How to Get What You Want

You can make your dreams come true by doing three things: Have a goal, make a plan, stick to the plan.

Nick Saban is one of the best college football coaches of all time. I heard him speak once, and he said the key to success and winning championships come down to those three things: goals, plans, and discipline.

He said you first have to have a vision or a goal: What do you want to do?

Write it down on paper or in your phone.

Second, you have to create a plan: What are 3-5 things you need to do to make this happen?

Write those down on paper or in your phone.

He said the third part is the hardest: Do you have the discipline to stick to the plan?

Coach Saban said discipline is where most people fail. Most people won’t take the time to write down their goals or they won’t take the time to think out and write out a plan. Even if they do that, most people will quit on their plan because of a lack of discipline: “It’s too hard,” “I’m too tired,” and “I don’t feel like it,” are some of the most common excuses I see and hear. It’s easier to sleep in, or play on your phone, or hang out with friends than it is to stay disciplined and chase your goals.

Balance is being able to do both: Have fun and stay disciplined. The best of the best find ways to do both.

I had a teammate once tell me they don’t like setting goals or making New Year’s Resolutions because they never stick. I told him it was because he didn’t have the discipline to make his own dreams come true.

Greatness is hard—that is why not a lot of people achieve it. Only 7% of high school athletes play sports in college, and only 2% of them play at the division 1 level. Most of the athletes who don’t make it don’t because they aren’t willing to do what it takes: Set some goals, make a plan, and stay disciplined to the plan.

Will you?

Example:

Goal: I want to earn a scholarship to play basketball in college.

Plan: Run every day, make 300 shots every day, stretch every day, watch one basketball video every day (it could be as short as a TikTok video or a YouTube short).

Discipline: How many successful days in a row can you stack? When you miss 1 day, how quickly can you get back on track?