Life is like practicing your favorite sport. It’s not about how well you played the game, it’s about how you finished it. Weak players never get very far in the game, only those who are stronger than their opponent advance.

The problem is not how long you lived, but what contributions you made to your life while you were here on earth. Success doesn’t always mean great financial wealth or the good cars you drive, but the life you made an impact on. Did your life teach others to be respectful? Love when sometimes you may not receive love in return. Did your life prove that hard work pays off if you don’t give up? To the world, these are weak attributes, but to those seeking a mentor, it shows great strength in character as a person.

What will be your legacy? Do you break down every time adversity comes into your life? Could it be that because of your laziness and indifference you had to live a life of poverty? What will your life say about you?

Only the strong see the positive side of the tragedy. Only the strong believe that poverty and where they come from does not define them as a person. Only the strong go out to fight when someone says, “They can’t do it,” just to show them that they can persevere at anything. They see victory on their way, when the weak see only sadness and condemnation. They can turn a bad situation around and find the good in it. They see the glass half full, instead of half empty.

The strong will find ways through self-motivation to fulfill their dreams, while the weak complain and blame others for their failures and misfortunes. Strength comes from within. And a strong person uses it to his advantage to seek and conquer opportunities. A weak person has to wear T-shirts that say, “too blessed to be stressed or tennis shoes with the logo, just do it” to be motivated. A strong person motivates himself through hard work, determination, and ambition. They believe that if one door closes, another has to open. Failure is not an option for them.

The weak will steal and kill to get what they want from life; without realizing that it will change the path of his life. The strong live off the sweat of their brow, knowing that what they earn will last longer than what they take from others.

Giving up may seem like the easiest thing to do when you are trying to fulfill your dreams. People will try to get in your way. They will tell you that you are wasting your time and that no one in your family did anything with your life. These commitments won’t come from strangers, but from the people you live with and hang out with every day. Never let anyone kill your dreams. What sounds silly to them will be precisely what will make you the first millionaire in your family.

Only the strong Survive. No matter what is thrown at them, they are capable of withstanding the test of time. When their dreams don’t come true overnight, they regroup and come up with another plan on how to fulfill those dreams. They use the negative talk of others as their motivational tool, because they realize that people who are not going anywhere do not want you to go anywhere.

When all is said and done and you’ve fulfilled your destiny. You will know through hard work and determination that the race is not given to the fast, nor to the strong, but to the one who will endure to the end. Only the strong Survive.