Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the world’s most memorable military and political leaders. His experience taught him that …
The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.
“Endurance of Fatigue.” Excellent food for thought. For example, what Karate Institute of America Black Belt does not understand this worthy insight? None. To get through not one but two days of grueling testing after years of arduous effort and struggle and emerge as a Kiado-Ryu Black Belt is a most notable accomplishment, to be sure. Only sixty-four of three thousand three hundred students in the KIA’s thirty-eight year history have succeeded in reaching the coveted Black Belt level. They are certainly the ones who can sincerely acknowledge Napoleon’s words: The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue.
The same is true for any athlete who has endured fatigue and triumphed in the struggle to succeed. Championship teams will also corroborate this simple truth. The challenger who can endure fatigue the longest, who can physically outlast his adversary, will emerge from the contest victorious.
And so it is in life. Those who conquer are those who never quit, who never give up or give in. There are millions of talented individuals in the world in all aspects of society, but the ones who endure, who gut it out, who remain steadfast to their dreams and goals and endure the seemingly endless fatigue of the struggle will be the ones who stand alone at the top of the mountain and proclaim victory.