Getting Out of Your Own Way - Leading The Field In Business
Did you see this race? The 100 meter dash. WOW. I am a track and field fan. Not much to work with it seems.
It is you, your track shoes and your opponent seems to be the rest of the field.
But, really your biggest opponent is yourself.
Why do I say yourself?
At the moment of performance in the race, especially a sprint, you have to be fully there.
- No daydreaming.
- Not thinking about yesterday.
- What you had for dinner last night is not important
- Past performance doesn’t matter.
- The false starts can get you disqualified
- The lost races don’t matter now.
Pay attention and you just might get started.
Follow me to the track floor in the starting blocks…
The time is now. Ears open for the gun to fire. Your heart is racing. Feel the pounding in your chest. Your thumb and forefingers can feel the grit of track as you lean your weight upon them. You feel your whole body. Checking all of your systems.
- Legs Check
- Breathing Check
- Arm Ready.
- Ears Listen and don’t delay on getting the signal to the rest of me.
You are asking your body one question.
And making one request.
Don’t fail me now.
Bottom line: You have to meet the challenge of that moment. In fact, the nanosecond of the start is only the beginning.
BANG.
The next 10 seconds fly by like a dream in slow motion. Did it happened? Was I dreaming.?
No time to think. Just act. Go.
It’s over…
You may have changed the course of history. In that 10 seconds, preparation and action come together. When it works, the results are breathtaking.
You are the only one that can meet the challenge for your race.
You are running a race. Yours to win or lose.
How often are we ever really in the moment and really paying attention to the next 10 seconds as through the rest of our lives depended on it.
- All the preparation.
- All the pain.
- All the tired moments.
- All the training.
- All the study.
For one moment.
The moment that you have to perform. There is no second chance and first place in the only thing that matters.
Oh and by the way, the world is watching.
Your world may be:
- Your Spouse
- Your Kids
- You
As I watched this performance of the 100m dash, I have come to realize that there are no limits to what a human body seems to be able to do. Every year we go faster and faster.
What is the potential for the human mind, creativity and business? And what if we acted in the moment?
Just stop and ask yourself the question???
How far could I go if I got out of my own way and ran as fast as I could? How fast could I actually go? No Brakes?
This past few days, I was in a room with 13 of the sharpest internet, direct marketing and business owners on the planet. This was different.
In the room:
- Commercial Bankers
- Internet Marketers
- High Fee Consultants
- High Fee Psychologist
- Direct Marketing Specialist
- Successful Dentists
- Commercial Property Manager
That exposure to that many successful and active minds is a mind blowing experience.
I have been stretched in ways that I would have never imagined.
I think I am out of my own way and I encourage you to ponder that question and let yourself run as fast as you can without the brakes on.
Let me know what you think of this one. This may be the the question that opens up a new world for you.
Filed under Action and Results by David Bullock
Comments on Getting Out of Your Own Way - Leading The Field In Business »
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly.
I was in competitive swimming for a better part of my youth and where I've performed best has been to trust myself to do what I've been trained to do and believe there's no limits.
It's when the devil of doubt creeps in, that's when I focus only on the moment and what I got to do at that moment and just do it. Stroke by stroke. In my mind as the acid builds and pain escalates I say this "Your body is the strongest it's ever been and this is the moment you break your limits. It's now or never. Every stroke counts"
Too many times, the fear of 'what if' paralyzes the mind and then it's tempting to search for a different way out.
In doing my business especially here in the IM world, there's so much noise on what's the latest and evolution on the net progresses rapidly. However, certain principles remain constant which are easy to forget in the flurry of technology developments that claim accelerated changes.
You got to put in the hours and effort to train, compete learn from the best out there. There was a program on the training of Chinese athletes and the training and sacrifices they go through is beyond what we normally face and they come out heads and shoulders above. They are single minded about their purpose and they don't lose faith. The system and team pulls them along.
I face this constantly. Can I get out of my own way faster?
Harder than it seems and needs constant facing the 'mirror'.
alvin
Alvin Tohs last blog post..This story blew me away and it’s taken UK by storm
I couldn't agree more either!
About a hundred years ago (well, more like 25+ yrs ago), I was a sprinter–and a fast one at that. At the time, I knew about present moment focus more on the subconscious level than anything else.
But that track metaphor definitely translates in business and in your personal life: channel all of your inner and outer resources (especially your inner resources) and fully engage physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and you can not go wrong!
If the self-doubt gremlin wants to pay you a visit, have a conversation with him or her long enough to learn and observe, and move forward anyway.
Carol
Carol Dickson-Carrs last blog post..Digging a Little Deeper: Strategies to Overcoming Communication Breakdown
@ Alvin: Competitive swimmer. Nice. We believe ourselves before anyone else. And sometimes we lie. This I am finding is what gets in our way. Our inabilitt to see what is really there and what we are really willing and capable of doing. That mirror is a hard thing to face when you are the only one who can take responsibility for the outcomes.
- David B.
Thanks Carol for the comment. I look forward to speaking with you this week on your show.
This post is very interesting to me. Because I too was a runner over 20 years ago. And I actually felt the track and that in the "blocks eternity" as I wrote it. This post is a turning point for me and my business.
Keep the mental gremlins at bay.
- David B.
David
You know me from Twitter as SheSquared. Your post struck me in a number of ways, and indeed it was one of your best yet.
Whenever I hear comparisons about success in business tied to physical and athletic accomplishments, I have a rather explosive reaction. First because I was in a head on collision 10 years ago that has left me part time in a wheelchair and no longer to achieve anything like the athletic feats of my youth. But then I am moved to think of all the accomplishments I have made having had that physical ability taken away. Losing my ability to compete in an athletic manner has spurred my desire to compete on an intellectual and business level. And in that, I have succeeded far beyond my wildest dreams!
But I digress. I have spent alot of time in the last several months trying to do just as you suggest. "Getting out of my own way". The mind is a powerful thing, and old habits are hard to break. I am making progress, thinking differently, and even when I am not "thinking" differently, I realize that I should be.
Your blog is a constant reminder to me about changing my thinking. Your more "mathematical" approach to strategy stretches my creative brain… and I think it's starting to work. Thank you for that.
Best-
Annemarie O'Bea
Hi David,
This post is powerful. It caused me to reflect on how rarely I have that complete focus.
I've asked myself why that is. An answer might be, because to reach that intense focus and performance requires a major commitment to one goal. For Olympians, it's that one race. All the attention goes there.
For any particular individual, what is worthy of that focus? If I don't have that overriding commitment to one specific thing, then where does one find that rubber-hits-the-road moment?
Then I got zen about it. Some say we are capable of that kind of total attention, getting out of our way, in every moment. No matter how mundane the moment seems. Even if the world isn't watching.
So, this is a thought-provoking post for me. It took me from thinking, yeah but how often do you have the opportunity to muster that kind of focus? - to realizing, that opportunity happens every moment.
It keeps happening now.
Very cool.
Margaret
@Annemarie - Good to meet you. Who knows why things happen the way that they do. It has been said that when one sense stops working the other senses get stronger.
The key is find is paying attention to what we can do and not what we can't do in the moment. That idea alone allows me to be there and not somewhere else.
You said, "The mind is a powerful thing, and old habits are hard to break." That is a summation of business and life. It took me a whole post to say that one sentence.
The question is what is the best way to stay in the moment?
@Margaret
It keeps happening now. That is so true.
We are right here and it is happening right now. You speak of committment to the moment. More, important, having something in the moment to hold on to.
Hard yes. Impossible no. Worthwhile absolutely.
Thanks for your "Zen-like" feedback.
So what can we do to "be there" and "stay there"?
I like where you're going with this. What would life look like if I was not driving with one foot on the brakes. The first thing that came to mind was,"What are the habitual thoughts that compose my brakes and what would life look like free of them?" I got excited because I immediately noticed 2 new journals I could create to guide people in exploring this very useful question.
Eve,
Thanks for the comment. It is good to see that this writing is moving you to action.