You cannot lie to or fool yourself about how good you really think you are in relationship to your competition. If you don’t believe you deserve it, it probably will not happen.

once they make a commitment, there is no Plan B. These guys are all in and really live the “do or die” approach to life.

taking risks and challenging yourself leads to opportunity. Conversely, avoiding risk leads to repetition and mediocrity. Taking a risk and putting it all out there is the best way to achieve something you have not yet accomplished.

“The only way one could fail the task was to give up. We design it so that no one can complete the task, but we don’t care that you can’t complete it. We need men who do not give up when faced with an impossible task.”

the purpose of practice is to prepare for competition. For a competitive athlete, everything—and I mean everything—you do in practice should be to prepare for competition.

In the end, any athlete who competes with the primary desire to be better than someone else—not better than their previous self—will never find their best. It is ultimately you whom you are competing against. It is who-you-are-now versus who-you-could-be.

Years later in an interview, Sakai shared this advice: “The message I wish to convey is please, live each day as if it were your entire life. If you start something today, finish it today. Tomorrow is another world.”

The less time you spend thinking about yourself and the more on what it is you want to do, the better off you will be. Performance increases as one’s obsession and concern for self decreases. We

“Human life is like a candle. If it burns out halfway, it does no one any good. I want the flame of my practice to consume my candle completely, letting that light illuminate thousands of places. My practice is to live wholeheartedly, with gratitude and without regret.”