Who decided what is realistic and what is unrealistic?

Think about it.

No one really knows.

At some point it was considered to be impossible to fly, now there are thousands of flights from single airports.

The word realistic is lethal.

It imposes limits.

These limits come from people who we don’t even know and through generations this information gets passed down.

Until…

There is one person who is brave.

That one bold soldier who stands out from the white space and says this can’t be.

There must be a way to do what a man thousands of years ago said can’t be done.

He knows that possible and easy are not always good pals.

But he is aware of the fact that if he keeps persistence close to him, eventually he will bring along his distant cousin success.

Realistic is what quitters hold on to,

it is their excuse for failure.

They did not want to take anything positive away from it,

so they said it can’t be done by anyone.

That makes people feel better.

Knowing that something they failed at no one else is able to succeed in doing.

Throw that word in the garbage for WE are stronger than that.

We are stronger enough to paint a new picture.

This picture we paint shall have no boundaries,

No lines to color inside of,

It will be like the middle of the ocean… VAST

For the word the excuse makers speak of…

We have cut it out of our vocabulary.

As I have gotten older my sensor of what I should not say to people has seem to be fading. I realized much of my life I had mistaken being nice for saying what needed to be said to get better. This is one of those articles. The point is to shake you, hopefully even break you so a new structure can be put in place and remake you.

Playing it safe!

It is way too hard to go after what you have always wanted if you are still playing it safe. Now don’t feel bad for one second about playing it safe because you were trained to. If you ever went to school, it has been engrained in us. It is that voice that pops up when we get the courage to do something big that says, “hey, chill out dude! What if you fail? What if it does not go the way you are thinking it will in your mind?”

You will be forced to deal with that thing we are trained to avoid called failure. Failure is not as bad as we make it seem. Unless a failure results in death it means we were blessed with the opportunity to make it better.

From when we were in grade school we were trained to only put our hands up in class when we were sure of the answer. It was our introduction to being fearful of failure. We realized if we were wrong others would think we were dumb. When in reality there were never any negative consequences for getting an answer wrong.

This is not saying that failure never comes with negative consequences. It is saying that is also comes with positive ones in which we can carry with us for a lifetime. The name is a lesson. We need lots of tough lessons in life to prepare us for the big things we were meant to do.

Fighting Fear

If you can fight your fears, you can push yourself to any amount of success. Here are some ways to fight your fears.

1. Don’t run from your fear run right to it

2. Admit to another person that you are scared

3. Make it a habit to do something you would not normally do

4. Get comfortable being uncomfortable

5. Understand that fear is created in the mind but it must be overcome by the mind

The reason you will never be successful is because at some point you chose to let fear control you. Master fear and you will unlock doors that lead to all the places you have wanted your life to go.

One thing I have learned and have strongly changed my views on since I started writing, is how to help people. You see, I use to believe that helping people meant doing things for them. Giving another person the ability of not worrying about something because you are handling it for them was what I thought helping others meant.  You get to the point where you have to question the fine line we often walk on between helping and crippling.

A Baby Born Without a Chance to Grow 

If you carry a baby and never give him/her a chance to walk, how can they ever walk? By a baby standing on their own two feet and attempting to move but failing and falling backwards on their butt is what life is all about. You could look at this situation and be fearful that if you are not there to hold the baby up, he/she will continue to fall or you can let the baby fall. Let the baby fall until they figure out what they must learn and do in order for them not to fall and get to where they want to go.

Once the baby figures this out, he/she will be able to walk to wherever they need to go. I often get in a place where someone asks me for help and I could tell them exactly what to do and then after feel good about my deed and pat myself on the back with unworthy praise. The praise is really unworthy because I actually did not help that person. I stunted their growth. I picked them up and carried them so they would never have to learn to walk.

Parents are the worst offenders of this but so are friends. You get to a point where you may notice a road someone is going down and you can let them know what you think and how you feel but you can’t force them to change or do what you think is best. They must learn to fall on their butt until they are able to figure it out.

How Do We Help

We help by Guiding

Pointing in the correct direction,

but deciding not to hold their hand while they walk in that way

We do not do for, but rather when needed we do with

The sense of accomplishment is greater,

Knowing we taught someone to fish for a lifetime.

Knowing that if someone asked them for the same help

You have taught

What’s the reason behind all the things you do? Why do you play soccer, football, basketball, tennis, wrestle, run, skate or golf? Seriously though, why? Is it because you eat, sleep, breathe, dream your sport 24/7? Is it because of the feeling of accomplishment after endless hours of hard work? Is it because of the friendships you build with your teammates?

OR

Is it because of the fame that comes with success? Is it because of the recognition and praise everyone gives you if you consistently win? Is it for all those people that make you feel like a “somebody”?…….Or is it really for yourself?

Now, I know I’m throwing a lot of questions at you, but so often we lose focus of the real reason we do things in life. Even though a lot of these thoughts revolve around your sport, you will easily utilize these same motives throughout various situations in your day-to-day life. Society nowadays does an excellent job at measuring success by the number of twitter followers you have or the amount of $$$ in your bank account or the trophies/medals on your nightstand. But what’s the point of all that if YOU aren’t really happy? If you did all this just for the image?

When you really think about it, if you do things just for the satisfaction and acceptance of others, you will never be happy with your life. That’s not YOUR PURPOSE here on earth. If it’s the pat on the back from others that drives you, take your own hand and pat yourself on the back….when you really think about it, the effect should be the same.

It’s time to sit down and have a real conversation with yourself about WHY you do the things you do. If you answered yes to the second set of questions I asked above, then it’s time to reevaluate your thinking. I’m not trying to belittle your ambitions or dreams at all, it’s just that you will discover that where you find your passion, you will also find happiness; And YOUR dreams are always driven by passion.

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose.” 

It says a lot about you when no one can ever really tell when things are going wrong. I realized a long time ago as an athlete that I never was a fan of the kids who were fun to be around when they were winning but were the biggest sucks in the world when they were losing. It showed such a lack of class that I could never bring myself to be that way. Win or lose it does not make much of a difference, but your character… now that is something people will always remember.

Character comes down to doing the honorable thing when most people would choose to do something else. What most people would do is usually the easiest thing to do, which is exactly why most people do it. We are hard wired to look for the easiest way to do things and that is what makes it difficult to be honorable. It will always be a tough road but the road will always be the one that is the most rewarding when taken.

Steps to Achieving Great Character as An Athlete

1.  Compete for something bigger than your own selfish Glory

2. Don’t be a complainer

3. Pick others up when they are down but do all you can to pick yourself up alone

4. Win with grace

5. Lose with honor and stamp those losses on your chest

6. Take the high road

7. Stick to your word

8. Live a life that leaves you nothing to be ashamed of

So What… 

I never said it would be easy, but it is all so worth striving for. If you take these 8 points to life and live them out, you will experience an inner peace you have never felt before. Go get it!

(original image by pocketwookie)

This article was written by Miguel Wason….his twitter account is @migwellis_

Nowadays in our society we so often hear about the mishaps that go along with life as an athlete in University or Professional ranks. Most recently, former LSU stand out corner Tyrann Mathieu has encountered several off field issues which lead to him being dismissed from his team. It also seems that every week we hear about an athlete in the professional ranks encountering problems with the law outside of their respective sports. Although people ultimately make their own decisions, surrounding yourself with the right people can keep a healthy balance between your life in and outside sports.

Many serious athletes sometimes carry the stigma of being labelled dullards and uptight due to the nature of the time spent training and competing. Yes people come in handy for the athletes for two different reasons. On one hand you need ‘yes’ people around you while training to positively encourage you to reach pbs in the weight room or keep you confident and focused while competing in your sport. Outside of sports, ‘yes’ people come in handy in helping athletes loosening up and enjoying other things and relaxing their minds and bodies. Taking into account when the season is and times of competing, it’s essential for athletes to have fun once in a while.

The importance of ‘no’ people is highly underrated. These are typically the people in your group who can be labelled as “boring” at times. However, listening to these people can often keep you out of trouble and out of the headlines for all the wrong reasons. These are the people who remind you when to call it quits if you are having a bad work out and to get after it tomorrow instead of hurting yourself (been there as an athlete). You are going to have bad days and these people remind you that it’s okay to have them and to just come back hungry the next day. Away from your sport these people really show their worth. If you are ever thinking “oh maybe I should go downtown with these people” or “i should hang out with this girl or guy”, the ‘no’ typically serves as the devils advocate or the voice of reason. They quickly re-prioritize things for you or put things into perspective when you fail to. Sometimes you may already be in a situation and the ‘no’ person is that voice to say “it’s time to go” or “let’s take a cab instead of driving.” Little things like this make huge differences in the long run for your athletic career.

A good mix of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ people is needed in an athletes’ life for various reasons. Whether to keep us focused during our sports season, or out of season, they serve to keep us in good spirits and out of trouble. For all athletes out there trying to make it in their respective sports, you must identify who these people are in your life and learn to sometimes take what they are saying into consideration and let them do what they are trying to do; that’s simply helping you stay on the right path to success.

(original image by Citizen Rob)

It is not faith if you need to see it come to life before you believe because anyone can do that. Faith is deep rooted in us and it gives us the ability to go forward when others would stop. If you have faith in yourself you don’t doubt yourself. If doubt even creeps in for a second faith has a way of stomping it out.

The ability to perform as an athlete is more about hard work than most athletes will ever believe. The really good ones know that it is about having faith in yourself. That is where it all starts. You have to build a world in your head of everything that you have and faith will come through for you.

The athletes who step on the field and know this already has a deep advantage that no one can seem to figure out. You can see it in their eyes. They are fearless and it’s like they were told what will happen. Some people may look at this person and say they are cocky, but if you have constant confidence in yourself and have faith that it would all be okay maybe you would develop a cocky look in your eye yourself.

The Point

Sports will always just be sports. They teach us lessons that are meant to take us to where we are suppose to go. If you think your point in being here is to win some championship game and live on that win the rest of your life you are sadly mistaken.

Sports give you the the skills and the personal weapons you are going to need to fight your battle in life and for some of us maybe we have already started fighting it. Just have faith that things will work out. They will never go exactly the way you wanted but that’s only because there is a much better plan in the works.

(original image by michaeljosh)

Imagine a world where we got whatever we wanted and it really required no work at all to make happen. Anything we wanted all we had to do was snap our fingers and it was ours to have. At first this seems like it would be an awesome world to live in but you would quickly begin to see that no one would ever be special. If you snapped your fingers to be the number 1 athlete in your respective sport what would stop the other 6 billion people who share this earth with you from doing the same?

Change Your Perspective

Hard work is that bridge. If you are on the ledge of one place and the place you want to be is on another ledge about 30 meters away but there is no bridge connecting the two places. What happens from here?

Person 1

Most people will look at that gap and without a second thought quit and turn the other way. These are the people who will not find much happiness in life until they learn to stick with it. They will jump from goal to goal and will always look for the easiest route for success.

Person 2

Will go find a rope and they will throw it to the other side a few times with hopes that it will catch on to something or that someone will help them out.  They will try a few times but eventually they will deem that it is impossible and make their dream and their goal a bit smaller.

Person 3

Will do everything that person 2 already did but they will refuse to give up at any point. They understand that the bridge to dreams is hard work and there is no other way around it. They understand that what they want is a tough thing to accomplish but nothing great ever comes easy or else everyone would be doing it.

They call as loud as they can for help, they wait patiently for someone on the other side to hear their calls and come assist them. In the mean time they continue throwing the rope over and over again sometimes getting really close and sometimes catching nothing but air. This pattern is continued and they are CONSISTENT in their efforts because they know that if they do not give up eventually they will get what they want.

So What..

I do not know what your goals are today but I can promise you that if they are worth having you will do what you have to do to make them come true. You have to be like person number 3. Be persistent, faithful, consistent and keep a positive mindset and work as hard as you possibly can. If you do those things, failure will never be a word that people use to describe you.

(original image by harry-1970)

THIS…IS…JEOPARDY!!

Ok not really, but that is going to be the mindset for this article. Have you ever thought to yourself when watching the game show Jeopardy, “Wow, Alex Trebek is a genius. He knows everything about anything.” It’s evident that when he is on stage in front of millions he displays his stardom in the right manner.

Now lets break it down to see how he was able to grasp that thought of millions of people. It’s very simple, he does work when those millions of viewers aren’t tuned into his game show. Imagine if he were to go on stage without any previous preparation. I can predict about 3 things that would happen,

1) His ratings would be horrible

2) He would be fired

3) No one would know the name ‘Alex Trebek’

The Point 

In order to have any success in your life, you have to prepare.  Any athlete wants to finish first, that’s the reason why you kill yourself in practice everyday. Treat every single practice like it’s competition so when you do perform you can shine just like Mr. Trebek.

(original image by Sony)

It is time to take whatever you are doing with your life, whatever you are working towards and take it to the next level. Understand that the next level is a place that you have never been before; it is a place that will make you uncomfortable and force you to grow.

When you continue to turn up the levels of commitment to your goals you give yourself a gift that is truly priceless. This gift is the ability to have no regrets, as you grow old. Nothing makes me cringe more than talking to anyone and they mention how they wish they put more into trying to reach their full potential as an athlete. It genuinely bothers me to know that there are people out there who think they could have turned their commitment up to the next level.

Wake up Hungry, Go to Bed Satisfied

When you wake up in the morning, be thankful for what you have but be hungry to knock out a few goals each day. If you wake up hungry and go to bed satisfied that means that every single day you will be getting better.

You will be giving yourself that gift of knowing that you gave your all. When you tell people your story it will be one of victory because you laid everything you had out there. That feeling of knowing you did all you could no matter the result is how you live your life as a champion.

4 Simple Steps to Follow

1. Make a list of things you could do better to reach your goals

2. Write down steps so that you can conquer each item on that list

3. Each day before you go to bed know what you want to accomplish when you wake up the next day

4. Wake up hungry and go after what you want

So What.. 

Why live a life in regret when you can live the life of a champion? Give your all and use your story to bless the world.

(original image by pinprick)