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!

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.

Probabilities and Possibilities

I finish my speeches by saying, “What are the chances that someone like me was going to make it to the Olympics? I wasn’t a great athlete, I didn’t get started until I was 21 years old, and to top it off I live in hot and humid Houston and I chose to compete in the luge for Pete’s sake! What are the chances? One in a million? One in ten million? I probably had a better chance to win the lottery!”

“I was just an ordinary kid with an extraordinary dream. I wasn’t a big shot. I was just a little shot that kept on shooting. And that’s something you can do too. If you make a decision to become a little shot who keeps on shooting, the world is yours.”

Believe it or not, the secret to creating an extraordinary life is right in those words.

Most people look at their dreams and start calculating the odds of them ever happening. They can tell you the probabilities and that number keeps them from even getting started.

They don’t understand that the probability at any one time has nothing to do with success. Because if you don’t even get started, the probability of success is zero, zilch, nada.

They don’t realize that they can change the probabilities.

Every time you take action in the pursuit of your dream, you’re increasing the probabilities of reaching it. It’s all up to you. You have control over the probabilities.

Once you buy into that, it’s easier to make a decision to take massive action.  Understanding that makes it easier to commit to your dream. Once you commit to your dream, burn the bridges, and make a decision to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes, the probability of success increases dramatically. Why? Because 99% of the people will NEVER do whatever it takes!

When I called the people in Lake Placid to ask for help in getting started in the luge, the guy on the phone laughed at me. He said I was way too old to get started. He said, “If you want to do it at your age and in only four years it will be brutal. Nine out of ten people quit!” When I heard that, I got excited. I got excited because I could see the opportunity. And I simply decided that quitting would not be an option for me.

Once I made that decision, all I had to do was to outlast everyone else! The guy on the phone saw my probability as one out of ten. But I saw it as 100% (as long as I was willing to outlast everyone else). Four years and a few broken bones later, I was competing in the Olympics (it wasn’t quite that simple, but focusing on the possibility got me to do what I needed to do to become an Olympian).

Stop focusing on the probabilities. Focus on the possibility. Ask yourself, “What is my dream? Is it a dream that takes my breath away? Is it something that excites me and gives meaning to my life?” And if it is, ask yourself, “If it is possible, then why not me?”

Don’t focus on the probabilities. Focusing on the probabilities will kill your confidence. Once you lose your confidence, it’s easy to quit. And stop hanging around people that talk about being realistic. Realistic people are mediocre. They live lukewarm lives and NEVER do ANYTHING with their lives.

Start hanging around winners. Hang around achievers. I have NEVER heard a real winner talk about being realistic. Realistic stinks! Think about three people you truly admire. I guarantee you that they did not get where they are by being realistic!

Focus on your dream, listen to your gut feeling, and follow your heart wholeheartedly. Ask yourself, “Why not me? Why not now?” and, “What can I do right now to get me closer to my dream?”

When you ask yourself the right questions, focus on the possibilities, and hang around like-minded people, your confidence will soar and you’ll be on the road to realizing your dream.  

Do that, and at the end of your life you will be able to look back and say, “I lived a magnificent life!”

The Power of a Mentor

Have you ever had someone tell you that you were destined to do great things in life? Did you buy into their belief in you? Sometimes we have to rely on someone else’s belief until our own belief kicks in.

When Bob Mathias was young, he was an anemic, sickly kid. His love for sports drove him to get involved in track and field in high school. Over time Bob developed into a solid all around athlete but he was not national level in any one event.

Four months before the 1948 Olympic Games his track coach Virgil Thomas believed in Bob so much that he told him, “Bob, you have four years. If you got started right away, you could possibly make the 1952 Olympics in the decathlon.”

Coach Thomas’ belief in Mathias was incredible because Mathias had never run the 1500 meters, he had never pole-vaulted, he’d never thrown a javelin, and he had never even heard of the decathlon. To top it off, Mathias was only 17 years old!

Coach Thomas belief was so strong, that Mathias bought into it and started training right away. One month after he started training, Mathias competed in his first decathlon. Incredibly, he won first place! Two weeks later he entered the U.S. Decathlon National Championship. He won again! Six weeks later, he was competing in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games. He had beaten his coach’s prediction by four years!

Now Mathias was competing against much older and seasoned decathletes. The best in the world. Mathias amazed the world by becoming the youngest Decathlon Olympic Champion at the age of 17!

Mathias went on to win his second Olympic Decathlon in 1952. None of this would have been possible if his coach, his mentor, had not seen his greatness, believed in him, and encouraged him to pursue his dream.

When somebody compliments you, they have just seen a glimpse of your greatness. They have seen something about you that sticks out like a sore thumb. But it’s so natural to you that you discount it.

Next time someone compliments you, thank them, and start using your outstanding gift to reach your dream. Surround yourself with winners, find a mentor who believes in you, and win the Olympic Gold in your personal and professional life!

Don’t Second-Guess Yourself

 

It’s easy to look back and see where you might have done something differently. As long as you are looking for ways to improve your performance, it’s OK to look back. But don’t waste time second-guessing yourself. Your past results are based on your past experience. If things don’t work out, use your new experience to get better results next time.

At the end of every luge run we pick up a walkie-talkie and get feedback from Coach. The feedback is rarely fun to listen to but it’s hugely important. In a few seconds Coach tells us how we can be faster next time. And in the evening after dinner, we watch videos of our runs to see for ourselves what we did and how we can improve.

We don’t dwell on our mistakes. We look to the future and have a plan for the future. That’s how you can have constant improvement.

Success is Pretty Simple…

 

It all comes to finding an arena you’re suited to play in. That’s fancy talk for finding something you’re good at. Something that fits you. Shacquille O’Neil is a great athlete but he’d make a lousy horse jockey.

Once you find your arena, you have to have the courage to jump in. To take action. To risk looking like a fool.

The courage to take action comes from believing that your dream is possible. Most of that you’ll be learning in this blog will be how to get yourself to believe that you are capable of realizing your dream. Once you believe, taking action is easy.

Once you get started, I guarantee that you will encounter obstacles. So you will need the courage to endure, to not quit. As long as you don’t quit you’ve still got a chance to win.

The courage to persevere comes from your desire. How bad you want something will determine what makes you quit. I’ll teach you some techniques Olympic athletes use to fuel their desire.

Finally, you have to have a winning attitude. You need to have the attitude that you are willing to do whatever it take for as long as it takes.

Success is simple but it’s not easy. It takes mental toughness. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this blog. How to become so mentally tough that you are like a guided missle that has it’s coordinates and will not miss.

Stay tuned…

The Courage to Succeed

Dad always said to me, “If you read about the lives of people you admire, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t work in life because success leaves clues.”

That was some of the best advice I’ve ever had. Over the years I’ve read hundreds of biographies, always looking for clues that would help me achieve my dreams and ambitions. Along the way I learned that successful people think differently. They have conditioned their minds to always focus on the possibilities instead of on the obstacles.

Successful people think big and then they make some very wise choices. Because when it comes down to it, success is a chioce.

Winners have two types of courage. The courage to take action and the courage to endure – to persevere.

You can learn how to think and how to act like successful people do. Once you start thinking big, you’ll start succeeding big and that’s what I want to help you do with this blog.

Once you start winning battles on the way to your dream do me a favor. Shoot me an email and share your victories with me. Your victories will fuel my victories because a rising tide raises ALL ships.