After pushing and working hard and defeating a couple of obstacles and rising through different challenges you finally made it to the final stage. You said to yourself "yes I did it!" but the reality is No you didn't, you didn't did it yet because you haven't succeeded yet. Yes maybe you reached the final stage, you reached the finals but did you finish with your hands raising? Did you have the trophy yet?
This is what "ALMOST VICTORIOUS" people do, when they reach the final stage they feel successful, they feel that they already won not knowing that they still have some work left to do. They become complacent and satisfied with the little success that they have and they no longer aim for the bigger prize.
Look at those people who got their first car by the help of loan and lost it. They thought they already have that car, they thought that they were already rich. They do not know that they still have to pay the monthly payment, the gas and the maintenance. The became relaxed and over confident. They do not embrace the responsibility of having a liability. They do not work extra hard, their effort before having the car and having it already are the same. Little by little they experienced paying late for the car and then in the end the bank gets it back. This happens because they thought they were already successful and great, they didn't work extra hard to fully pay the car. Having the car is one thing and maintaining it is another thing. Even if you are driving the car it is not completely yours if you haven't fully paid it.
Look at those some NBA teams that reached the finals, look at Lebron James. I am a big Lebron fan but what he said during their finals trip against the underdog Dallas Mavericks was not right, he said that the Miami Heat did it even though the finals hasn't started yet. He thought that they already won, he thought that they can easily beat the Mavs, what he didn't knew is he must work extra hard, harder than he work during regular season. Being successful in regular season is one thing, being a champion is another thing. He underestimate their opponents that is why they lost.
Don't get blinded by the little success that you are experiencing for the moment. You will only be labeled as successful if you finally bagged the final prize. Just part of the prize is not a real prize. Just being a little successful is not real successful. You must work harder when you reach the final stage because the challenges during that stage is harder, the responsibility is much bigger. Those little success that you experienced before the final stage will vanish if you are sitting pretty in the end.
