have to keep all these aside and work only on achieving your goal.
Love of what you’re doing: This is where your passion towards a goal comes in. Because passion is as important as commitment and consistency towards achieving a goal. And if you don’t love what you do with passion, it could leave you exhausted both mentally and physically.
About Pele
Pele was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on 23 October 1940 in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He is considered one of the greatest football players of all time. Pele’s rise to fame wasn’t easy. He grew up in poverty in Brazil, and since his family couldn’t afford a proper football, he used to practise with a sock filled with newspapers or with a grapefruit.
He saw his father cry after Brazil lost the final of the 1950 FIFA World Cup to Uruguay. Back then, a nine-year-old Pele promised his father, saying, “Don’t worry, Papa. I will win the World Cup for you”.
Eight years later, Pele’s moment finally arrived, as he guided Brazil to their first-ever FIFA World Cup title, scoring twice as they beat Sweden 5-2 in the final. At just 17 years old, Pele thus became the youngest player ever to score in a FIFA World Cup final. He would go on to win two more World Cups for Brazil, in 1962 and 1970.
In 1969, Pele, playing for Brazilian club Santos, famously scored his 1000th goal against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro. The match had to be stopped for 20 minutes as fans stormed into the pitch to celebrate Pele’s goal.
He finished his career with 1,291 goals, an achievement that has been registered in the Guinness World Book of Records. To date, Pele is the only player to win a record three FIFA World Cup titles.
Pele never officially won the Ballon d’Or award because the award was exclusively handed out to European players till 1995. In 2013, he was awarded the honorary Ballon d’Or by France Football magazine for his contributions to the game.
Pele passed away on 29 December 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, due to multiple organ failure after a long battle with colon cancer.
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