by Vishnu | Aug 5, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation, Personal Development
All it took was Corn Flakes and 17 years of practice! (Credit: Scott Halleran/Getty Images for Kelloggs)
You’re standing up on that Olympic podium grinning like the champion you are.
Blowing kisses to your family, striking a pose for photographers and even texting the President of the United States.
“You killed it, son” he texts.
“Thanks for the support B. Great to see Michelle in the stands!” you text back.
As the national anthem starts playing, you couldn’t be prouder of your Olympic gold-medal. You worked your entire life for this moment and are now being recognized with 6 grams of gold and an offer to be on the cover of a Corn Flakes box.
10 gold-medal winning strategies for your life
You don’t have to be an gold-medal winning Olympian like Ryan Lochte or Missy Franklin to win the game of life. This is especially relevant if you have no idea how to swim the butterfly, get on a pommel horse or have any other skill that will land you in the Olympic games.
Here are 10 observations that I made about these Olympians that we all can start implementing in our own lives today:
1. Have a strategy. Olympians, especially gold-medal winning ones don’t show up for the big day without a plan. They’ve got a strategy to win the day and the gold; almost every move is examined, discussed and planned ahead prior to game day.
You need a strategy as well to win at life. When setting goals or pursuing dreams, have a plan of where you’re going. Get friends, experts and advisors help you plan the journey so you know where you’re going and have the best strategy to get you there. If you don’t have a strategy, you may never get to your destination.
2. Play as a team. Olympians play as a team and credit their supporting cast for their success. And no, it’s not just in the team competitions. Even in individual competitions like swimming or running, there’s a whole cast of teammates, coaches, family members and others who are part of the athlete’s team.
Have a team in your own life – a close network of people who support you. Actively bring together, seek the counsel of and ask your supporting team for ideas, strategies and improvements to help you live a better life. Those that are negative towards your or don’t support you should be kept at bay.
3. Keep pushing forward. Even after a tough loss in the pool or losing a basketball match in the early rounds, Olympians look ahead.
When Michael Phelps got out of the water after his first competition in the 400 IM, coming in fourth place, he told the irritating NBC reporter that he was off to a bad start with this race but wanted to put the race behind him and focus on the other races coming up.
You can’t simmer on your losses. When things go wrong, horribly wrong sometimes, you have regroup, reflect a bit on what went wrong and then forge ahead. On your path to a dream or goal, momentary defeats and losses are bound to happen. You have to keep your eye on the prize and move forward despite setbacks that may get in your way.
4. Go for the gold. Winning Olympians come into the games to win gold.
Several times, we’ve seen Olympic athletes disappointed, even unfairly devastated, for snagging a silver medal. This only means one thing – they came in looking for the top prize.
It’s good to have your eyes set on winning “the” prize. Don’t settle for second best – go for the gold. Having said that, do keep the next strategy in mind too.
5. Do your best. You can’t be the best every time. Sometimes, you’re going to lose. Ryan Lochte loses. Michael Phelps loses. Missy Franklin loses. Gabby Douglas…well, ok fine.
But many world-class athletes lose even when they are pursuing gold. You can go in desiring to win the game or top the competition but all you can be expected to do at the end of the day is to do your best.
If you do your best and live up to your potential, most of the times you win.
But not always. Be prepared to accept that your best may not always win the day and that’s ok!
6. Go hard until the end. Have you seen how many games, races or matches have gone down to the wire? I mean, even the U.S. men’s basketball team recently just won a game by a mere 5 points against Lithuania! Which means they could have lost if they didn’t play their heart’s out for the last few minutes of the game.
You have to be persistent and determined and not just sporadically. Sometimes when the going gets tough, you must buckle down and push through even harder to accomplish your goals. It’s usually when you push through the most difficult part of the journey that you’ll break through.
When you feel like giving up, don’t! Go strong until the end.
7. Be prepared. Not only do those Boy Scouts love to be prepared but Olympians and world-class performers in any sport or venture arrive with copious preparation.
Olympians put in thousands of hours for a one minute or one hour activity, depending on their sport. Imagine spending thousands upon thousands of hours to win the hundred meter dash which is less than a 10 second race.
If you’re pursuing a goal or dream in life, or trying to become better in your profession or passion, you must be prepared. Preparation means practice, perfecting your craft and dedication when you might want to give up.
Many times, the difference in winning is the person who showed up most prepared.
8. Don’t listen to the chatter. Many Olympians have an ability to tune out the chatter from analysts, sportscaster and the tabloids. While the news media and gossip-mongers are dissecting the lives and capabilities of the athletes, the athletes themselves have tuned out from all the chatter out there.
If you’re going to succeed, you have to be open to valid criticism and ideas for improvement from your inner circle. But you absolutely cannot listen to the haters, doubters and detractors in your life. You may not have paparazzi and the news media but your rumor-spreading, gossip-mongering friends and relatives need to stay out of your life.
Even if you can’t keep them out of your life, do your best to keep their inappropriate comments and criticisms at a distance.
9. Focus on your game. Olympians are 100% focused on their own game. In the individual events especially, they don’t appear to be competing against the competition. They go in focusing on what they need to do to win. They understand their strengths and weaknesses and have a strategy to do their best.
You cannot be bothered what the competition is doing. Sure, you can occasionally glance at the progress of your competitors in life but more often than not, it’s not going to be helpful. It might make you feel worse, dis-empowered or like you’re falling behind. No need to keep up with your peers; focus on your game.
10. Enjoy and be grateful. Why do Olympians look like they are having the time of their lives?
More than once, I’ve heard an Olympian say they’re going to go out there and have fun.
Have fun during one of the most high-pressure, gut-wrenching circumstances in their lives??
Apparently so. You need to enjoy the experience or the journey on your way to the destination. Only when you appreciate and enjoy the struggle to get through a crocodile-filled river can you truly enjoy the safety of having made it across.
When you’re enjoying yourself, you’re more relaxed and focused on achieving your goals. Remind yourself why you started on the journey in the first place and to slow down and enjoy the process.
Athletes are also always grateful for their accomplishments and thank their coach, their Mom, God and everyone in between. They know their efforts were their own but it took a village to make them into the gold-medal winning Olympian they are today.
Don’t forget to regularly show gratitude to those who are helping you achieve your goals and supporting your endeavors. Without them, you wouldn’t be as far along on your path as you are.
Do you agree with these life lessons I’ve picked up from the Olympians? Which ones resonate with you? What have I forgotten? Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
If you have .03 seconds, email this post to people who send you spam:) Or just share on Facebook, Twitter, Google+
by Vishnu | Jul 24, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation, Personal Development
Bro, I think we've had enough of your Spanish here.
In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. Anthony J. D’Angelo.
Let’s say you’re trying to learn the Argentinian tango or trying to get your book published.
Imagine trying to become a world-famous Chef like Julia Childs. Or even Julie Powell for that matter, who spent everyday of a full year cooking up one of Julia Childs’s recipes.
Or pretend you’re on the run from the authorities and need to spend a few months in the Central Americas, let’s say Nicaragua for now, and are trying to learn Spanish.
How do you do something you’ve never done before and excel?
How do you get good at something? What’s the language for success?
As you know, I’m in the spiritually buzzing city of Granada, Nicaragua, learning Spanish. I took 4 years of high school Spanish but like my French, oh, I’ve never learnt or spoken a word of French in my life!), my Spanish had become rusty. When I snuck into Nicaragua this past month, however, I’ve only spoken Spanish at home, at school, church, and to people on the street.
In fact, here I am with the Spanish school director (who refuses to publicly acknowledge I’m a student of the school):
Don't ever tell anyone you studied here.
The student who wouldn’t speak Spanish.
At Spanish school, I met a fellow-student who had visited Nicaragua several times now but she still didn’t speak Spanish much. She’s understood everything people were saying to her but usually did not respond. I probed her a little bit trying to inquire why she didn’t want to speak the language.
She said that she didn’t want to look bad by speaking it wrong. She wanted to speak it perfectly, so would continue to think about each word and sentence and perfect conjugation before saying what she wanted to say.
I, on the other hand, was told by my Spanish teacher on the first day of class that I speak Spanish like a ‘directionless bird’ – without any reference to tenses, time or proper conjugation. I’m not trying to brag in any way here about my bird-like ability to speak Spanish but I have and continue to reach a level of proficiency that I can get my basic point across (no matter how bad it comes out) and carry on a conversation.
That’s when I realized the successful ingredient to speaking Spanish or being successful in anything in life.
1. The language to success is learnt by failure.
Instead of hiding from the language or something new, the best way to master it is to attack it. You have to jump in there and get your hands dirty (if cooking), your feet dirty (if playing soccer) or your mouth dirty when speaking Spanish (You know what I mean!).
You must persist in pursuing a new skill or habit you desire to master, and be prepared to do it wrongly, incorrectly and so bad that you’ll be laughed at!
2. Cuddle with AND embrace failure. And no I’m not suggesting you go to bed with that loser ex of yours:) Not only is it a good idea to fail and fail often but also FAIL BIG. Because the more you fail, the more you’re learning. Most people don’t like the idea of failing because they look bad or feel embarrassed. But the flip side of never failing is never learning and never growing.
If you’re trying to learn a new course, a new language, mastering becoming a ninja, trying to become a yoga instructor, then go out and fail. It’s the same way when we were learning to ride a bike or mastered our handwriting as kids. We didn’t just come out on the first time and excel at it. We continued to mess up, look bad, feel horrible, had our parents yell at our incompetence before we figured it out and mastered it.
3. Treat your failures as your building blocks to success. When you do fail and do fail big, treat those failures as the vault of your future success.
People think the more you fail, the more of a loser you are. What if instead, the more you fail means that the more you know how not to fail in the future. And if you fail a lot now then you can’t help but being successful at the skill you desire to master, the habit you desire to have or the business you desire to build.
So, I’m not going to tell you to go out and pursue success. No, my friend, I’ve learnt that the language to success is failing big and often. Falling flat on your face is a good thing.
My Spanish teachers hate me and are trying to ban me from coming back to the school because I speak the language horribly but I’m speaking it everyday, conversing with people and getting better.
The other day, I told the woman who tried to sell me a wallet that I wanted a $10 cordoba ($.50 US) discount because I didn’t want a plastic bag for the wallet. No, she didn’t give me a discount and no I didn’t buy the wallet but we both conversed without the dialogue turning too violent or her ripping me off.
Go on now – go FAIL at something. Keep failing your way to success.
Do you agree about failing being the recipe for success? Do you love to fail or do you embrace failing like a shark in an aquarium?
P.S. Can you do me a favor and share this article with the patrons at the pub you’re reading this post at? Or via social media, if easier. Cheers!
by Vishnu | Jun 24, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation
Are you shaking things up?
“If you could pick one rule to experience amazing things, I suggest: If it feels uncomfortable then you’re doing something right. When you’re uncomfortable, you’re growing.” Scott Dinsmore
Are you living a comfortable life?
A life that’s within your comfort zone? A life without much variety or challenge?
Is life becoming boring, monotonous and preventing you from growing further.
Why shake up your life?
I wrote my last post on why to shake up your life on purpose and encouraged you to get out of your comfort zone and take more risks. To take on more challenges and try more uncomfortable things.
One reason I suggested to purposefully shake up your life is to help you embrace the impermanent nature of things and changes that life brings your way.
In addition to embracing change, shaking up your life can inspire further self-development and growth. As my friend Adrienne says, having an adventure allows us to discover more about the world, each other, and ourselves.
As Live Off Your Passion author, Scott Dinsmore, says, “It takes courage to try new things. It takes courage to blaze your own trail.The crowd lives in comfort. An extraordinary life thrives in testing the limit.”
Shaking up your life and getting out of your comfort zone can also be fun, exciting and challenging all at the same time.
5 ways to live a life shaken, not stirred. How to take action and challenge yourself.
1. Determine why you want to shake up your life.
You can shake up your life due to simple boredom and blandness.
You can also do it to challenge yourself, overcome a fear, take on new challenges and grow as a person.
For example, you may be terrified of traveling alone and being uncomfortable outside of the city you live in and the language you know. So travel to overcome your fear.
You may be a terrible dancer because yo were never taught. Take lessons to show yourself you can improve and master a skill.
You hate writing because it requires you to express yourself. Start blogging so you can overcome your reservations.
Don’t have a midlife crisis or go jumping out of airplanes for no reason. Know why you’re shaking things up in your life.
2. Choose activities outside your comfort zone.
The idea here is to challenge yourself and grow as a person.
If you do activities that you’re already doing, you’re not giving yourself the opportunity to grow and develop.
If you love meeting people, you’re not challenging yourself by ‘forcing’ yourself to the company party.
If you practice silence every day of your life because of monastery rules, being silent out in public is no big deal.
If you think about an activity and it makes you feel uncertain, anxious, fearful or uncomfortable, that’s the activity you should pursue.
As Ali Luke suggests, the question to ask yourself is, “what makes you nervous” in life? Those are the things to do in order to test your comfort level and challenge yourself.
3. Do your research.
I decided to leave a comfortable job, friends and a place I was becoming comfortable with. A year before I did so, I started doing research.
I found out how much it would take financially to take a work “sabbatical”. I calculated how much it would take to live in different parts of Central and South America. I researched the various countries I was going to travel to and prioritized them
With the power of the internet, you can research anything today. No matter what it is. From starting an online bookstore to selling tea online, to traveling the world or pursuing an acting dream. There are bloggers, writers, and experts in the field showing you how to do what you want to do. Find out how much things cost, and evaluate the pros and cons before you shake up your life.
4. Plan ahead.
Before you leave for an around the world journey or try to become enlightened or launch your music career, have a plan.
Just like doing your research, a plan is important for your journey to shake up your life. If you don’t have a general idea of where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, you’re not going to get very far.
Figure out how many months or years you’re going to pursue your project or passion. Figure out how you’re going to get around and what kind of transport you’ll use.
If you’re going to need the support of friends and family, know when and who to ask.
If you’re going to move to become a ninja, you have to figure out how to save up to get to Japan, find a dojo and master you skill.
If you’re going to start a web design freelance business by returning to the motherland, the Philippines of course, have a plan on how you’re going to deal with the challenges of moving back and working there.
For me, it took planning but that’s why I can now share these Nicaraguan pics with you:)
A view of the city of Granada
A fountain in a lovely garden.
Colorful streets of Granada, Nicaragua
5. Evaluate your progress.
Once you start your journey to shake up your life, evaluate your progress regularly. If you set out to overcome a fear or grow as a person, check in and see how you’re doing.
Are you getting more comfortable in your adventure or less?
If you’ve nailed it and successfully become the person you wanted to be or overcame the obstacle you were facing, maybe it’s time to shake up some of the other areas in your life.
Consciously monitor the progress of your new activities and see if it’s making an improvement in your life and helping you become the person you’d like to be.
If you are the new ‘you’, great! If you’re not and you’re spending a lot of time on it, it could be time to move on.
Here are a few folks I know who have shaken up their lives in different ways:
♦ Janet quit her job and move to the Philippines to start her own online freelance business.
♦ Amy is a personal trainer who regularly challenges her clients to get out of their comfort zone with working out and life.
♦ Wendy Irene strives to live a life of wellness and took on the Gunnar challenge, witth her husband, to lose weight.
♦Irving, or the wise Vizier, has embraced change in his life and blogs about the many lessons life’s taught him on his blog, Han of Harmony.
♦ Penelope left the city, married a farmer and is raising two kids on a farm, while writing, blogging and helping young professionals manage their careers.
♦ Milo, Therese and Izzy quit their jobs. Milo is now an international man of copy and is trying to dominate the world . Therese helps you get unlost in life so you find your career path and Izzy is going to become a ninja. (laugh at your own peril here)
♦ Lori runs an engaging community blog and made a leap to publish her own e-book on kindle without going through traditional publishing channels.
♦ Keith started his own blog recently and is about to break some habits. (and takes us along for the ride)
♦ Caroline, Meg, David & Maria are each shaking it up by traveling, taking on life and blogging about it.
♦ Razwana has made a couple major job changes to London, then Paris and started a blog to help others find their ideal jobs.
Have you shaken up your life by doing something new, challenging or different? Please share your experiences in the comments below and what steps you took to shake things up.
by Vishnu | Jun 2, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation, Personal Development
A cow traffic jam can ruin your morning.
A rush hour traffic jam.
Traffic jams and accidents in the pueblo, or village, take on a life of their own.
Earlier this week, I traveled from the Costa Rican pueblo I’m living in for the summer, Biolley, to another nearby pueblo, Las Tablas. We went in my friend’s truck to pick up a student volunteer who was joining us at the farm for a couple of weeks.
It was a typical morning in Costa Rica; heavenly! The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the greenery was as vibrant as ever. We even left 2 hours early for the 30 minute ride down to the Las Tablas bus stop, trying to capture the beauty of this region with our cameras.
As we drove down the last winding turn towards a straight road that would take us into Las Tablas, we approached a trailer full of cows sitting in the middle of the bridge! (see photo above) The trailer could not make it up the small uphill climb because of the weight of the cows.
Indiana Jones to the rescue.
Since the trailer was stuck in the middle of the narrow bridge, cars couldn’t travel either way. 8 am in the morning, a trailer full of cows in the middle of the road, traffic stopped on both sides, what would you do if you got stuck on this traffic jam?
Exactly. Stop the engine, get out of your car and chit chat with all your neighbors from the village who you hadn’t seen in weeks. As we commiserated and tried to find the humor in this situation, we realized our cell phones didn’t have reception in the area to make calls or communicate with anyone.
At that point, we didn’t know how many kilometers away the actual bus stop was and it was nearing 8:30 a.m, the time the student volunteer was to arrive. As we looked out into the sea of cows stomping with restlessness in the trailer, a frustrated driver who couldn’t figure out how to move his heavy trailer, and no cell phone reception, I volunteered to do the only thing I could do in that situation.
Walk across the bridge to the bus stop.
My Indiana Jones-like tactics required I tip toe without falling into the river behind me and without getting a kiss from the agitated cows whose faces were literally a couple inches away from mine.
I had to walk past the entire trailer, clutching onto the rails with my life, to get over to the other side of the bridge. Once I made it across, I started to walk towards the bus stop. I commenced my long and treacherous uphill journey, uncertain of how many kilometers away the actual bus stop was located.
When you move forward past the initial road blocks, the obstacles seem to disappear.
I made it past the cow-filled trailer and began to walk towards the bus stop.
To my relief, the bus stop was only 1.5 km from the derailed cow trailer. I reached the bus stop exactly as the bus arrived. The student volunteer and I started walking back to our friend’s truck.
A local merchant in a van pulled over and offered us a ride back to the bridge. He rolled his eyes at us when we tried to explain to him a trailer full of cows had broken down back at the bridge. He drove us back to the bridge, where we jumped out and trekked back across the bridge, holding onto the rails with our lives.
Without falling in the ditch again or exchanging kisses with the cows, we got back to the other side of the bridge. Our friend was able to make a u-turn with her truck and we headed back home to the farm.
What does a broken down cow-filled trailer have to do with life? Well, if you confront an angry-cow filled trailer traffic jam, you have 2 choices. You can sit there and wait it out or try to move forward despite the obstacles.
All I did was decide to cross the bridge to walk to the bus stop.
From there, I found that it was just a short distance to the bus stop. The bus also arrived exactly when I did. A local merchant gave us a ride back and we were able to head back home a lot sooner than if we had sat in the traffic jam until the driver had figured out the physics of moving his cow-filled trailer.
When facing obstacles and challenges, you just have to move forward. While I could have ended up kissing a cow or falling into a river, I didn’t. And once I showed the situation I was willing to take a smooch from my four-legged friends, the other obstacles just disappeared right in front of me.
What about you? What do you do when facing a trailer full of cows? How about other life obstacles? Have you noticed that obstacles tend to fall away when you take them on? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
A couple other photos of the scenery that morning.
Costa Rican scenery
River from afar
Another couple of cows (not in the trailer)
by Vishnu | May 28, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation, Personal Development
This train's on Indian time. What's your excuse mate?
Ahhh…you’re back for more, eh?
What’s happened since we last spoke about delay and resistance? Did you start that blog? Kick off that business? Fire your stockbroker? Un-friend the deadbeat “friends” on Facebook?
To those of you who simply say, “screw it, I’m just not going to do it right now no matter what my attorney or Vishnu says”, you’ve embraced resistance and procrastination in your life. The bigger problem is for everyone else who’s in denial about resistance.
The language of resistance.
Resistance is putting things off in your life which you need to be doing but are not, for some strong underlying reason. It’s why you don’t take the garbage out until 4:59 a.m. (1 minute before pick-up time), why you never go to your in-laws house for dinner and why you keep library books with you until you receive an ‘intent to sue’ letter from the library. It’s why you don’t go to the dentist, why you stopped going to church and why you’ll never go on a diet.
The problem with resisting action is that it’s easy to overlook the language we use to delay. We can be incredibly creative in putting off tasks. Language is one cue that can help show us how clever we are when resisting action.
While the examples I share below may be over the top, the 21 trigger phrases I suggest (they’re italicized and underlined) are phrases we may be using regularly to resist action.
Which of these phrases have you said to yourself lately?
1. I really should become an A-list actor and do a movie with Brad Pitt. (My friend, Amy, just wrote about why you need to stop ‘should-ing’ your life away.)
2. I need to give up my Wall Street job and save children in Sudan.
3. If I had enough time, I would start a business that would allow people to post photos of their faces online and then create a social media platform where they can connect with each other based on shared likes and interests.
4. If I was a millionaire, I’d hire Tim Brownson to move into my guest house and be my life coach and spiritual advisor.
5. If I only could wake up in the mornings meditate, I could find inner peace and reach enlightenment by the end of the year.
6. I could run a triathlon if I really wanted; I’d do 3 a year and probably set some world records.
7. I’d like to travel to France, climb the Eiffel tower, walk over to the Pierce Brosnan-looking businessman staring out into the streets of Paris and tell him that we were destined to be with each other.
8. If God had wanted it, I’d have a house golf-course side in Palm Springs too.
9. When I meet the right agent, publisher and editor, I should be able to start writing my New York Times best seller.
10. If I had gone to school for that, I would have probably dropped out of Harvard and started Microsoft in a garage.
11. Once the housing market rebounds, I’m going to save up a little bit of money to buy a couple rental properties in the Florida Keys.
12. I need to stop working until 9 p.m every night and see my 2 year-old twins a couple nights a week.
13. One day, I’m going to start eating vegetables, lose 100 pounds and audition to be the guy who replaces Jared on those Subway commercials.
14. I love the idea of going into work at the post office, telling my boss to ‘stuff it’ and start that around the world overnight delivery service I’ve always dreamed of. (Actually, I know a blogger who did just that, with some slight variations of course). Milo said goodbye to the civil service, gave them plenty of notice about his departure and now is a full-time freelance copywriter. He didn’t just love the idea but he made it happen!)
15. I must forgive my third grade teacher for beating me in class every week when I was growing up and I must stop casting spells on her via this voodoo doll I had shipped over from the Caribbean islands.
16. I’m going to stop partying every week night til 2 a.m. at the clubs, spending my hard-earned money on booze and late night Denny’s runs.
17. When the new year rolls around, I’m going to stop smoking, turn vegan, drink organic water, cut out carbs, move out of my Mom’s basement, go up and see my Mom weekly and get a job!
18. If I knew people, I’d be in the U.S. Senate too and would have been Vice President by now instead of that Joe Biden guy.
19. My dream is to quit this waitressing gig in my hometown of Otis, Kansas and perform those country western songs I sing around the campfire to a live audience. (What if your dream was to quit your job, move to Japan and become a ninja? Yeah, I know someone who did that.)
20. Once the kids are grown, I’m going to give up my career as a trucker and really get serious about raising goats and selling them.
21. I would like to travel the world and teach people languages when I retire in 20 years. (One globe-trotter who didn’t wait 20 years and is teaching languages while she travels is my friend, Maria. If you want to learn Spanish online, she’s a Skype call away.)
We can’t knock out resistance in our lives unless we learn to identify the language we use to resist. That was my stab at common resistance phrases I’m familiar with and hell, may have even used at different points in my life.
Did I miss any? What words or phrases do you use to resist taking action in your own life? Let me know in the comments below.
By the way, do you love goats? If you do, check out what rush hour looks like on the Costa Rican farm that I’m living at, Morning Rush Hour on the Farm. Also, check out a recent guest post I did on Bjorn’s blog, Culture Mutt.
* Photo by Passetti
