In an interview with AS, 2014 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo opens up about the secrets to his success on the soccer field. Like any world-class athlete, the Real Madridforward attributes his success mainly to dedication and discipline.
“I want to be the best in my profession,” Ronaldo says simply. “If we don’t think that way, then weare not going to win anything. We have to think about and recognize the areas in which we are the best at what we do. The most important thing though is being dedicated to your job. Every day a newchallenge comes along. However much natural talent you have, if you are not disciplined, it won’t get you far.”
Asked to reflect on his relationship with his job, the Portugueseinternational says: “What started out for me just as a fun way of enjoying myself, ended up as being a job, a career and with that comes responsibility. Now, it’s still fun but thedifference is that we have objectives. You eventually get to a point where you are challenging yourself – you no longer have to prove yourself to anyone. But you still have to prove it toyourself. You might say that I have won everything and now I don’t have to set objectives and maybe I can start working less. But you have to keep going, you have to remain ambitious.”
Ronaldo acknowledges that professionals who want to be the best they can be have to make sacrifices. “I don’t dedicate my time exclusively to training but I do things so that I canimprove – and so that I can continue playing at a high level until I am 35 or 36,” he says. “That means you have to give up a lot of other things; there are a lot of temptations andit’s very difficult – especially in the culture we live in, in Spain.”