All of the teams in this league that have won multiple championships, they didn't come out the gate winning. Sometimes you have to take those hits to understand what it takes to win.
Interpretation
Success is often preceded by failures and lessons learned from setbacks.
Sue Bird's quote emphasizes that true success, particularly in competitive environments like sports, is often built on the experiences of losses and challenges. Winning multiple championships is not merely a result of talent, but also reflects resilience and the valuable lessons learned from earlier struggles. These 'hits' are crucial for developing the grit and understanding necessary to achieve long-term success.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech for athletes.
A lot of us players, if you were to ask them, feel like they have to play overseas. Why? 'Why not? Might as well do it while I can.' For a while, I felt that way - I've got to make the most money that I can. Now, do I feel like I could still play overseas? Absolutely. But I don't feel that pressure anymore.
Homophobia hurts our league. Racism hurts it. Sexism hurts it.
As quickly as you can go 4-1, you can go 1-4. And the whole objective is not to get too high and not to get too low. It's one thing to tell somebody that and explain it, but it's another thing to really buy in, to have felt that and understand what it means to stay even-keel. That's what you have to be in this league.
I want to concentrate on winning things with Barcelona and Argentina. Then if people want to say nice things about me when I have retired, great. Right now, I need to concentrate on being part of a team - not just on me.
I’m proud to be Japanese and I wanted my country to succeed. I believed my system was a way that could help us become a modern industrial nation. That is why I had no problem with sharing it with other Japanese companies, even my biggest competitors.
You get rich through luck. You get rich through crime. You get rich through fulfilling the needs of another. You can be as greedy as you like. If you can't do one of those three things, you ain't going to get any money.
If you want to create abundance for yourself, create it for someone else.
When you're average, you're just as close to the bottom as you are the top.
God’s definition of success is really one of significance-the significant difference our lives can make in the lives of others. The significance doesn’t show up in won-loss records, long resumes, or the trophies gathering dust on our mantels. It’s found in the hearts and lives of those we’ve come across who are in some way better because of the way we lived.
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