Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest basketball players to ever take the court. Since he entered the National Basketball Association straight out of high school in 1996, he has broken numerous records and reached the pinnacle of his sport. Several attributes got him this far: talent, attention to detail, and an insatiable desire to win, among other things. But one trait stands out most of all: his work ethic.

Stories of Bryant’s work ethic are so outrageous that they can hardly be believed. One of his former trainers recently recounted a workout session from 2012. Bryant called him at 4:15 a.m., asking him to come to the gym. By the time the trainer arrived, Bryant was already completely drenched in sweat from shooting baskets and running sprints. The trainer then took Bryant through a couple hours of strength, conditioning, and cardiovascular exercises before returning home, exhausted.

The trainer came back to the practice facility at 11 a.m. for the United States Olympic men’s team practice. He saw Bryant taking jumpers on one end of the court and walked up to him.

“What time did you leave the facility?” he asked the superstar.

“Oh just now. I wanted 800 [made shots] so yeah, just now,” Bryant responded.

Slowly, reality set in: Bryant had never left the gym! He was still going strong after at least seven hours of hard physical exertion, with a couple more awaiting him during the upcoming team practice.

That’s the hard work it takes to become the youngest All-Star (age 19) in National Basketball Association history in 1998; to be voted first team all-nba from 2002-04; to score 81 points in a game in 2006; to seize the Most Valuable Player award in 2008; to take Olympic gold twice; to win five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers; and to pass Michael Jordan for third on the all-time scoring list in 2014.

Bryant—also known as the Black Mamba for his lethal last-second shot-making ability in close games—pushes himself harder than anyone else because he knows there is always room for improvement. “It’s really about wanting to learn and feeling like your cup is always empty, because there’s always more that you can fill it with,” he said in 2013. “That’s really the important thing and just continuing to learn, learn, learn.”

Bryant trains for four hours a day during the season, and more than that once the final buzzer has sounded in the season’s last game. He undergoes intense workouts on game days. In an average practice, he counts his made shots—and doesn’t stop shooting until he has poured in 400 of them. He tirelessly drills offensive maneuvers—without a basketball.

“You’d walk in there and he’d be cutting and grunting and motioning like he was dribbling and shooting—except there was no ball,” former teammate Shaquille O’Neal wrote in his book Shaq Uncut: My Story. “I thought it was weird, but I’m pretty sure it helped him.”

The tales continue. He makes teammates play him 1-on-1 to 100 points—and never comes close to losing. Even as a high school baller at Lower Merion in Philly, he arrived at practice at 5 a.m. and finished his day with more basketball until 7 p.m. Before the 2012 Olympics, he decided to lose 16 pounds as a precautionary measure, despite already being in fantastic shape.

“We saw his dedication to the game,” said now-Lakers teammate Carlos Boozer, reflecting on his experience playing alongside Bryant at the 2008 Olympics. “He’s not great by accident is my point. He puts the work in.”

Former teammate John Celestand said he could never arrive at practice before Bryant, no matter how hard he tried. He retells a humorous story from the 1999-2000 season: “I wanted to be the first person to practice, just as I had always been at Villanova and Piscataway High in New Jersey. To add insult to injury, I lived only 10 minutes from the practice facility—while Kobe was at least 35 minutes away.

“I am ashamed to say that I was excited the day after [he broke his wrist] because I knew that there was no way that number eight would be the first to practice, if he would even be there at all.

“As I walked through the training room, I became stricken with fear when I heard a ball bouncing. No, no, it couldn’t be! Yes it could. Kobe was already in a full sweat with a cast on his right arm and dribbling and shooting with his left.”

This level of fanatical commitment to the game is not without its downsides. The latest chapter of Bryant’s career has been marred by injuries: a torn Achilles and a knee fracture in 2013, and a torn rotator cuff earlier this year. There is unnatural wear and tear that results from playing approximately 100 basketball games a year for nearly 20 years. Bryant works just as hard to rehabilitate from his injuries as he does in practices, and in several instances he has been game-ready before the expected timetable. A player with his rare breed of work ethic is not easily sidelined.

Bryant values his work ethic above his other successful qualities. When he retires sometime in the near future, he wants to be remembered as a relentless worker. “To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me,” he said. “That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could.”

How about you? Do you choose a worthwhile goal and give everything you have to reach it? Do your friends and family know you as someone with a made-of-steel work ethic? Or does the slightest misfortune or disappointment make you give up?

The greatest athletes, musicians, writers, speakers, politicians and businessmen all have one trait in common: a work ethic that looks abnormal and even sociopathic when compared to the average person in this lazy, comfortable society.

Kobe Bryant is a carnal man who has dedicated every ounce of his energy to be the best, but he strives after a corruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25). As hard as he has worked, everything he has achieved is simply physical and will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10). He doesn’t know that; he has sincerely sought success in something he feels he was meant to do.

What about you? Do you have a life calling? An ultimate purpose for existence?

God is offering you an incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25), and it will take a similar unique brand of work ethic to attain the success that God expects from all of His children. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Will you put in the extra hours? Will you push yourself beyond your comfort limits? Will you be training, working and learning when everyone else wants to ease up and relax? As the Apostle Paul said, “So run, that you may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). If you do, there is a brilliant future ahead of you that will surpass any trophies of men.