success Archives | jeremyrolleston.com

Most people …

Most people are afraid to take action.

Most people don’t care enough to make a difference.

Most people aren’t going to buy that new thing you’re selling.

Most people are too self-involved to do the generous work you’re hoping for.

Most people think they can’t afford it.

Most people won’t talk about it.

Most people aren’t going to read what you wrote.

Most people find it easier to criticise than to offer praise and encouragement.

… But you’re not most people !
And nor do you want to be most people right ?
And your best customers aren’t most people. Neither are your best supporters. Nor are those joining you on the journey.

One thing I’ve learnt over the last number of years is that when you dream big and are bold enough to dare to dream and to share that with others, it is surprising how many people are happy to tell you it can’t be done or to criticise or doubt you in some way. In fact, you’ll meet more people who’ll tell you that you can’t do something than you’ll meet people who’ll encourage you and tell you that you can. You’ll meet more people who’ll tell you that it’s a stupid idea than you’ll meet people who’ll tell you that that it’s a great idea.

There isn’t one autobiography I’ve read of people who’ve achieved amazing things who haven’t been told by people that they couldn’t do it. Think about people like Sir Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Sir Edmund Hilary, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Gai Waterhouse, Michael Milton, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Kurt Fearnley, Dr Suess, Salma Hayek, Walt Disney to name just a few. (For more examples click here).

And so I’ve learnt that it is a choice to have self-belief and not be limited by other people’s expectations or opinions. It’s a choice to ignore them and believe in something different that’s inside you, to believe you can do it rather than that you can’t. It’s a choice to choose to not be most people.

Challenge
Don’t be like most people.
In any case you’re unique and there’s only one of you in the entire world.

Not all that glitters is gold !

Elite professional sports people are some of the most dedicated people on the planet. I know this from the inside as I’ve been a full-time athlete in two sports and spent half my life around elite sportspeople. High performers can be found in any area – from mucisians, to doctors, to florists, to teachers. But my experience is in sport.

These elite athletes place their bodies on the line and commit themselves 100% to their sport. They live, breathe, eat, drink, sleep it. They put the rest of their life on hold as they prioritise training and competing above all else. Most people look from afar and wish they could live that life – an exciting life of travel, fame, money, adulation, following your passion and getting paid for it, achievement and the pride of representing your country.

But here’s the thing … whilst I wouldn’t change it for the world, not all the glitters is gold.
Here’s a lesson I’ve learnt along the way:

Success. Highlights videos. Medal ceremonies. Smiling faces. Sponsored cars. Television interviews. Signing autographs. Entry to great parties and events. Travel. The cheers of the crowd. Fame and profile.
Good hey … wouldn’t you want that ? … Absolutely !

But how about this ? Getting up at 5:30am to train when you don’t feel like it. Constantly watching your diet. The pain of pushing yourself. Missing weddings, parties, BBQs to go to bed early or because you’re travelling. Rehab for injuries. The monotony of training, training and more training. Feeling sore. Competing in rain and snow and minus 18 degree temperatures. All the work to prepare the sleds and polish runners. Dealing with the disappointment of non-performance or non-selection after you’ve sacrificed so much.
Good hey … wouldn’t you want that ? … well most people couldn’t be bothered.

There is a saying that says “Everyone desires to be a champion, but only champions have the desire to prepare.”

And to me that speaks of hardwork, perseverence, and discipline. Talent is never enough. Greatness isn’t born. Highly successful people do not just ‘become’ successful – they earn it. There are no shortcuts to success or achieving anything worthwhile. The ‘Secret’ and wishing the ferrari into your drive doesn’t work. We want it to because we’d rather shy away from the hard work and take the easy path. That’s natural, but it isn’t the way of things. It is more glamorous on the outside than the inside.

Consider the perseverence of some of the greatest achievers like Hannibal, Walt Disney, Christopher Columbus, J.K. Rowling, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln.

So my challenge to you is this … you want the ‘gold’ (whatever that is). But what are you prepared to do to get it? Because on the inside it is a very different story and experience !

The New Book Unveiled

It’s time to celebrate! Today is the day!

After a year in the making, countless late nights, a lot of learning, thousands of emails to printers / editors / typesetters / contributors / transcribers / graphic designers etc, some soul-searching on my part, a number of very interesting interviews with incredible contributors and so on …

My new book is finally here: A Life That Counts.

It will get launched today, is available on my websites NOW (www.jeremyrolleston.com and www.alifethatcounts.com.au) and will be released into bookstores across Australia and NZ from now on. I could not be happier with the end product. Truly, I am ecstatic and quietly proud.

If you want a handbook and a guide to your future success – this is it.

The book is about following your dreams, regardless of the outcome, and irrespective of what your dream is and how you define success. It is also about HOW the successful actually achieve what they do. Plenty of books tell us what to do, but almost none show us HOW to do it. How do you change your thinking (the psychology) to get changed behaviour because very often our best intentions don’t result in any meaningful change ? What do the successful people do on a daily basis ? How do you discover your dreams ? How do you goal set properly ? How do you develop mental toughness and ignore that little voice in our heads that tells us to give up, or not try, or we’re not good enough etc. How do you get over disappointment ? Many people have dreams but very few are prepared to go after them ? Why ? And how do you get over the fears and mindsets that often hold us back from chasing the dreams we have for our lives ? This is a little taste of some of the topics covered in the book. And alongside this you have the real-life stories of myself and the ten famous and successful Australians to inspire people and give them an insight into how they do it / did it. I want to give you a book that will

1) inspire you

2) you can flick through briefly and yet still take something away

3) is full of real ‘meat’ for those that want to go deeper into the tools, strategies, techniques & psychology of success

4) be an interesting read as you read the behind the scenes real-life stories of myself and the ten amazing contributors.

Here’s the back cover description:

A HANDBOOK FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH TOOLS YOU CAN IMPLEMENT IN YOUR OWN LIFE

AND REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES FROM OLYMPIC AND WORLD CHAMPIONS

TO INSPIRE AND HELP YOU BE ALL YOU CAN BE

Many books tell you what success is but don’t reveal how to make it happen. In this book, two-time Olympian Jeremy Rolleston reveals the step-by-step processes, strategies, psychology and techniques used by Olympic and World champions.

Find out how you can use these in your own life to help you successfully follow your dreams, no matter how you define success and whatever your dreams may be.

This is your opportunity to learn from Jeremy and 10 other high-achieving Australians including Dick Smith, Gai Waterhouse, Louise Sauvage, James Tomkins, Lydia Lassila, Matthew Burke, Matt Shirvington, Michael Milton, Jason Stevens and Alexandra Croak. Read their real-life stories – when it’s all going well and when it isn’t! Discover what sets them apart. Learn from their experiences, uncover their secrets, and find out how they’ve used these timeless principles and simple techniques to help them achieve remarkable success.

Practical, thought-provoking and challenging, A Life that Counts will inspire you to chase your dreams and reach your full potential. It celebrates the ‘want to’s’, the ‘choose to’s’ and the ‘dream ofs’ in your own life.

You’ll come away from this book with an exciting vision of your potential along with the confidence, knowledge and tools you need to successfully follow your dreams and live an extraordinary, fulfilled and purposeful life.

I would like to ask your help to make this the success I know it can be:

THE ASK:

I try not to ask for too much on this blog, but today I will ask a favor: if this book sounds interesting to you, please take a moment to BUY it today. Isn’t this a great gift for friends – to help them chase their dreams more successfully, learn from Olympic & World champions and be all they can be?

TO MEDIA, BLOGGERS, AND LIST OWNERS:

I’ve made very few media commitments thus far. Do you have a column, show, mailing list, or blog audience? Would you like to do a feature, an interview, or post an excerpt? Please email me at info@jeremyrolleston.com

Thanks for all your support. Here’s to your future success and here’s to 2011 being your best year yet !

Jeremy

Myth of the Leprechaun

When I look back over my own life and reflect upon my successes along the way, I also pay homage to the failures, difficulties, sacrifices etc that it took to accomplish each of them. In very few cases did so-called “luck” have anything to do with it. But yet I find it funny when people say “… you’re so lucky”.

I think of the journey to get to my first Olympics in 2006. It was a childhood dream of mine to become an Olympian and I certainly wasn’t the guy at school with all the talent so it was never an inevitability. I’d already had two dreams shatter around me – my dream to represent Australia in rugby and play for the Wallabies. This dream crumbled before my eyes when I snapped my PCL ligament two weeks out from the Hong Kong Sevens World Cup whilst playing for Australia A in the Fiji Sevens. Then four years later, after having taken up bobsleigh and after much blood, sweat and tears, I was ready to have my dream of becoming an Olympian come true. We had satisfied the international qualification criteria to compete in the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City 2002 and were just waiting for the final but all important telephone call telling us we had been selected in the Australian Olympic team. The phonecall came, but unfortunately it is one I will never forget. They had decided not to select us and impose a higher Australian qualification criteria. We would not be going, despite being the only team who qualified who would not be going to compete ! It was a devastating time. So before I even came around to the 2005-06 season I had to find the strength to put my heart on the line again, knowing it could be crushed as it had two-times in recent years. And that was before I even started to compete on the ice and the hard work began.

So off I went. Travelling from Australia to Norway – Germany – Austria – Canada – Germany – Switzerland – Australia – Italy – Germany – England – Australia – Austria – germany – Australia – Italy. Doing almost 200 runs in the season. Competing in minus 15. Crashing and seeing people almost die in front of me. Training and training. Investing time and money and energy and emotion into making my dream become a reality.

This certainly wasn’t luck. LUCK ? What did luck have to do with this ? This was hardwork and resilience.

Perhaps there is some truth in the expression “The harder I work, the luckier I get” as that speaks of positioning yourself so that you can best take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. But luck … no … If you want success then you need to be out there doing the hardwork that comes with making your dreams come to pass. Lance Armstrong says it well ….

“Everybody wants to know what I’m on. What am I on? I’m on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?”

Challenge – what do you need to work harder in ? What opportunities have you missed because they are dressed in overalls and look like work