Have you noticed that certain people are able to excel at almost everything they do? It’s almost like they run with an ungodly amount of luck, or at least that’s what it seems.

It’s these people that truly understand what it means to become unstoppable.

And before you quit reading this and think… I can’t do that.

Take a quick minute to skim through and realize that becoming the best at something starts with an unstoppable desire to be great.

The following lessons are lessons I’ve learned throughout my life, and they are the same habits I see exhibited by championship caliber athletes.

Most of the athletes quoted below have or are currently competing in the World Cup, one of the world’s biggest stages, so if you want to be unstoppable, you should begin by emulating the greats.

1. Never Quit Learning

“I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans but also to feel satisfied with myself. It is my conviction that there are no limits to learning, and that it can never stop, no matter what our age.” — Cristiano Ronaldo

When’s the last time you picked up a book or dedicated some time to make yourself better?

As we grow more complacent in life with ourselves and with our situation, we start spending less time on the most critical thing in all the world.

OURSELVES!

We should be investing at least 10% of our income in developing ourselves to either become better entrepreneurs or better human beings.

This just doesn’t pertain to championship athletes, but it should relate to any human.

As soon as we grow complacent, we might as well die.

Complacency is a death trap.

If you want to achieve real success the first step is to start making changes and start learning again.

And finally, once you reach the top, don’t stop.

I’ve been guilty of this myself, but I’ve seen people that have made a lot more money than I, do the same thing.

The world greats NEVER stop.

Take a look at Ronaldo for instance.

He’s arguably one of the world’s best football players, and despite all that he’s achieved he continues to learn and improve.

As a result of his obsessions, he’s already scored four goals on the world’s biggest stage.

2. Success takes Hard Work

“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” — Pelé

The harder something is to build, the more fulfilling the reward.

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it’s going to be easy. It’s going to take some blood sweat and tears if you want to be among the elite.

Anything worth building takes time and energy.

It also takes having a solid routine.

Whether you work for yourself or someone else you should have a daily routine in place that keeps you productive.

The most essential part of that routine is the execution itself.

Start with taking a single action once a day and gradually as you create a habit of that action now add something else.

Don’t start with many things at once because it makes it harder for you to follow. If you start with a single habit and add-on, you are more likely to support it for a long time.

If you take this single action daily, I guarantee you will get to where you’re going faster than you thought possible.

3. Make Sacrifices

“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” — Lionel Messi

I hear people complain all the time that they don’t have enough time in the day to be successful. Yet when I go down a traditional line of questioning that I have pre-prepared, we always find these chunks of time where nothing really productive is done.

Things like watch tv, look through Facebook and Instagram, and or hang out with friends at happy hour.

These things happen REGULARLY.

It reminds me of when I used to play poker and had to pass up so many invitations to hang out with friends.

And honestly, it comes down to one thing. When you want something that bad, you’re going to have to give up things that you love for a while.

I made that sacrifice of passing on a night out with my friends to become the best in the world at something, and it worked.

Years later I had plenty of time, and unfortunately, my friends didn’t, but luckily for me, I found my real passion in life, being an entrepreneur.

Unfortunately for many of those friends, they are still to this day stuck in a job they hate wondering why I got so lucky.

4. Become Obsessed with Being Great at Something

“I don’t have time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my job as a hobby. It’s something I love doing.” — David Beckham

People that don’t truly understand success might call it an obsession, but I like to think of it more as ambition.

I’ve been accused of being obsessed with many things in my life. Those things typically ended up being something that I became the best at.

Take online poker for instance. I was obsessed. And as a result in 2009, I was among the top earners online.

There were a few people that would argue I had no life, but I disagree entirely.

In fact, if I was to search my poker handle on some of the best poker message boards some of the comments included, “Does this guy have a life?”

When you find something you’re going to want to do and become obsessed, you will have family and friends put up some resistance.

Be prepared. It will happen.

When they get less attention, and YOUR THING gets more attention, they’ll want to fight you on it.

It will become your obsession.

5. Understanding that Luck Isn’t Enough

“When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.” — Diego Maradona

Luck is really a by-product of hustle.

The harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.

The problem is that people forget to see the hard work.

All they see is that you run with a horseshoe up your ass.

Don’t get upset when they tell you this. Instead be grateful that there are 95% of people that just don’t understand this concept.

The other 5% are smart entrepreneurs.

It’s thanks to the 95% that your products and services will sell, so while they think you got lucky you’re busting your ass.

Learn to just deal with it.

6. Believe in Yourself

“The secret is to believe in your dreams; in your potential that you can be like your star, keep searching, keep believing and don’t lose faith in yourself.” — Neymar

You will have doubters in this life, and to combat that you’re definitely going to need to believe in yourself.

The problem I see most when I meet people is that they have a relative that encourages them not to be an entrepreneur.

The issue with this is that the relative is usually not an entrepreneur!

They are usually a worker bee stuck in the rat race.

Taking this advice is very similar to taking advice from an overweight couch potato family member about exercise.

Would you even ask their advice for diet and exercise?!

I certainly wouldn’t.

Only take advice from someone you are striving to be like.

7. Constantly Take Risks

“If you’re attacking, you don’t get as tired as when you’re chasing.” — Kyle Rote, Jr.

When I hesitate to do something, it’s because of a reason.

More than likely FEAR.

When this happens, I ask myself one question.

What’s the worse that could happen?

And usually, the answer to this questions is nothing terrible. I mean I could lose money but is that such a bad thing?

At the end of the day, I’m still alive!

If you’re young or single, then it’s a lot easier to get out there and try out all the things that you think you want to do.

Do all the things that you’ve dreamed of at a young age because you have hardly any obligations.

If you’re married with kids or getting older, it gets harder to take risks. But it’s never really too late.

If you are going to take a chance and do something you’ve always dreamed of, then work extra hard at having reserves in place for you and your family.

8. Quit Watching TV

“If TV were only an invention to broadcast soccer, it would be justified.” — 
Roberto Fontanarrosa

I hear it all the time.

If only I had time to work on the things that I want to.

Anytime I hear this line I proceed to ask a particular range of questions, and at the core of their problems there always comes a TV, video game, or other entertainment type problem.

It never fails.

People mismanage their time, and instead of sacrificing and creating time for actions that will make them more money in the long run, they choose activities that will give them temporary entertainment.

If you want to be great at something, do yourself a favor and limit TV time to either relationship building or once a week.

9. Focus on That One Thing You’d Don’t Want To Do For At Least a Couple of Hours a Day

“The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when nobody else is watching.” — Mia Hamm

Let’s face it, we all were born into a society and culture that wants to make things EASY.

You need food, there’s a fast food drive through…DONE.

You need to lose weight, there’s a shot, pill, or surgery…DONE.

You need groceries, there’s delivery…DONE.

As a result, people either have just become lazy, or they procrastinate and put off important things until the very end.

If you’re stuck in this rut and want to be productive and hugely successful at what you do then I have one final piece of advice, take the one thing you have been putting off forever and just do it.

Schedule a time to do that ONE thing on a daily basis. This thing should be something that could potentially MAKE you more money.

Most of the time you won’t enjoy doing that thing, or you just have never done it, so it’s uncomfortable.

Remember this feeling will pass, and if it doesn’t, you can later outsource it.

I personally am terrible about posting content to Youtube or Instagram. That is a perfect example of the ONE thing for me.

Usually, people procrastinate this, and it never gets done, or it gets pushed to the bottom of the list. The bottom line is to stop procrastinating.

Mark Twain describes this best.

He once said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

If you start the day off with that single act every single morning, you have just made it more likely you will succeed.

In fact, do it first thing in the morning every single day and just get it out of the way.

You will find a refreshing sense of accomplishment and that you are going to become a productivity machine.

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s not just coincidence or luck that these nine champions became some of the best in the sport. All of their success has been mechanically orchestrated by habits, rituals, and routines that they’ve built into their life.

They gradually inched into living their dream lives.

If you even take one bit of advice, you’ll have a better life. You’ll do better at work, and you’ll have a more fulfilling relationship.

You’ll also end up with a newly found sense of confidence.

Your life will gradually change.

People will notice, and as a result, you will have some positive effect on the world.