Focus / Commitment

It starts as a seed and an unwavering need and it settles within your soul.
Takes on a shape and keeps you awake – begs you to take control.
Next thing you know you’re all ready to go if you only can find the way.
But keep on believing that you’re gonna see that day.
You’re got to be true to your dreams…let the voice inside of you scream,
Make it your own or leave it alone…but you’ll find that there’s no in between.
You’ve got to be true to your dreams.

There will be times when there’s doubt in your mind and it feels like you can’t go on.
Look at the road and wish you could know that the worst is already gone.
Deep in your heart there’s a light in the dark that’ll help you get through somehow and get what you give it, so go on and live it now.

You’ve got to be true to your dreams…let the voice inside of you scream.
Make it your own or leave it alone..but you’ll find that there’s no in between.
You’ve got to be true to your dreams.

You know so many times we fall behind cause it takes sacrifice.
But we don’t know as chances go, if we’ll ever see – if we’ll ever see it twice.
You’ve got to be true to your dreams…let the voice inside of you scream.
Make it your own or leave it alone..but you’ll find that there’s no in between.
You’ve got to be true to your dreams…
Be true to your dreams!!!

This is a story about a guy named Sir Roger Bannister, a British athlete. He came from an ordinary working class family and wanted to study medicine but his parents couldn’t afford it. Life began to look bleak for him and he even considered joining the WW2 war efforts but then somewhere along the way, he discovered he had a talent for running. He enjoyed running, he was good at it so he kept doing it, working hard to train in the sport until his hard work paid off with him earning a track scholarship to University. He was a recognised runner and when he decided to join the 1952 Olympics, everyone thought he would win. Unfortunately, he didn’t win the Olympics due to a change in the scheduling which messed up his resting routine.

Disappointed by his failure to win at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister considered quitting running for good. However, in the end he decided to persevere and push through his own limits. Doctors and Scientists had determined that it was physically impossible for anyone to run a mile in less than an hour but Bannister decided he would do just that.

He trained every single day for half an hour. He had a rival who was also looking to beat the same timing but he remained focus and kept with his training.

The day came during a competition on 6 May 1954. In front of a crowd of 3000, Bannister ran against 5 other opponents. He ran with all his might and was exhausted on his last lap but he pushed on, driven by the years of determination and hard work. He crossed the finish line, collapsing in exhaustion, unsure if he had beat the odds. But he did! He finished his run at 3.59.4, officially becoming the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Doing so despite what the doctors and scientists had said was impossible. He beat the odds with his determination and hard work.

More about the story here: https://impossiblehq.com/impossible-case-study-sir-roger-bannister/

When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea she struggled on – hour after hour – while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had…until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a reported, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” It was not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!

This is a story about how a dirtbag climber, Alex Honnold, became a professional world renowned rockclimber. He is famously known for scaling some of the tallest and most difficult rockclimbing routes without the safety of a rope.

Alex was a college dropout who lived out of his mother’s borrowed minivan. As a kid, he was too shy to approach strangers to rockclimb with at the gym and so he did a lot of climbing on his own and this in turn allowed him to hone his skills as a solo free climber. He drove around in his minivan, and scale routes alone. Each climb he did, involved bigger and bigger risks which moved him incrementally to do more incredulous climbs such as a famed route on Half Dome in Yosemite, California. This climb tested his limits and eventually brought him to the attention of the climbing community and the world.

One day, entirely on his own without fanfare, Alex Honnold after years of climbing and practice, free solo-ed the famed Half Dome route successfully by himself. He shared that it is to date, one of the most significant climbs of his life and he remembers how about 100 feet to the end of the climb, he started finding it difficult to keep focus. Fortunately, the sounds of hikers about 100 feet away at the top of route, snapped him out of his fate and he completed the climb, eventually hiking back down with the same hikers who did not even realize what he had just accomplished.

His story is not one of an overnight success, Alex Honnold did not get a big break or suddenly become famous. It was an accumulation of various life experiences, solo climbs and determined focus that got him to where he was. What do you hope to have as your big break? What is your dream?

More about his story: https://www.npr.org/2016/01/03/459977784/for-famed-rock-climber-a-big-break-that-thankfully-wasnt-literal

This story is about Diana Nyad, long distance swimmer. When she turned 60, she decided to attempt to swim from Havana to Cuba to Florida, a total of 177km. She tried to do this 4 times but had failed and she was determined to do it again.

This stretch of ocean that she wanted to cross was not going to be an easy one as it was home to rough waters, sharks and the poisonous box jellyfish – which she was her downfall during her 4th attempt where she got stung and had to stop her swim.

At 64 years old, Dian decided to make her 5th attempt, this time more prepared with a newly designed suit and mask to protect her from any jellyfish stings. She began her 5th attempt and swam. She swam for 53 hours through the night and in the day. She hallucinated and vomited and was delirious at some point. She had her team looking after her during her swim, keeping her safe and feeding her. On the 3rd day, while in a delirious state, shivering and even forgetting what she was doing, Diana looked up from her swim and in the distance and she saw lights. She thought that the sun was coming up and was delighted at the prospect of warmth but soon realized that the lights were actually the coast where she would be ending her swim! This realization spurred her on, she kept swimming and finally after 52 hours and 54 minutes, Diana arrived on shore, accomplishing her dream after 4 attempts and breaking a record.

"I've taken on those life lessons, that big break of just wanting the journey to be an elevated experience, no matter the success," she says. "Those people on the beach that day, they were crying. There were several thousand people. What they saw was a human being who had a dream and refused to give up on it. That's how simple the story is."

More about the story here: https://www.npr.org/2015/05/31/410855681/from-cuba-to-florida-diana-nyads-final-attempt-at-a-record-breaking-swim

In the northeastern hills outside Kyoto, Japan there is a mountain known as Mount Hiei. That mountain is littered with unmarked graves which mark the final resting place of the Tendai Buddhist monks who have failed to complete a quest known as the Kaihogyo. The quest is a 1,000-day challenge that takes place over seven years. If a monk chooses to undertake this challenge, this is what awaits him…

During Year 1, the monk must run 30 km per day (about 18 miles) for 100 straight days.

During Year 2, the monk must again run 30 km per day for 100 straight days.

During Year 3, the monk must once more run 30 km per day for 100 straight days.

During Year 4, the monk must run 30 km per day. This time for 200 straight days.

During Year 5, the monk must again run 30 km per day for 200 straight days. After completing the fifth year of running, the monk must go 9 consecutive days without food, water, or rest. Two monks stand beside him at all times to ensure that he does not fall asleep.

During Year 6, the monk must run 60 km (about 37 miles) per day for 100 straight days.

During Year 7, the monk must run 84 km (about 52 miles) per day for 100 straight days. (52 miles per day!) And then, he must run 30 km per day for the final 100 days.

The sheer volume of running is incredible but there is one final challenge that makes The Kaihogyo unlike any other feat…During the first 100 days of running, the monk is allowed to withdraw from the Kaihogyo. However, from Day 101 onwards, there is no withdrawal. The monk must either complete the Kaihogyo … or take his own life. Because of this, the monks carry a length of rope and a short sword at all times on their journey.

In the last 400+ years, only 46 men have completed the challenge. Many others can be found by their unmarked graves on the hills of Mount Hiei.

3 Lessons on Mental Toughness and Commitment

1. “Complete or Kill.”

The Marathon Monks are an extreme version of the “complete or kill” mentality. But you can take the same approach to your goals, projects, and work. If something is important to you, complete it. If not, kill it. If you’re anything like me, then you probably have a bunch of half–finished, half–completed projects and ideas. You don’t need all of those loose ends. Either something is important enough to you to complete, or it’s time to kill it. Fill your life with goals that are worth finishing and eliminate the rest.

2. If you commit to nothing, you’re distracted by everything.

Most of us never face a challenge with the true possibility of death, but we can learn a lot from the monk’s sense of commitment and conviction. They have clarified exactly what they are working toward and for seven years they organize their life around the goal of completing the Kaihogyo. Every possible distraction is rendered unimportant.

Do you think the monks get distracted by TV, movies, the internet, celebrity gossip, or any of the other things that we so often waste time on? Of course not.

If you choose, you can make a similar decision in your life. Sure, your daily goals may not carry the same sense of urgency as the Kaihogyo, but that doesn’t mean you can’t approach them with the same sense of conviction. We all have things that we say are important to us. You might say that you want to lose weight or be a better parent or create work that matters or build a successful business or write a book — but do you make time for these goals above all else? Do you organize your day around accomplishing them?

If you commit to nothing, then you’ll find that it’s easy to be distracted by everything.

3. It doesn’t matter how long your goal will take, just get started.

On Day 101, the Tendai monks are thousands of miles and 900 days from their goal. They are setting out on a journey that is so long and so arduous that it’s almost impossible for you and I to imagine. And yet, they still accept the full challenge. Day after day, year after year, they work. And seven years later, they finish.

Don’t let the length of your goals prevent you from starting on them.

You have the opportunity to choose a goal that is important to you and the privilege of failing with very little consequence. Don’t waste that privilege.

The biggest lesson that the Tendai monks offer for everyday people like you and me is the lesson of commitment and conviction.

Imagine the sense of commitment that the monk feels on Day 101. Imagine what it feels like to embrace the final 900 days of that challenge. Imagine what it feels like to accept a goal that is so important to you that you tell yourself, “I’m going to finish this or I will die trying.”

If you have something that is important to you, then eliminate the unrelated and unimportant tasks, get started no matter how big the challenge, and commit to your goal.

Every big challenge has a turning point. Today could be your Day 101. Today could be your Day of Commitment.

More about the Marathon Monks: https://jamesclear.com/mental-toughness-marathon-monks

One day, an expert in time-management was speaking to a class of college students. At the end of his presentation, he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.”

The expert reached into his bag and pulled out a big jar. He set it on the table and produced a dozen of fist-sized rocks. He carefully placed them one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top with rocks, he looked at the class and said, “Is this jar full?”

Everyone in the class said, “Yes!”

“Really?” said the expert. He reached into the bag and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel into the jar and shook it. This caused the gravel to work itself down into the spaces between the rocks. The expert looked at the students and said, “Is the jar full?”

By this time, the class was onto him, “Probably not,” one of them answered.

“Good!” the expert replied. He reached into the bag and brought out a box of sand. He poured the sand into the jar and it filled all the spaces between the rocks and the gravel.

Once more, he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”

“NO!” the class shouted. The expert smiled and said, “Good.”

Then he pulled out a container of water and poured it into the jar, right up to the top. The class waited breathlessly. The time-management expert looked at them and said, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager student raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it.”

“NO.” the speaker replied. “That’s not the point at all. The truth is that this illustration teaches us if you don’t put the big rocks in FIRST. You’ll never get them in at all.” 

“Effort is a commitment to seeing a task through to the end, not just until you get tired of it.”

At ten minutes to seven on a dark, cool evening in Mexico City in 1968, John Stephen Arkwari of Tanzania painfully hobbled into the Olympic Stadium – the last to finish the marathon.

The winner had already been crowned, and the victory ceremony was long finished. So the stadium was almost empty as Arkwari, alone, his leg bloody and bandaged, struggled to circle the track to the finish line. The respected documentary filmmaker, Bud Greenspan, watched from a distance. Then, intrigued, Bud walked over to Arkwari and asked why he had continued the grueling struggle to the finish line.

The young man from Tanzania answered softly, “My country did not send me nine thousand miles to start the race. They sent me nine thousand miles to finish the race.”

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that that lit up her entire being.

She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.

“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.

She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel.”

“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and not I’m getting one!” she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let just tell you what I know.”

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. “You have to laugh and find humour every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dean and don’t even know it!”

“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay inn bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.”

“Have no regret. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing The Rose. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the years end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousands college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Remember, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

Whatever you dwell upon in your mind, you give power to. So of course it makes sense to focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want. Yet there are many ways in which the things you don’t want can sneak into your thinking. 

Worry and doubt focus your thinking on what you don’t want. Rather than worrying about the bad things that might happen, direct your actions toward making positive things happen.

Complaining can also get your mind sidetracked into thinking about what you don’t want. What do you complain about? The things you don’t like. Rather than complaining, take action. Action moves you toward what you do want.

Anger is one more way to get your thinking negatively directed. Rather than getting angry about what you don’t like, use that energy to give you determination for what you want to achieve.

Keep your mind positively focused on the good things that life can offer. Those things will grow stronger and more abundant in your world.

If you think you’re beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don’t

If you like to win and don’t think you can

It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost;

For out in the world, you’ll find

Success begins with a fellow’s will

It’s all in the state of mind

In pursuing any goal, there’s always the chance of not reaching it. But there’s also the possibility of success. On the one hand, you can “play it safe” - and choose not to try at all. No chance of failure there – except that your self-image will suffer because it knows you’re missing out on the thrill and satisfaction of living courageously. You can also play the game of life halfheartedly – plod along, making ordinary goals, never “going for it!” Or, you can press yourself to think bold and dream big, and encourage yourself to play vigorously and boldly shoot for your goals. Yes, you may miss a few, but you can’t score if you don’t take aim and shoot! So chance it: Dream a dream, make a plan and go for it.

Have you ever been caught up in a brainstorm of reviewing everything that went wrong in a situation – detailing all the things you “could’ve or should’ve” said differently, all the different ways you “could’ve or should’ve” handled it from beginning to end? You can become so caught up in the past (which you can’t change), that you aren’t able to change the present. But when you focus on what you can do right in the “here and now” to create positive change there is hope of the change being realized. Begin by “rewriting” the way you think about the situation – get back in charge by concentrating on how you can change things for the better today.

Have you ever been totally prepared for a big test – you’ve studied and you’re ready for it? On the other hand, have you ever taken a big test for which you were totally unprepared? If so, you’re learned that either way the results of your preparation are going to show up some grade time! The same necessity for “prep time” holds true with reaching your goals. The better prepared you are, the better your chance of success. So when you’ve set goals, take a look at them and ask yourself, “What can throw me off course, here? What could keep me from meeting my goal?” Asking this question means you can then go about finding a solution. This holds true whether you’re planning for the obstacles that could arise in reaching the goals for your week or your day, for the months ahead, or for your long-term goals of the distant future. A well-laid course is your best defense against obstacles that might sabotage your goals. Take the time to plan this defense. When it comes to any obstacle, remember to protect yourself: “Take it out, ” before it “takes out” your goal!

Suppose you were asked to put one drop of blue dye in a giant container of clear water. Everyday. One drop only. If you missed a day you couldn’t add two. One drop only. You do this, and after several days you expect that you will start to see changes in the water. It should be turning blue by now. But you can’t see any difference.  You keep at it. One drop of blue dye everyday. After a couple of weeks you begin to get discouraged. You should be seeing results by now but the water still looks as clear as the first day. One a day a friend comes with you and exclaims at the beautiful blue water. Because she hasn’t been seeing the water everyday, there is a stark difference to her. For you, being in close proximity to the water has kept you from noticing the small changes. 

James Clear teaches in his book Atomic Habits that any type of habit accumulates. We don’t typically have overnight transformations, but 1% improvements, created by habits, that lead to success. This “slow pace of transformation” is what makes it easy to quit good habits or make bad habits slide. When we repeat 1% actions day after day, our small choices compound into big results. 

Quote from https://intentionalinspirations.com/habits-1-improvements/