Month: January 2009

 

 

 

Roger Bannister has me all excited this morning.  I don’t know why, maybe it’s the promise of possibility, of hope that limiting beliefs exist only to be shattered. I realize that everything I need to know to succeed now, I knew as a toddler – I just let limiting beliefs get in the way.   That happens to all of us.  It’s part of life.

It really doesn’t matter how those limiting beliefs, those thoughts that keep holding us back got between our ears.   I mean that – it doesn’t matter.   Let that sink in.

What does matter?

That we let them go, that we replace them with new, positive energizing thoughts.   Have you heard this before?

Hell, yeah.  

But, let me ask ya, what have you done with that knowledge?  Have you stepped out of your comfort zone and expanded it to new possibilities of what you’re capable of?  

But, don’t take it from me.  Let Roger inspire you too today.

The 1500m final on 26 July would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history. The race was not decided until the final meters, Josy Barthel of Luxembourg prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record. Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process. So…

Bannister sets a new goal

After the devastation of his failure at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister spent two months deciding whether to give up running. He decided on a new goal: To be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Accordingly, he intensified his training.

History was made on 6 May 1954 at Iffley Road Track in Oxford.  3,000 watched Roger Bannister do what no man thought possible – run the mile in 3 min 59.4 

What are your 4 minute miles?  What do you think impossible?  Which of those do you really want to achieve?  

Then “pull a Roger”.  Set the goal, take action by plugging away at achieving it every day.  Better your best.  Believe and see yourself doing it.  

Some days the wind will be at your back and somedays you’ll feel like you’re running into a headwind.  But, with persistence and belief –

Magic.

I call this the happiness paradox because it’s my blog and I can.

We want to be happy and yet if we’re too happy and content there’s the danger that it will be BORING!

WTF?

Well, here’s my baseball analogy.  On October 27, 2004 in the wee hours of the morning I was jumping up and down with my son yelling and screaming because the Boston Red Sox reversed the 86 year old Curse of the Bambino and won the World Series.  Hell, they didn’t just win it, they swept the Cardinals, actually, not only did they sweep the Cards, but the Cards never even had the lead in one of the 4 games.  And that was the problem.

I hate to admit that I was a bit bored because the team played so well.   But there it is.  The Happiness Paradox.  We want to be happy and we want things to go well, but if success comes too easily.  Well, I believe that it has less meaning.   As much as we want success, we crave the drama, the uncertainty, the suspense.   It’s that adrenaline rush from tension to relief that we crave.  Or do we?

Hmmm.

This has been a lifelong struggle for me that I am finally getting under control.  I am learning to be happy in the moment.  It’s not easy and to be honest there aren’t those dramatic high/low swings – and I was afraid that I would miss them.  And, I do, from time to time.

So, I slip back into experiencing something that will give me that uncertainty, that thrill of the chase.  But, the outcome isn’t always good and I really don’t enjoy it when things don’t go the way I had hoped.

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I was invited to attend a direct sales conference yesterday where Michael Port presented key elements of his  Book Yourself Solid System.  Michael is one of those people that “does it”.  He not only teaches the system – he uses it to create massive success in his business.  And, when he’s teaching it, you can feel the energy, you can feel the passion and you can see and hear it in his voice.   He is fully self-expressed and you can tell he really wants the audience to “get’ what he’s teaching.  He’s not just there to talk and collect a check and get his butt back home.

During his presentation he said something I needed to hear, and that was this.  That even he, as successful as he is, isn’t “on his game” 100% of the time.  There are times when he just wants to chill or has doubts, that’s normal, he reminded us.   After all, we are human and humans can’t maintain that high level of thought, vibration, whatever you want to call it every second, every moment.  But,

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