The Will To Win by Berton Braley

A famous inspirational poem

If you want a thing bad enough
To go out and fight for it,
Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and
your sleep for it

If only desire of it
Makes you quite mad enough
Never to tire of it,
Makes you hold all other things tawdry
and cheap for it

If life seems all empty and useless without it
And all that you scheme and you dream is about it,

If gladly you'll sweat for it,
Fret for it, Plan for it,
Lose all your terror of God or man for it,

If you'll simply go after that thing that you want.
With all your capacity,
Strength and sagacity,
Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity,

If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt,
Nor sickness nor pain
Of body or brain
Can turn you away from the thing that you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,
You'll get it!

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The above is a poem by Berton Braley that captures the essence of what I wrote yesterday.

I found a few renditions of the poem on YouTube…

There is a dramatic reading of it:

Famous motivational speaker Les Brown would use it at his rallies:

And my personal favorite, an Akira The Don track that I’ve listened to hundreds of times, often daily to remind myself of this mindset:

In my mind, this is a great poem that is both motivational and illustrative of the mindset that leads to victory. You have to have the will to win!

-Brian

P.S. I claim now ownership or copyright of Berton Braley’s work. I just think it’s a great poem worth sharing.