Prior to May 6, 1954 many had thought that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.  Over one hundred years of recorded attempts, no one was a ble to do it.  A popular myth was that doing so would cause the runner’s heart to explode.  Yet on that late spring day, Roger Bannister, despite all the naysayers and history, did the impossible.

Here’s the cool part… Roger Bannister opened the floodgates of success.  By the end of the 20th century the record books would be rewritten 18 times by others saying, “If he could do it, so can I!”

The current record stands at 3 minutes 43.13 seconds.

Forbes just published an article profiling 34 celebrities, entrepreneurs, and other successful people, answering questions about the biggest risks they’d taken.  Here are a couple that really stood out for me.

• Robin Chase launched ZipCar with $78 left in her bank account.
• Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, maxed out 11 credit cards to keep his company afloat.
• Kai and Charles Huang, creators of Guitar Hero, were $2 million in debt when they launched the product.

I wonder, what will you say when your time now comes to answer that question?

[photo credit: the-jedi]

I found this as a case study on Tim Ferriss’s 4 Hour Work Week Blog. Incredible imagery and a great soundtrack. Prepare to be inspired…

I finally completed my Hypnotic Video Marketing Secrets eBook!  In it I teach people how to make their videos more effective by appealing to the subconscious mind.

Get your copy now as a FREE DOWNLOAD!

After reading it, comment below and tell me what you think!

Some people had asked me for an example of what it’s like in my weekly Mastermind Meeting.  For this particular group our meetings are not very formal.  We basically go around the table discussing our current and upcoming projects, sharing successes and challenges, and being open to coaching from each other.  If someone is stuck on something, we give advice.  If someone needs a resource, we open our contact lists.   It’s all about sharing and helping each other get to that next level.

Much of what I receive each week comes as gold nuggets.  Here’s an example that I made a point to record and share with you. It was towards the end of our last meeting and I asked my friend Kris Kiler the question, “What was the lesson you’ve learned in your business life that gave you the biggest return?”  Click below to listen to his answer. (BTW – sorry for the occasional variance in volume. I had to boost up some portions that were hard to hear.)

How about you? Share your most profitable lesson in the comments area below.

This is a story that a former manager had shared with me years ago (thanks, Mark!).  I recently heard it again and I wanted to share it with you.

I was talking to a friend the other day about a project we were both working on.  One of her struggles had been taking more of a lead with a certain aspect of our project, and as a result she wasn’t taking action.  She revealed that she didn’t feel comfortable with it because she needed to first build more self-confidence.  She thought that once she had that,THEN she could take the necessary action.

At that point I said something that absolutely shocked her, as it probably would most of you reading this.  I looked her square in the eye and said, “That’s a myth.  You don’t need self-confidence to do anything, much less be successful.”

Imagine that you are on one side of a large city freeway.  Between the flashes of speeding cars, some going 80 miles per hour, you see me on the other side.  In my hand I hold a crisp $100 bill.  I shout to you over the sound of wind and tires on asphalt, “This cash is yours if you can cross the freeway and reach me.”  Now, $100 is nothing to scoff at.  In fact, I think most people wouldn’t mind having the cash in some fashion.  And while there are some skilled daredevils that would try their hand at crossing, I’ve found that most people wouldn’t even entertain the thought in this case.

Now imagine the same scenario, but instead of me on the other side with a $100 bill, it’s the person you care about most in the world.  And instead of holding cash in their hand, they’re holding their stomach.  It’s a bit hard for you to see anything clearly because they’re doubled over on the shoulder and close to rolling into the car lanes.  The faint sound of their moans floats between the speeding traffic to your ears.  You can’t see if there’s blood, but what you can see is them writhing in pain.  You are their only hope of survival before they roll into the lanes of traffic.  In this situation, would you hesitate for one second to run across to come to their aid?  Most people that I’ve spoken with give a resounding, “I wouldn’t hesitate one bit!”

It’s not about filling a bucket in our head labeled “self-confidence”.  Taking action comes from having strong purpose, having the compelling “why” that pulls you like a magnet to your desired outcome.  Have a strong enough purpose and the “need” for self-confidence disappears.

Right now, give yourself a wonderful gift.  Take a few minutes to write down your “why”, your purpose for doing the things you do.

The other day, as I stopped to fill the gas tank of my car, I went into the convenience store and got a bottle of water.  When I had filled my tank and got back into my car I proceeded to screw the cap back onto my water bottle.  It started out okay, but then it just got more difficult.

After confirming that I was twisting it the right way by reciting the mantra “righty tighty, lefty loosey”, I decided that it was just being stubborn and that I could force it back on.  After all, I was a big, strong guy!  So I twisted and twisted, my fingers gripping ever so tightly on the ridges of the tiny plastic cap.  I don’t know how much I really turned the cap, but I was exerting so much force that I was convinced it HAD to be on as tight as it was ever going to be.  With little beads of sweat on my forehead, I smiled at the thought of yet another challenge conquered! With a smug smile I tossed the bottle into the passenger seat.

Then, as if in slow motion, I see the bottom of the bottle bounce off the cushion and the white bottle cap easily pop off!  “Noooooo!”  Water gushes out of the bottle, splashing my dashboard and soaking my cushion.  Defeated, I get out of my car to grab a handful of paper towels.

If only I had taken the time to turn the cap to the left to make sure the threads of the cap and the bottle were aligned, I would have saved myself the time and trouble of drying out the interior of my car.

Now I’m not saying this applies to more than just water bottles.  I’m not even suggesting that from time to time it would make a great deal of sense to step back and notice if there’s an easier way to go forward.  What I AM telling you is that before you do anything, you may now want to make sure that your efforts are in alignment with your greater purpose.

Most people are familiar with the saying that, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”  Like you, I heard it many times growing up.  And I get where it comes from.  We want others to succeed.  We seek out great performances.  We love celebrating victories.

However, most people are so focused on doing well that they’ve paralyzed themselves from even taking the first step and instead do nothing at all!

Picture this.  A young boy sits in the living room of his house, eyes glued to the television set.  He’s watching the final match of the 1985 Wimbledon Men’s Singles between Boris Becker and Kevin Curren.  After an exciting and grueling four sets, which included quite a bit of leaping and diving across the court, Becker becomes the youngest Wimbledon champion at 17 years of age.

Becker’s amazing performance inspires the young boy to pick up a tennis racquet and step on the court for the first time.  He tosses a ball into the air and swings for it, but instead of an incredible, low passing shot over the net, the ball lobs backwards over the fence surrounding the tennis court.  Discouraged after such an embarrassing attempt, the boy walks home defeated.  It would be another four years until I picked up another tennis racquet.

I placed such a high value on performing well that I’d forgotten that top performance is something that must be developed. How ridiculous was it for me to expect a perfect Wimbledon-worthy performance at 9-years-old!  Yet that’s what most people do every day, talking themselves out of that new investment, or new career path, or new relationship.  That’s why I much prefer this adaptation of the saying:

“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly – at first.”

It’s not about perfection, it’s about PROGRESS.  Progress comes from improvement.  Improvement comes from doing better.  To do better, you’ve first got to do poorly.

So here’s the new and improved game plan:

1. Just do it (i.e., get started)
2. Suck it up (i.e., naturally do poorly)
3. Learn from your sucking
4. Suck less next time

PS – Shortly after I started focusing on getting better rather than being perfect, I picked up a tennis racquet for the second time and soon made my high school tennis team for 3 years and eventually lettered.  It wasn’t a Grand Slam cup, but looking back at how I’d progressed it felt outstanding!

A friend recently shared with me that he wanted to lose some weight.  Being familiar with the goal-setting principle of fully associating with the end result, he shared his vision of himself 30 pounds lighter, how he saw all the wonderful things he’d be able to do and share, and what it all really meant for him.  I was really happy that he had taken these important steps that most people fail to take.  After congratulating him I asked him something he didn’t expect.

“What color is your yardstick?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your yardstick.  What color is it?”
“I’m not sure that I follow.  I haven’t seen one of those since Catholic school.”

I explained to him that he had done a fantastic job of identifying what he wanted, and that having a clear vision alone wouldn’t instantly make the pounds disappear.  In order to see that he was actually moving towards his goal he needed a measuring device – a “yardstick”.

A yardstick helps you to answer a very important question:  How do I know that I’m making progress towards my goal?

After some thought he said that he’d read a book that had examples of other people’s workout and nutrition plans for losing weight.  Maybe he could use those as his yardstick.  I applauded his resourcefulness, that having role models was a great idea.  Then I repeated the question.

“What color is your yardstick?”
“Umm, white, I guess.  Since the pages in that book are white.”
“That’s a great start!  And as you go forward now you’ll probably want to color it.”

After pondering that for a minute, he understood. ”You mean I have to make it my own.  I can take their example to start with, and then tweak it to my own personal taste.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself!”
“Yeah, right.  You could have just told me what to do right from the beginning.”
“Where’s the self-discovery in that?  So, do you want to pick up markers or paint?”
“Crayons, thank you very much.”

The other day my wife came back from giving blood. She
said that the donation took her longer than usual because she started feeling a
bit lightheaded after getting up from the procedure.  She decided to sit in the lobby until she felt better.  Unfortunately that caused her to overstay the limit at her metered parking space. When she
came out of the clinic there was a $45 parking ticket on her windshield!

Determined to contest the fine, she asked me what she could say.  I said that I thought that the parking authorities would thank her for thinking about the safety of others (not to mention
giving blood), rather than have her rush to get out of the clinic, drive with
impaired mental faculty, and potentially cause an accident.

She laughed at the concept and suggested that I go talk to them
instead! When I asked her why, she said because I was better at saying
those words than she was. And the exchange continued:

Me: Well, the best way to get better at something is by doing it.

Her: But I’d learn better if I saw your example first.

Me: Then you can keep on replaying your conversation with them many
times in your head, with many different scenarios, which would be more
powerful than just my one example.

Her: Well, it’s your money too, so you should take part in the solution.

Etc., etc. We kept one-upping each other!

I can imagine you’ve experienced similar situations: trying to get
someone else to do something for you, get out of doing something, or
change someone’s mind about a subject.

Maybe you could now practice it for fun! Find someone you can play with.
Person A will say a statement (e.g., tell person B to do something,
state an opinion). Person B comes up with a different way of looking at it. Then Person A does the same, and so on.

See how long you both can go, and who “wins” with the last word!