I posted a blog this morning, and took it down after a couple of hours…

My little brother-in-law, Romain called me and pointed out that he prefers I only talk about the greatness in man, instead of focusing on something negative…. and how the blog entry wasn’t in line with my theme.

He’s right – so I took it down (although I personally loved the blog “TEAM CHINA.”)

…………………………………………………………

As discussed many many times in this blog …. I never lived up to my talent as a swimmer.

I am one of those “should have been/could have been, but wasn’t” ….

The world is full of people who should have been, and could have been, but aren’t.

I am obsessed with the idea of “wasted talent” and “wasted opportunity” …

I challenge everyone around me to make their lives happen.

Recently, I got an email from someone who asked me how I started my english channel swim – he was referring to the time I first got in the water at 3:30am on the day of my swim.

I told him how I sat in the cold water up to my neck for 5 – 7 minutes until my body was numb so to be acclimatized to the cold … then once I was acclimatized to the cold, I got completely out of the water and stood on the Dover beach, held my arms up, the horn sounded and then I got back in and started my swim across the English channel.

He emailed —  “do you really think that is the best way??  Why not swim around a little bit before you started because it must have lowered your core temperature a lot??”

I replied with a grin on my face: “I am not sure it was the right way …. however, I was the only solo who succeeded on a day when 7 other solo attempts failed…. and I became the 853rd person (according to my certificate) to swim the english channel.”

I trained for 2 months to swim the English channel … many of the marathon swimmers I met along the way told me that it wasn’t enough and I would fail, esp. since I did only one training in cold water.

However…

Mentally – I was focused, and I never once thought I would fail.

My earlier life had been a series of should of have been and could have been, but wasn’t …. and my past mediocrity plays a big role in what drives me today.

Many of those times I almost succeeded, but didn’t … had to do with mental weakness.

It sounds phony … but sincerely, I believe ”it’s all mental…”

My friend and I summited Mt Kilimanjaro with nearly no training …
I remember the climb (vividly) – I never once thought we wouldn’t summit.

Failure wasn’t even considered.

The day we summited,  20+ people in other groups around us had to turn back because of a snow storm.

Marathon des Sables .. the famous 7 day race across the Sahara desert …. I was not in shape at all and shouldn’t have entered the race.

(for the ultramarathon/ironman readers of my blog – MDS was before I had any clue of what ultramarathon/ironman and adventure challenges are all about – please forgive my ignorance.)

I finished MDS because I sincerely never thought that I wouldn’t.

I am not boasting.

I am just using the above examples of how the power of the mind can carry us to great achievement, but we have to have the mental strength and focus to make it happen.

How many readers are thinking about doing something, but haven’t made the commitment to do it because you might fail?

I am not talking about running or climbing mountains ….
I am talking about everything in life.

When I was a salesman at my previous company…

I always thought the person I was trying to sell to was going to buy.

He has to be interested.

I am sure many of the big deals I sold were done because I never thought about the potentail client not buying from me – always expected to sell.

I bet most people in sales think a lot about why the client might say no before they ever step up to try and sell them.

Mental weakness prevents many good talents from achieving great things.

I use sales as the example – because life is one big sale …

but seriously…

consider your own role – no matter what you do.

Do you think about the negative of something before you think about the positive?

Is there something you are thinking about doing, but you are somewhat scared of making the commitment to try and do it … because you might fail?

make your life happen.

please note: I am not suggesting that mental power can achieve all things.
I am a firm believer of making sure one is in the best shape possible to achieve — whether that achievement is something in the office or a physical challenge.
Don’t let the fear of failure prevent you from making sure you are in the best shape to achieve.

I posted this before — hopefully, it gets everyone to reflect.

Wasted talent … a theme that drives many of these entries.

so many exceptionally talented people … who could of and should of, but didn’t….

My freshman year at the University of California at Berkeley, I fell 47 feet from a cliff (about 5 stories) … I broke my arm, my hand, my leg, my tail bone and had multi-skull fractures. I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and nearly died.

Stupidly, a friend and I had gone drinking beer at a place called “the rock” in the Berkeley hills one Friday afternoon.
The rock is a mountain cliff with beautiful views of the S.F. bay and surrounding areas.

Stupidly, I got drunk and fell off the mountain.

After taking a year and a half off school to rehabiliate – I went back to University, but I could no longer swim at the same level as before and “retired.”

One day… the football coach heard about my accident and contacted me to speak to the football team … he wanted me to discuss the consequences of drinking, etc.

As my American readers understand … speaking to your university’s football team is a very big deal …. so I really prepared for it.

My speach was at a hotel, after an alumni dinner … there was the team and their parents..

After the dinner, the coach called me on stage ….

I explained to the team that I had been just a fairly good swimmer…. although I had dreams/goals of becoming great, I never achieved close to my talent …. one of the several reasons why I never achieved my full potential was because I let drinking, partying, and picking up girls (superfiscial pleasures) get in the way of my focus and goals.

I got really into the speech….it all clicked for me because I was speaking from the heart.

I said to them something like:

“some of you guys have the potential to become NFL players and make a career with football and potentially millions of dollars playing the game you love … so do not let something as stupid as drinking/partying get in the way of your focus.”

At the end of my speech, I got a long standing ovasion and invited to have desert and coffee with the Captains of the team.

I remember one of the captains … a “brad pitt” look a like that was built like Zeus…6’6″ (2 meters) and 240 lbs of pure muscle (120 kilos) a stud … definately, he could pick up just about any girl he wanted… but he asked me, “how do you “not” drink….? don’t you feel uncomfortable?” I was shocked …. here is the ultimate male specimen basically telling me that he drinks because he needs to be “buzzed” to have the confidence to speak to women….. unbelievable.

at the same table listening to our conversation was one of the star players …. another guy built like Zeus, but even bigger …. he explained as well that drinking a couple beers made him more “loose” ….. and made several jokes and we all laughed.

I left that evening very proud … and over the season got invited to VIP parties with the team, etc.

Sadly….. around 9 months later, the guy who was bigger than Zeus… the star of the team who was projected to be the 4th overall pick in the NFL draft which was only a week or so away ….

without question this man was soon to be a multi-multi millionare, broke his neck in a drunk driving accident and is paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life.

….this is such a sad story that maybe a few readers will gain something positive from it — don’t let anything get in the way of your focus.

Up until that football players accident … I spoke to several of the the teams including the basketball team where Jason Kidd was the star, I also spoke to high schools… but after this guy’s accident, I lost the drive and I never agreed to speak again.

The world is full of exceptional people …. people who have the talent to be great football players; great salesman; great leaders; etc………….

but how many people fail to achieve their full potential because something gets in the way of their focus?

I know. I know. I know. This is a subject I have blogged about before – however, I feel very strongly about this theme. A conversation I had last night with an old friend who lives in America got me thinking again about this blog.

The world is full of many great, talented people who fail because of losers who come into their life. Even just one bad influence; one bad friend can completely destroy someones career, and potentially ones life. Whitney Houston…Mike Tyson immediately come to mind.

My big theme with all my employees: “don’t let the losers in the world bring you down…”

The word “LOSER” can describe many types of people, and surely we all have our own opinion of what exactly a “loser” is …

Just to be clear and so not to hurt too many people’s feelings, of course, I DO NOT consider someone who used to work for me, but does not work for me now to be a loser.

naseba is not for everyone.

However, in my opinion, a “loser” is someone who is failing in his own job/life, and instead of stepping up, reflecting and changing for the better, they sit around hoping and praying the people around them fail — and do everything in their power to get people to fail with them.

Regretfully, the world is full of people who go through life, instead of trying to improve themselves, improve others around them, they try and bring others down with them.

Don’t let the losers in the world bring you down.

Wasted talent … a theme which drives many of these entries.

so many exceptionally talented people … who could of and should of, but didn’t….

Tomorrow I want to re-discuss the idea…”you are only as good as your last sale…”

When I was in university, I fell 40 feet rock climbing … I broke my arm, my hand, my leg, my tail bone and had multi-skull fractures. I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and nearly died.

Stupidly, a friend and I had gone drinking beer at a place called “the rock” in the Berkeley hills one Friday afternoon. The rock is a mountain cliff with beautiful views of the S.F. bay and surrounding areas.

Stupidly, I got drunk and fell off the mountain.

After taking a year and a half off school to rehabiliate – I went back to University, but I could no longer swim at the same level as before and “retired.”

One day… the football coach heard about my accident and contacted me to speak to the football team … he wanted me to discuss the consequences of drinking, etc.

As my American readers understand … speaking to your university’s football team is a very big deal …. so I really prepared for it.

My speach was at a hotel, after an alumni dinner right before school and the season began … there was the team and their parents as well as several alumni.

After the dinner, the coach called me on stage ….

I explained to the team that I had been just a fairly good swimmer…. although I had dreams/goals of becoming great, I never achieved close to my talent …. one of the several reasons why I never achieved my full potential was because I let drinking, partying, and picking up girls (superfiscial pleasures) get in the way of my focus and goals.

I got really into the speech….it all clicked for me….because I was speaking from the heart.

I said to them something like:

“some of you guys have the potential to become NFL players and make a career with football and potentially millions of dollars playing the game you love … so do not let something as stupid as drinking/partying get in the way of your focus.”

At the end of my speech, I got a long standing ovasion and invited to have dessert and coffee with the Captains of the team.

I remember one of the captains … a “brad pitt” look a like that was built like Zeus…6’6″ (2 meters) and 240 lbs of pure muscle (120 kilos) a stud …

definately, this guy could pick up just about any girl he wanted… but he asked me, “how do you “not” drink….? don’t you feel uncomfortable?” I was shocked …. here is the ultimate male specimen basically telling me that he drinks because he needs to be “buzzed” to have the confidence to speak to women….. unbelievable.

at the same table listening to our conversation was the star player and his mother…. another guy built like Zeus, but even bigger …. he explained as well that drinking a couple beers made him more “loose” ….. and made several jokes and we all laughed.

I left that evening very proud … and over the season got invited to VIP parties with the team, and became friends with several of the players.

Sadly, around 9 months later, the guy who was bigger than Zeus… the star of the team who was projected to be the 4th overall pick in the NFL draft which was only a week away ….

without question this man was soon to be a multi-multi millionare, broke his neck in a drunk driving accident and is paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life.

I reitterate: The accident happened about 10 days before the NFL draft and he was expected to be the 4th person picked in the draft.

Surely, this man and his mother (whom was at that dinner and table that night I spoke to the team), surely they have thought about my speech and our discussion at their table that night. It is a terribly sad story.

Don’t let anything get in the way of your focus.

Up until that football players accident … I spoke to most of the sports teams including the basketball team where Jason Kidd was the star, I also spoke to high schools… but after this guy’s accident, I lost the drive and I never agreed to speak again.

The world is full of exceptional people …. people who have the talent to be great football players; great salesman; great leaders; etc.

but how many people fail to achieve their full potential because something gets in the way of their focus?

I like the idea of  Robert Frost’s poem about two roads diverging in a wood… and how chosing one road over the other, even if the road is much harder to navigate, can make the big difference in ones life.

It is some what scary, but exciting to think about what the world will be like next Christmas, but one thing I am certain of… loads of opportunities will pop into our lives.

Reflection…..

Up until the end of my freshman year at Berkeley….

I was one of those under achievers who boasted about achieving better than average without studying and not working very hard –I did things “half assed….”

I was always talking about what I was gonna do tomorrow….

I was a dreamer.

Surely, had I been as focused, but more importantly, “reflective” as I am today … my early years would have been more successful and fulfilling….

However, making mistakes is all part of the climb and I reflect with humilty on my early years of “wasted talent.”

In the end, what motivates me is the climb…. the adventure…. chasing the summit …. chasing “the victory.”

it comes down to “making our life; our job; our hobby; our goals … happen.”

How many people are good at something…but reality is that they could be “great” if they focused and worked harder.

In my opinion, people spend too much time trying to “feel good…”
In my opinion, people spend too much time trying “to look cool…”

…. I am far from where I want to go and I surely need to become better…

However, by living a life focused on being as honorable; hard working; consistent and steadfast as one can be…

surely, we will have a better chance of achieving……instead of living our lives consumed and focused on the negatives and challenges life brings us.

the world is full of people that “could have been…should have been…but are not.”