How often do you CHALLENGE yourself?  I mean really step outside your box and put your comfort on the line.

When you do, you begin to discover how your beliefs about who you are and what you’re capable of  impact your performance.

Case in point… The Warrior Dash in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

Challenge Yourself at Every Opportunity

The Achievement Mentor

I recently witnessed something extraordinarily inspiring that I wanted to share with you.

If you have ever said to yourself or someone else, “that’s impossible?” Than this will help you create a new model of possibility.

Having been part of several powerful team building and leadership trainings, I have had many opportunities to participate in some very challenging ropes course activities and have witnessed countless breakthroughs as a result.

On this particular occasion the course included what is known as the “leap of faith” which involves climbing 50 feet up a narrow telephone pole, having to pull yourself up and stand on the 12 inch top than leap between 5 and 8 feet to a free floating trapeze bar. It is an achievement that would be difficult for even a seasoned circus performer.

Many members of our team including myself were able to scale the daunting pole and successfully fly through the air and grab the trapeze bar which appeared to be more like 20 feet away… and some were not as successful.

The last person to go was a woman who while watching the challenge being successfully accomplished by many of her team mates kept repeating to herself, “this is impossible, I can’t do it.”

We all felt fear but she had massive anxiety about the task… and with good reason. On top of the fact that she had not exercised for years and had allowed herself to gain a massive amount of unhealthy weight (she was well over 300 lbs) she has also lived with a terrifying fear of heights all her life.

With the encouragement of her team mates she ultimately made the decision to give it a try. It was amazing. She struggled for almost 20 minutes to get to the top…all the while her team members shouting and encouraging her to not give up. I had been to the top and I knew how difficult it was to reach and how scary it was to jump. Watching her struggle with tears in her eyes I wanted to tell her that it was OK and that she could just come on back down. I knew however what she would lose if she did. So instead I joined my teammates in yelling, “You can do it! Just one more step– four more inches.”

I thought of everyone who is facing an impossible challenge and the challenge you face and how you are facing it head on and will not allow yourself to quit.

I know she thought about doing just that… quitting, giving up.

Instead she fought for every inch; pole wobbling, arms and legs trembling she took that painfully difficult final step and stood upright on the very top of the pole now some 55 plus feet in the sky.

We had just witnessed the impossible and as a result spontaneously erupted into a mass cheer that must have been heard for miles. Then there was silence. As she stood arms stretched out looking out at the trapeze bar some five feet away my throat tightened and tears came rolling down my face. My climbing to the top and finally jumping was indeed powerful and gutsy but this woman was no Mr. America– she was not an athlete and she was deathly afraid.

Somehow she not only found the super human physical strength but also the will, determination, and COURAGE to climb to the top. When she finally jumped (supported by a bolle wire) it was like time stood still and we all stopped breathing for that moment.

When she was finally lowered to the ground she was greeted by of some 25 cheering, screaming, and crying, friends and teammates I had to give her a big hug and thank her for what she did for me and the rest of us and for having the courage to reach well beyond her perceived limitations.

She told me that she could not have done it without the encouragement of her team and our belief that she could do it. Although she was ultimately not able to hold on to the trapeze bar, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was able to overcome her fears and limiting beliefs about what she could and couldn’t do and that she touched what was at one time believed to be impossible to reach.

I have no doubt that she, like you, will be successful at achieving her ultimate goal no matter what it may be.

I’m proud to be on your team… who else is on your team? Who else have you enlisted? Let other people you trust and who care about you share in your success… let them be inspired at knowing you did it and that they, in some small or large way helped you achieve it.

Experiencing a sense of inauthenticity and the emotional pull associated with “being who we believe we are not” when trying to change is something almost all of us will face once the decision to change has been made and the congruent actions implemented.

The letter below was sent in response to an email I received from a client who was struggling with the fact that he was successfully implementing the changes needed to profoundly and positively impact his life but was feeling as if the whole thing was as he described it a “feign.” (Identity is concealed to protect the innocent.)

Feign (fan) v  1.a. To give a false appearance of:  b. pretend to:
American Heritage Dictionary

The Reply:

You know the saying, “fake it ‘til you make it.”  In many ways there is truth to this statement… the “feign” as you call it is new to you. All of what you are experiencing right now is NEW to you; a different approach to how to live your life. You chose to explore the NEW because there was something (maybe many things) that was not satisfactory to you before—that “wasn’t good enough.”

The feign you are experiencing is natural and normal. Your exploration on the NEW road you are on is not the path of least resistance. It is not the shortest distance from A to B. Succeeding on this NEW road (and in every account you are) means the death of the old and the ego has a hard time dealing with that.

Why? Because for years you have created a model about yourself, of who you are and for the last 5 or so weeks you have cracked this model and shed light on the idea that you are something more. Your ego (the resistance, in this case) is whispering in your ear and pointing out that your NEW actions are inauthentic— “this isn’t who you are.”  Understand that your ego is trying to protect you, at the same time it is sabotaging you – and for the same reason it FEARS change.

All that you are feeling right now is why the diet industry is some $11 billion per year. It’s that 6-8 week mark– that little inner voice, your ego shouting, “who the hell do you think you are? You lost 20 pounds, that’s enough. Sleep in… have another piece of cake you deserve it, you’ve been working hard… two days at the gym is good enough this week…”

This shuts you down, takes you off course from the goal and confirms what your ego knew to be right all along, “I’ve tried everything, it must be my genetics, I’m big boned, I cannot lose the weight and keep it off, I was never very athletic anyway.”

NOW IS THE TIME to step in front of the mirror and shout back, “THAT’S BULLSHIT!!” To continue succeeding on this NEW road you need to create a new identity for yourself even if for a week or two you have to “fake it.” Feigning this new guy you want to be is creating a new pathway of neurons in your brain, yes rewiring your brain to be WHO YOU WANT TO BE. It is your alignment of your beliefs and your values of this new guy that will fight the resistance as it appears.

You are more than who you think you are AND even more than that… still…. even more than that. You started this journey, this NEW road, knowing this to be true on some level otherwise you wouldn’t have started it in the first place– now prove the other half of you right!

Pick yourself up, pat yourself on the back, and have a KILLER week!!!!!!!
I’m proud of you, and of whom you are becoming.

End reply:

Your Thoughts — How does this resonate with what you are experiencing?

Have you ever had the experience of holding back or not doing something because you were afraid it wouldn’t be perfect? Or maybe you doggedly and tirelessly worked on perfecting something before revealing or releasing it -and by the time you did (if you ever did) it was to late or you completely missed the impact it might have had earlier? Or maybe you got so caught up in making sure it was “just right” that you missed out on the fun or reward of just freaking doing it.

It happens all the time.

I can remember as a stupid kid missing out on a really cool and what should have been fun bike ride all my friends were taking just because I had to make sure my bike had the perfect spit shine… I was seriously bummed.

Case in point:

Last week I sent out an email (perhaps you received it) announcing a very special teleseminar I was doing with lifestyle strategist, John Rowley. The email started with a silly spelling error that I nor my computers spell check (which I depend on heavily) had caught.

Here was the line from that email:

“If you have ever been asked for advise or have even been given advise… you already have an idea of exactly what coaching IS NOT!”

Did you catch the errors? Of course you did… because you can spell better than I can and maybe even better than ” word spell check.”

The error of course is that I should have used the word ADVICE with a C not an ADVISE with an S.

What you will read next was is an actual email (one line) I received based on that spelling error along with my response to that email. None of which should suggest that we should not seek perfection and mastery of everything we do but does point out the possible ramifications when we allow such a quest to blur the bigger and sometimes much more important picture or message or even the delivery of that message.

After reading – I would love your feedback and opinion… not advice.

Received:

I suggest you coach yourself how to spell first.

Reply:

Hi ———–,

I truly appreciate your feedback, suggestion, and ADVICE and the time it took to formulate it. On the other hand your coaching style is a little blunt… but that’s ok no one expects you to be a coach and I am sure that was not your intention in the first place. It’s interesting, don’t you think – that the subject of my less than perfect email was about coaching vs. giving advice?

Now, because I can’t help but coach if you are open to it keep reading. If not, let’s leave it at – Thank You for the constructive feedback.

If you are still reading, please take what follows as a casual observation, feedback and yes some coaching, not advice.

I have long since understood that some people always, always, always look for what’s wrong or what’s missing instead of what is present and right. Like the improvements my spelling capabilities can clearly undergo, it might be helpful for you to recognize if you fit in the above category. It generally reflects a “what CAN’T be done” rather than a “how CAN it be done” attitude.

It shouldn’t surprise you that at a big conference I once wrote the word magnificent on the flip chart as “MAGNIFICANT.” When the error was less than politely pointed out to me I acknowledged my blunder and politely pointed out to the audience that if you focus on what is wrong you can easily miss out on what is right. I also suggested that what they had been focusing on is the word CANT –and that they may also MAGNIFI–CAN’T in many other areas of their life.

If I had been focusing on “I CAN’T spell well” and had let it stop me from communicating my mission I would never have written 7 RULES of Achievement and I would not be a #1 bestseller today nor would I have had the honor and privilege of helping thousands of people manifest their potential.

If blind mountain climber, Erik Weihenmayer had focused on the what was wrong “I CAN’T see” he never would have made it to the summit of Mt. Everest.

So the question is where else in your life have you been focusing on what’s not right, what’s missing, and the word CAN’T that perhaps has held you back in the past from risking what it takes to manifest your MAGNIFI-CAN?

Always with much respect and love,

Tom

Be sure to join me and Master coach John Rowley on tomorrow’s (Thursday, May 27) Achievement Masters teleseminar series. Listen to the show live, we will be taking one audience member, coaching him/her for free and tracking the life changing results on the show over 90 days!!

John is also giving away as part of his Lifestyle Transformation Coaching launch 2, 30 day lifestyle coaching  jumpstart packages plus by being on the call live your hear some of the best coaching tips you can get this side of the equator.

Make sure you join us..

Click the link for details ———-> http://tinyurl.com/RowleyOne

Well, I think we can agree that we don’t want to be just anywhere. We want to be where it is we want to be, and we want to know for sure we’re there.

Creating personalized easily recognizable and undeniable road signs, landmarks, and mile markers, to help you recognize where you are on your journey is imperative. Those same signs will also tell you exactly when you have arrived at your destination. It is important to understand that the terrain itself will look different than the map you have created. The map is the overview; the terrain is down in the trenches, it’s through the woods, and over the boulders.

Imagine how easy it would be to achieve your goal if you had already been there a few times—if you knew the terrain inside and out?

Do you think that would be helpful?

Like the smaller, less prestigious competitions I used as stepping stones on the way to the Mr. America contest, the achievement of your sub-goals and tasks will provide much (not all) the measurable evidence you need to know you are moving toward your goal and not going in the wrong direction or even going backwards.

Without evidence of advancement, the terrain begins to look unfamiliar and sometimes even hostile, and you can wind up frustrated, discouraged, and lost, or worse yet – ready to quit.

On a personal note, I have been asked on several occasions, “What was your body fat percentage when you were in top shape for a contest?” I can only guess when I give them an answer. I really have no idea. I never once measured it.

My evidence procedure was almost completely visual. I had to see what it was I was after. Visually I knew whether or not I was on target with my progress for a particular competition. I could have been measured at 20 percent or 2 percent body fat, but if I did not like what I was seeing in the mirror, it would have meant absolutely nothing.

Get clear on the evidence you need to see, hear, or feel along the way to achieving your objective.  Get familiar with what others have experienced and used as road signs and mile markers along the way to achieving a similar goal and then flavor it with what will resonate with you.

-The Achievement Mentor

In this video training Tom Terwilliger, The Achievement Mentor and #1 best selling author of 7 RULES of Achievement goes beyond the tangible application of the first 5 RULES of Achievement and invokes the power of IMAGINATION.

In this video I share the 7th RULE  in the Achievement Process and what it’s going to take to claim and hold your turf against some serious opposition. This RULE perhaps more than any other RULE in The 7 RULES of Achievement can make or break your ability to succeed.

- The Achievement Mentor

New friend, West Conner gives a heart-felt testimonial for me, Tom Terwilliger and my new book, 7 Rules of Achievement.

Simply awesome –Thank you, West!

In part 5 of the 7 Rules of Achievement training videos.  I explore how the map is different than the terrain and that evidence of progress is critical in eliminating frustration and failure.  Make sure you have determined in advance what you must see, hear, or feel to know with absolute certainty that you are making progress and when you have arrived.

-The Achievement Mentor