3107, 2010

By inches

By |July 31st, 2010|Action, Motivation, Perseverence|0 Comments

This is such a well known speech. Al Pacino in the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’. He is talking about teamwork but when he talks about inches you know what I get from this …

Inches means small steps. Inches means spectacular achievements are often preceeded by unspectacular preparation. Inches means the little things inevitably add up to the big things. Inches means being faithful in the little things and in the space and season of your life where you are at now. Doing that well right now so that it prepares you for what is ahead. Inches means the big dreams come down to small goals being achieved and small accomplishments adding up.

And to me inches also speaks of PERSEVERENCE. Inches speaks of not giving up and not letting life push you backwards. Inches speaks of trying and trying again. Even if you fail and things don’t work out how you want. Fail again. Fail better. Persevere. Because we all know of the many amazing things that people have achieved as they have kept on going when everything around them seemed to pint to giving up. JK Rowling. Walt Disney. Hannibal. Christopher Columbus. Webster. Thomas Edison. Abraham Lincoln. Richard Branson and so on and so on.

So don’t despise small beginnings or small steps. A big journey starts with a small step and is made up of many little journey’s … many inches.

What is your next inch ?bot-only-image

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2407, 2010

Mr or Mrs Incredible

By |July 24th, 2010|Dare to Dream|1 Comment

Do you remember the dreams you had as a kid? How you were going to conquer the world? How your life was going to be filled with amazing experiences and adventures?

Don’t you find it funny that when you’re a child and you say you want to be an astronaut, your parents tell you that you can be anything you want to be. It’s harmless. Like telling a child that Santa Claus exists.

But when you’re 25 and you tell people you are going to leave work to do x, y or z or when you tell them you want to start to be a x,y or z … the response is different. “Be realistic”. “That is not practical”. “You SHOULD do …. ” And all these comments lead to the same end – you end up doing the things you felt you should do and that in some way force you to compromise those dreams?

  • What if you didn’t have to live each day feeling like you’ve made a compromise?
  • What if you actually did what you wanted and dreamt of ?
  • What if you didn’t have to feel like you were missing out ever again?
  • How has being “realistic” or “responsible” kept you from the life you want ?
  • How has doing what you “should” resulted in experiences or regrets for not having done something else ?

I believe it starts with a decision. A decision to actually DARE to Dream.  Absolutely, there is wisdom involved and strategy and planning. And absolutely dreams turn very fast into hardwork and diligence and commitment. But this is a mindset. A paradigm. A point of view. And that is the challenge. We think that doing what we love and dream of is mutually exclusive and inconsistent with everything else in our lives – our responsibilities, various financial considerations and so on and so forth. But yet we read plenty of people pursing their passion and making a great living out of it and having the freedom of choice we all want. So it can be done.

So Mr or Mrs Incredible … the challenge is there … and it starts by DARING to dream and follow your dreams …bot-only-image

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1707, 2010

Failing towards Success

By |July 17th, 2010|Perseverence|0 Comments

I love Michael Jordan. He is one of my heroes. I love him for all that he achieved and how good he was over a long period. But I love him for two other reasons.

1) He practised hard. Sure he was amazingly gifted but he added to talent a huge amount of practice, sweat, a great work ethic, professionalism and a desire to always improve. This made him even better. I remember seeing a photo of him after a game and he would always put his feet in buckets of ice to take best care of himself, reduce swelling and inflammation on his ankles and feet and prepare as best as he could for the next game. I also remember seeing videos of him just practising alone in the gym, reading stories in his book abut him playing practise games back at his old university etc

2) His attitude was inspiring and his perspective challenging. He didn’t let his fears hold him back. To use his words. “I failed over and over again. And that is why I succeed”. He used his failures to spur him on to be better rather than cause him to shrink back and stop. He didn’t measure his success by the failures along the way. He saw the inevitable failures along the way as just part of the process and journey. It reminds me of other famous examples of perseverance.  There is the saying that “amateurs practice until they get it right – champions train until they can’t get it wrong”. I think this is true but if we think about what Michael Jordan says here, perhaps it is more about the perspective. The aim of practice is as the quote says to be perfect and that is at attitudinal thing. But is all reality there will still be failures along the way. But our attitudes then should be that these will spur us forward, that these are not terminal, that these will be the foundation and the footholds on the way to success.

Failing towards success. Does that help change your perspective on failure. Heck, it did Michael Jordan and he is the best ever !bot-only-image

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1007, 2010

Could'a, Should'a, Would'a

By |July 10th, 2010|Action|0 Comments

I’m always surprised by the number of people who say they’ll do something and never do, who plan to do something and never do and who want to do something but never do. I call these people – could’a, should’a, would’a sort of people.

I never want to be a could’a, should’a, would’a sort of person because to me that spells regrets. That person spells never having the guts to have a go regardless of the outcome. That  person spells dreams they haven’t followed. That person spells disappointment inside eating away at them because they never did something. That person spells talk is cheap. That person spells what they say is not what they do and so they’re word cannot be trusted. That person spells, when they make a decision they don’t keep it. That person spells, either they never start it or even if they do they start strong and finish weak.

This is a picture that I put up on my wall in the Olympic Village in Torino when I was competing at the Winter Olympics in 2006. It was my first Olympics and I was conscious that I didn’t want to just get there. I wanted to compete to the best of my ability and let my actions speak louder than my words. I equalled the Australian record in my first year as pilot. It is something I’m proud of. But I’m equally as proud of not being a could’a, should’a, would’a sort of person.

My challenge – the next decision you make – do it ! Talk is cheap.bot-only-image

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307, 2010

Never give up

By |July 3rd, 2010|Perseverence|0 Comments

There is nothing more to say.

Never give up. Keep on going. There is more in you than you know. It doesn’t matter how you you started – it matters how you finish. You never lose until you quit trying. Don’t give up. Keep going. More and more and more and more. Again and again and again. You CAN do it. Despite what it looks like, persevere and never give up.bot-only-image

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