Hero Homework #10

Paratus Pro Quisquam

The thing that keeps most people from taking action when it’s time to take action is that they have no expectation of success.  Without that expectation of success, they have only fears of failure, injury and embarrassment.

A hero, at the moment of action, has an expectation of success, can imagine it, visualize it.             I think you can cultivate that, cultivate a can-do state of mind. Most people find excuses for failure. A hero finds reasons to succeed.

Nothing breeds success like success. That is, success brings an expectation of success.  Good boxing trainers know this well. The bring a novice fighter along slowly matching him (or her!) against less challenging opponents first to build up the fighter’s confidence, the fighter’s “expectation of success.” Only then does the trainer progressively include more challenging opponents.

When Muhammad Ali declared “I am the greatest!” he wasn’t saying that for the public, or for his opponents. He was planting that belief  and reaffirming it in his own mind. In addition to being the GOAT, Ali was a natural sport psychologist.

How does one develop a can-do attitude, or what I sometimes call a “superior will?”

That’s easy. Establish a history of success.

Here’s how:

Start with something easy.  Do 50 push-ups. J    Start with one on day one. On day two, do 2. On day 3 do three, and so on for 50 days.

Or  meditate for 5 minutes every day for 21 days.

Or fast for 24 hours.

Or…well, it doesn’t really matter what it is you choose. The point is, you SAY you’re going to DO something, and you DO IT.  No matter what. No exceptions, no excuses.  The most important thing you have is your word, and you should always keep your word – especially to yourself.

Then try something you’ve never done before. Learn another language. Learn to play a musical instrument. Write a sonnet. Bake a cake. Build a coffee table. Fix an engine. Learn a magic trick.

The more things you do, the more you will realize that there’s really nothing you can’t do, if you set your mind to it. You begin to expect success.

Your next hero workout:

Make a promise to yourself and keep it. DO what you SAY you’re going to do. Challenge yourself, and meet that challenge. Then do it again with another challenge, a little harder one. Create for yourself an expectation of success. 

Do it. We need every hero we can get.

-aac

IMPOSSIBLE IS JUST AN OPINION.

– Muhammad Ali