Skip Bertman is a Hall of Fame baseball coach from LSU.  I watched a documentary about his legacy on ESPN recently.  Here’s a quote all his players over decades can repeat: 

“If you can vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon a goal, it will come to pass.”

There are four verbs: imagine, desire, believe, and act. 

There are four adverbs: vividly, ardently, sincerely, and enthusiastically. 

Start with the verbs.  To imagine, desire, and believe are distinctly human gifts which are manifested in our brain, heart, and spirit. 

Goals come from our imagining something that has yet to happen.  Desire fuels our energy to pursue those goals.  Belief in supports our ability to attain. 

And none of those things matter if we don’t support them with good, solid action.   

That’s where the adverbs come in.

The Olympics are coming up.  Most athletes you see on the podium will have “vividly imagined” what it feels like and takes to win. 

Their ardent desire has fueled them to work a little harder than the rest of the athletes. 

Their belief sustained them in the dog days of preparation when progress seemed delayed.  

They put in the work with enthusiasm and gusto.   

What are you working on that you can “vividly imagine,” “ardently desire,” “sincerely believe,” and “enthusiastically act upon?”