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Commit to Win

Some people are interested in reaching their dreams and others are committed to reaching their dreams. The key to success in life is going from being interested to being committed. Once you are committed you will produce results. At the point of commitment, you mentally “burn all the bridges” and you do whatever it takes to make it happen. THAT’S when you become unstoppable!

On the road to the Olympics, many athletes much faster than me quit along the way. There are only two reasons they quit; they either didn’t want it bad enough or they were not as committed.

Commitment is what makes success possible. If you commit to do whatever it takes (as long as it is moral, legal and ethical) to succeed, success will reveal its secrets to you. There are four different levels of commitment; I’ll try, I’ll do my best, I’ll do whatever it takes, and it’s a done deal.

“I’ll try” is completely worthless. Whenever someone tells you they are going to try to do something, don’t count on anything ever happening. People say “I’ll try” when they are afraid to say “I won’t.” Tony Robbins says that “I’ll try” is the battle cry of wimps. Whenever you say “I’ll try,” you have just guaranteed failure. Because saying “I’ll try” is in effect saying, “If there are ANY obstacles, I’ll have a way out and I’ll be able to quit.”

“I’ll do my best” is not much better than “I’ll try.” People that say “I’ll do my best” are looking for a way out. When they say they’ll do their best, they’re leaving a huge door open for excuses and justifications later. Remember when you asked your buddies to help you move to your first apartment? I know for sure that none of the ones who said “I’ll try to be there” or “I’ll do my best to be there,” showed up.

Winners say, “I’ll do whatever it takes.” If you tell someone you’ll do whatever it takes, you will produce or else you’ll lose face. Finally, the strongest level of commitment is when you say, “It’s a done deal.” When you say “It’s a done deal,” even losing face is not an option. When I was training for the Olympics I would not dare tell my coach I was going to try to do something. It was always, “It’s a done deal.”

Whenever we arrive at a new track, we walk the track with the coach. We make a game plan about the best way to drive the track. We visualize and mentally rehearse the ideal run, but sooner or later, we have to commit. Sooner or later, we have to hop on the sled and go down the mountain. We have to take those runs knowing that even with all the preparation, the first few times down that track are going to be pretty brutal. Is it scary? Sure, it’s scary.

But you have to pay the price if you want to enjoy the prize. You have to commit to do things that are beyond your current abilities. That’s the only way to grow. That’s how you get better and stronger. So attack your fears head on. Otherwise, you will be their servant for the rest of your life.

Take a chance. Act on faith. Put yourself in a position where you have to stretch and fight for something. It brings out the best in you. It is good for your soul.

Birds of a Feather…

Who you surround yourself with will determine how far you go.

After I decided to take up the sport of luge and train for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, decision making became pretty simple for me. I knew that every action I took in the next four years was either going to get me closer to my goal or pull me away from my goal. Everything I did would make a difference. Even the people I associated with…

You see, there are two kinds of people in the world. They are either on your team or they are not in your team. They are either on your dream team or they are not. People will either encourage you or cast doubt. If they doubt you can do it, they could steal your dream away!

Associating with negative people makes us think negatively. Close contact with petty individuals develops petty habits in us. On the other hand, companionship with people with big ideas raises the level of our thinking; close contact with ambitious people helps make us more ambitious.

If you fly with eagles, you will think, feel and act like an eagle.

I came to the realization that if someone laughed at my dream; they were laughing at me. If they did not believe in me, I stopped associating with them. I had to. They had the power to make me doubt myself and ultimately quit.

I was taking up the luge at the age of 21 – way too old! And I was trying to qualify for the Olympics just four years away! I could not leave anything to chance. I did not have time to waste. I needed to know right away who was for me and who was not.

How did I do it? I told everyone I spoke with about my dream. If they laughed at me, rolled their eyes, or in any way showed lack of belief, I stopped associating with them. I could not afford to. They were a dream stealer. However, if they got excited about my dream, I held on to them like they were made out of Gold! I’d just found myself a cheerleader.

By doing this all the time, before long I could have filled a cheering section with my supporters. An unexpected benefit of doing this was that I created a positive pressure that kept me from quitting when the going got tough. You see, no matter how rough a day I was having at the track, it was going to be easier to get back on the sled than to come back home and tell everyone that I had quit.

Birds of a feather flock together. Make sure you’re in the right flock. It’s your choice.

Who are you spending most of your time with?

Are you spending your time with the people that will lead you to your dream?

Are you associating with people who encourage you and push you to take greater risks?

Or are you hanging around with people who are keeping you where you are? Ninety percent of success is who you hang around with…

Bouncing Back Quickly to Win

Karoly Takacs. You’ve probably never heard of him. However, in Hungary, he’s a national hero – everybody there knows his name and his incredible story. After reading his story, you’ll never forget him…

In 1938, Karoly Takacs of the Hungarian Army, was the top pistol shooter in the world. He was expected to win the gold in the 1940 Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo.

Those expectations vanished one terrible day just months before the Olympics. While training with his army squad, a hand grenade exploded in Takacs’ right hand, and Takacs’ shooting hand was blown off.

Takacs spent a month in the hospital depressed at both the loss of his hand, and the end to his Olympic dream. At that point most people would have quit. And they would have probably spent the rest of their life feeling sorry for themselves. Most people would have quit but not Takacs. Takacs was a winner. Winners know that they can’t let circumstances keep them down. They understand that life is hard and that they can’t let life beat them down. Winners know in their heart that quitting is not an option.

Takacs did the unthinkable; he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and decided to learn how to shoot with his left hand! His reasoning was simple. He simply asked himself, “Why not?”

Instead of focusing on what he didn’t have – a world class right shooting hand, he decided to focus on what he did have – incredible mental toughness, and a healthy left hand that with time, could be developed to shoot like a champion.

For months Takacs practiced by himself. No one knew what he was doing. Maybe he didn’t want to subject himself to people who most certainly would have discouraged him from his rekindled dream.

In the spring of 1939 he showed up at the Hungarian National Pistol Shooting Championship. Other shooters approached Takacs to give him their condolences and to congratulate him on having the strength to come watch them shoot. They were surprised when he said, “I didn’t come to watch, I came to compete.” They were even more surprised when Takacs won!

The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled because of World War II. It looked like Takacs’ Olympic Dream would never have a chance to realize itself. But Takacs kept training and in 1944 he qualified for the London Olympics. At the age of 38, Takacs won the Gold Medal and set a new world record in pistol shooting. Four years later, Takacs won the Gold Medal again at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Takacs – a man with the mental toughness to bounce back from anything.

Winners in every field have a special trait that helps them become unstoppable. A special characteristic that allows them to survive major setbacks on the road to success. Winners recover QUICKLY. Bouncing back is not enough. Winners bounce back QUICKLY. They take their hit, they experience their setback, they have the wind taken out of their sails, but they immediately recover. Right away they FORCE themselves to look at the bright side of things – ANY bright side, and they say to themselves, “That’s OK. There is always a way. I will find a way.” They dust themselves off, and pick up where they left off.

The reason quick recovery is important is that if you recover quickly, you don’t lose your momentum and your drive. Takacs recovered in only one month. If he had wallowed in his misery, if he had stayed “under the circumstances,” if he had played the martyr, and felt sorry for himself much longer, he would have lost his mental edge – his “eye of the tiger” and he never would have been able to come back.

When a boxer gets knocked down, he has ten seconds to get back up. If he gets up in eleven seconds, he loses the fight. Remember that next time you get knocked down.

Takacs definitely had a right to feel sorry for himself. He had a right to stay depressed and to ask himself “Why me?” for the rest of his life. He had the right to act like a mediocre man.

Takacs could have let his terrible accident cause him to become permanently discouraged, to take up heavy drinking, to quit on life alltogether, and maybe even to end his own life. He could have acted like a loser.

But Takacs made the DECISION to dig deep inside and to find a solution. To pick himself up and to learn to shoot all over again. Winners always search for a solution. Losers always search for an escape.

Next time you get knocked down, DECIDE you will act like a winner. DECIDE to act like Takacs. Get up quickly, take action, and astound the world!

You Have More Choices than You Think

Most people go through life making decisions based on just a fraction of their available options. They hold themselves back because they allow circumstances or other people’s opinions limit their perceived choices.

My grandmother grew up in a very small town in Argentina where everyone thought they had only two career options: working at the dairy bottling factory, or working at the farm raising milk cows. Grandma was more adventurous. Rather than stay in her native town, Grandma took a chance, moved to a big city, married a restaurateur, and lived a much more interesting life than the rest of her family and friends who stayed in the dairy town all their life.

My dad was a chemical engineer in a small oil town. In 1968, when economic conditions started to worsen in Argentina, rather than stay there, he took a chance and moved with my mom, my brother, and I to the U.S. Leaving his friends and family in search for more opportunity was a risky and scary move, especially since he didn’t speak much English back then, but in the long run it really paid off.

The Jamaican bobsledders did the same thing. When they didn’t qualify for the Summer Olympics in track and field, they got creative. Deciding to take up the bobsled was sheer genius. They didn’t just take the road less traveled. They paved a new road where there had been no road before. Everyone who makes fun of them has no clue about what it really takes to succeed in life.

I’m amazed when people ask me how someone from hot and humid Houston can compete in the luge. It’s really pretty simple. I came to the realization that what city I live in has NOTHING to do with what sport I can compete in. When the first cold front hits Houston, I fly out to the luge tracks. The luge tracks have never come or will never come to me.

Start looking outside your immediate surroundings for ways to realize your dream. Don’t limit your options to what’s obvious. Get a little creative, take a chance, and do something different. Chase your dream. Your dream will not land on your lap. You have to go out and get it. When you start getting bold and unconventional, your life will become an adventure and you’ll be a lot more successful.

What’s Holding You Back?

Whether your dream is to lose weight, or to buy your dream home, or to double your income, or to learn the ins and outs of soccer so you can coach your daughter’s soccer team, you will find that there are things that hold you back.

Ninety five percent of people look at their obstacles and all they see is a reason why they can’t make their dream a reality. They look at the obstacle, get discouraged (they lose heart), and they quit. Winners look at the obstacles, get mad and then become determined to overcome them.

When I decided to take up the sport of luge and train for the Olympics four years away, I knew I had two major obstacles to overcome. Two things that HAD to happen or else I would be watching the Olympics on TV: first, I had to be ranked in the top 50 lugers in the world to qualify. In order for THAT to happen, I would only have only two luge seasons to learn how to slide, because the last two seasons I needed to race internationally to work on my world ranking.

Here’s the rub… since I was pioneering the sport of luge for my native Argentina, in order to race internationally, I had to get the Argentines to create an Argentine Luge Federation, and have that federation be recognized by both International Luge Federation and by the Argentine Olympic Committee. How do you do that when: one, you live in Houston, TX (10,000 miles away from Argentina), two, you have not lived in Argentina since you were 6 years old, three, you have absolutely no credibility since you are just now taking up the sport, and four, they could not care less about the luge because Argentina is a soccer-crazy nation?

If you really want to know, the rest of that story is in “The Courage to Succeed.” What’s more important than the rest of the story is how YOU can develop the mental toughness to look at an obstacle and become fired up and excited about the challenge ahead.

Many times all you have to do to overcome your roadblocks is to simply learn some new skills. Other times, you might have to refine some skills. You might have to enlist the help of other people. I did! Big time! You might have to create a team. Most of the time the roadblock is internal – lack of belief and doubt that you can pull it off.

The roadblocks are not a bad thing. They are simply road signs that tell you what you need to work on next. Where your focus needs to be. Your roadblocks help define what your goals need to be.

What’s keeping you from realizing your dreams? What’s the one thing that’s slowing down all your progress? Your job is to identify the roadblocks and focus all your energy on doing whatever it takes to remove them. Once you do that, your dreams will be there for the taking.

Become Outstanding

Have you ever worked really hard at something, only to reach your objective and then feel, “Is that all there is?”

Or have you ever done a good job at something only to get reprimanded?

Didn’t it make you feel like you had just wasted a lot of time and energy for nothing? Didn’t it make you feel…unmotivated?

I’m about to share an insight that will explain why that is and how to use that to become motivated to become outstanding.

Life does not reward people based on how well they perform a task or a project. Life has a skewed method of rewarding us. Whenever you do something just good, life punishes you. Whenever you do something very well, life only gives you a good reward. Whenever you do something extremely well, life gives you a very good reward.

But get this. Whenever you are the best, whenever you are absolutely outstanding, life rewards you disproportionately well. You get it all. You get all the rewards all the other people didn’t get.

Think about it. If you played street basketball, you were not rewarded much, heck, you were probably reprimanded by some people. If you played High School or College ball, you got some perks, but you had to make a much bigger commitment. If you play pro ball, your perks are much higher. But if you’re Michael Jordan, the world is yours.

Is it fair? I don’t know. What I do know is that whenever MJ was on the court, he was the most committed player on the court. He was willing to carry the rest of the team on his shoulders if he had to. He raised the bar on himself and he raised it for everybody else. MJ raised the standard in his sport. MJ was outstanding!

I love the Michael Jordans of the world. I love to watch them perform and I love what they do for me. They are a constant reminder that if I will raise the bar and dedicate my life to the pursuit or excellence, the rewards will be magnificent.

Decide to become the MJ of husbands and daddies. Or the MJ of wives and mommies. Or the MJ in your office or even of your field.

Raise the standard. Raise the bar…and enjoy the rewards.

Whatever It Takes!

Why do some people pursue their dreams while others bury their dreams?

It comes down to belief and desire. Whether you believe it’s possible, whether you believe YOU can do it, and whether you want the dream enough to do whatever it takes.

Let’s say you believe it’s possible and you think there’s a good chance you can pull it off … now, what steps do you need to take to make it happen?

Step number one is the willingness to take the risk. Many people are able but few are willing. You see, you always have to give something up in order to get something better. Most people are not willing to give anything up. They are not willing to make any sacrifices. They expect success to just fall on their lap.

That’s just not how life works. There’s no free lunch. Not only do you have to be willing to go for it, but you have to be willing to do whatever it takes.

Let’s break that last sentence down.

You have to be willing. Willing means that you are open minded. Open minded means you are not judgmental. It means not making any excuses. It means you are open to doing whatever might be required.

Whatever it takes is a level of commitment. Being committed means you have made a decision that you will continue to pursue your goal no matter what the consequences.

When you have a clear objective and are committed, you’ll naturally start doing the things that will move you towards your objective, and you’ll naturally stop doing the things that move you away from your objective.

When you have a dream you are willing to fight for, the process takes care of itself.

Whatever it takes is not just a level of commitment. It’s a HIGH level of commitment. And, believe it or not, it’s the lowest level of commitment that will guarantee that you will realize your dream.

Let me explain. If reaching your dream, whether it be to become financially free, or to buy a new car, or to be able to take your family to Disneyland for two weeks, or to get your PhD…no matter what your dream is, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes.

Here’s why. If realizing your dream involves 64 items, 64 things you have to do, you have to be willing to do all 64 of them. If you’re only willing to do 63 of them, but not #64, then #64 will be your undoing and you can kiss your dream goodbye.

It’s an attitude thing.

Life will seldom ask you to do all 64 things. But you don’t know which ones you’ll have to do, so you’d better be willing to do all 64. The “whatever it takes” attitude will help you do the required items so well that success will be assured.

The trick is to be willing to do whatever it takes with no guarantees of success. Only then is success possible.

How to Rebound from Setbacks

When I was 21 years old, I made a decision to take up the sport of luge and pursue my lifelong dream of competing in the Olympic Games.

Many people tried to discourage me. I was told that I was too old, that I would break bones, and that nine out of ten people who took up the luge quit along the way. 

Instead of getting discouraged, I got excited. You see, nine out of ten people quit everything. Nine out of ten people quit sales, they quit medical school, they quit on themselves, and worst of all, they quit on their dreams. I knew from the start that it would be a challenge, but as long as I didn’t quit, I would have a chance.

Four years and a few broken bones later I was competing in the Calgary Olympics. I went on to compete in the Albertville Olympics and in the Salt Lake City Olympics – at the age of 39!

You will experience challenges and setbacks on the way to your dream as well. That’s just part of the game. But if you want something badly enough, and you are willing to persevere, success is there for the taking. Success is a choice.

* Go All The Way

When you make a decision that quitting is not an option, before long you will be in the top 10% in your field because 90% of your competition will quit. Your motto needs to be, “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better, stronger and stronger, closer and closer to my dream!”

* Create a “Dream Team”

Ninety percent of success in determined by whom you associate with. Create a “Dream Team” of people who believe in you and will encourage you through tough times.

* Give Yourself a Pep Talk

It’s easy to get down when things are not going your way. After a bad luge run, sometimes I have to walk up and down the track for 20 minutes giving myself a pep talk. “I can do it, I’m going all the way, I will make it cause there’s always a way!” 

When you get down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and give yourself a pep talk. 

* Believe in Yourself and Learn from Your Mistakes

High achievers believe that they are destined to accomplish great things. They believe that the challenges they experience are there to teach them the lessons they need to learn in order to complete their “mission” in life. They believe there is no such thing as failure. They either get the desired outcome or else they learn something that will help them win in the future. By thinking this way, discouragement can’t get a foothold in their mind.

Most successful people fail their way to the top. You could say I crashed my way to the top! 

* Recover Quickly

When winners experience challenges, they don’t waste time whining. They keep their eyes on the dream, and then do whatever it takes to recover quickly so they will not lose their momentum. When a boxer gets knocked down, he has only 10 seconds to get back up. If he gets up in eleven seconds, he loses the fight. Remember that the next time you get knocked down.

Next time you get knocked down, decide you will act like a winner. Get up, take action, and make your dream a reality.

How to Condition Your Mind to Succeed

Top achievers in every field understand that words have the power to condition the mind to succeed or fail.    Whenever you say something, your mind tries to build a case for it. If you call yourself “stupid” the mind does a subconscious “Google search” on the word stupid and pulls up a list of every stupid thing you’ve ever done in your life. Armed with that list, you have the proof that you are stupid and you start acting that way. If you call yourself a winner, your mind pulls up all your winning moments. And you start acting like a winner.

In fact, if you are not getting the results you want out of life, it can probably be traced to your self talk. My friend Pete Hinojosa of www.APurposefulJourney.com, teaches people that “What you say to yourself will influence what you think. What you think influences what you do. What you do all the time becomes your habits and your habits determine your results and ultimately, your destiny.”

That’s why you have to be very careful with whom you associate. You don’t want to get any “second hand” negative talk from the people you hang around with.

At the Olympic Training Center, they will not tolerate anyone bad-mouthing themselves. They want to create an environment conducive to achieving peak performance; an atmosphere where success is in the air. If they catch you bad-mouthing yourself, it’s pushups time. Why do you think Olympic athletes are in such great shape?

Sometimes, even Olympic athletes forget to watch their self-talk. My worst luge crash ever was a result of negative self-talk.

One year before the Salt Lake City Olympics, we were in St. Moritz, Switzerland training for a world cup race. We were training in the morning and the Italians were training in the afternoon. At the time, the Italians were the best. So that afternoon, I went to the track to watch the Italians train. I wanted to see what lines they took down the track. I wanted to learn from the best.

I went to the fastest point of the track, curve thirteen. Watching the Italians rocket down the track at over eighty-five miles per hour was unbelievable. Every time an Italian luger went by I would mutter to myself, “I can’t believe I do that.” Another sled would barrel down the track and I’d say to myself, “I can’t believe I do that.” For two hours, I said it over and over.

Up to that day, I had not had any major problems at that track. I was just looking for a way to take my abilities to the next level.

The next day, on my first run, as I reached Curve thirteen, my mind reminded me, “That’s right, Ruben, you CAN’T DO THAT!” And I froze; forgot to steer and had a horrible crash.  I broke my foot, broke my hand, and totaled my sled. End of season.

That was the lowest point of my luge career. At that point I didn’t know if I would be able to go to the Olympics. I was hurt, I could not afford another sled, and it was all because a couple of hours of negative self-talk.

I had a pity party for a couple of days but eventually, flying back home from Europe, halfway over the Atlantic, I got my head straight. I took a piece of paper and wrote, “This has been the worst year of my life; the most stressful and frustrating. I am being tested. I will pass the test. I have an opportunity to make an incredible comeback and show what I’m made up of.” Then, I started saying to myself, “There is always a way. There is always a way. There is always a way. I will find a way, because there is always a way.”

Repeating the phrase, “There is always a way,” over and over, when you are facing obstacles, puts your mind in a solution-finding state. It helps you shift your focus away from the problem and into finding a solution. 

And I did find a solution. I could not afford to buy another sled, but maybe I could borrow a sled. I started calling some of my best luge buddies and my good friend Adam Cook of the New Zealand Luge Team, loaned me his sled to qualify and race in the Salt Lake Olympics.

Watch what you say to yourself, and remember, there is always a way.