Have you ever had that nagging question in your mind? The one that goes something like this:
“I’d love to do [insert your dream goal here], but am I just kidding myself? I mean, I know others can achieve that, but I just don’t have what it takes.”
Now, maybe you think this because you see others who already know all you still have to learn. They seem so much better than you currently are. How could you ever catch up? Or maybe you’ve tried and failed and it’s got you discouraged.
That’s when you start having that sinking feeling maybe you should change your ambitions to something not so challenging; something you can do. Goodbye dream.
Look, we all feel like that from time to time, so don’t beat yourself up. But if you stay in that mindset you’ll never achieve your dreams. After all, you CAN do the impossible. It just takes one quality.
How One Quality Helped a Paralyzed Woman Achieve the Impossible…
Wilma Rudolf was born premature and fragile to a poor family, the 20th of 22 children. When she was four, her left leg became paralyzed from a bout with Polio. In what must have looked like a real version of Forrest Gump, Rudolf wore an iron leg brace afterwards to walk.
But when she was nine, she proved the doctors wrong by removing the leg brace and taking her first unassisted step. Four years later, after much hard work and physical therapy, she developed a regular gait. Again, something thought impossible.
But Wilma wanted more than just to prove the doctors wrong. Her mother had always told her she could do whatever she wanted in life. So despite her family’s financial situation, despite her fragile childhood and despite her twisted leg, she decided she wanted to be the greatest woman runner in the world.
“My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.” – Wilma Rudolph
As you can imagine, there were few people in her family or otherwise who encouraged her. But that didn’t stop her.
– When she entered a race at age 13 and came in last, she didn’t quit
– When she came in last almost every race through high school, she didn’t quit
– When she finally came in next to last, she didn’t quit. In fact, she pushed harder
That’s when things picked up for Wilma. Eventually, she won a race and went on to win many more.
In college, she trained with a coach who helped her enter the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
She ran the 100 and 200 meter sprints and was anchor for the 400 meter relay. And despite all her hardships–her financial issues, barely surviving her premature birth, her severe sickness, her paralyzed leg in the iron brace–Wilma Rudolf became the first American woman to win 3 Olympic gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
Have you figured out the one quality you need to achieve your dreams?
“If I had to select one quality that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick persistence. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, ‘Here comes number seventy one.'” – Richard M. Devos
Persistence Is the Key to All Locked Doors…
We all suffer from self-doubt, especially when we’re running into the unknown territory of our dreams and goals.
– We worry we’re not good enough
– We worry we’ll fail
– We worry others will pass us by
Well here’s the thing. All of that may be true. But so what?
– You may not be good enough right now
– You WILL make mistakes and fail
– Others further along the path might pass you by
But despite all of that, if you persist, you’re much more likely to succeed eventually.
It’s by persistence that you labor through failures to gain all that is required to achieve your goal. All of us can do that. It’s not magic or mystery. The secret is simply to figure out what you want, then keep trying, improving your approach where necessary, until you get there.
Take Wilma Rudolf as an example. She had serious hurdles holding her back. That didn’t stop her. She kept working hard until she achieved her dreams. I see a story like Wilma Rudolf’s and suddenly all my excuses why I can’t achieve my dreams seem whiny and ridiculous.
What excuses are you allowing to stop your dreams?
What are some solutions to get you around those obstacles?
Now, hit the track running and expect it to take time. You might not succeed tomorrow or next month, but eventually you’ll get there.
“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose … If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” – Wilma Rudolph
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Dean J helps people to do better in conversations on his blog at conversation-skills-core.com. If you’d like exclusive videos and more on how to be more confident and have more to say click here. You can also find Dean on Google+.
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