“My philosophy honed from over 40 years of training, and the rest of the years of my own life, is go ahead and dip your toes in the crap pool but dive into the wonderful, incredible pool. Immerse yourself in the goodness by keeping yourself focused on positive feelings.

Does this mean we are never angry, fearful, doubtful or sad? Absolutely not. It means we feel what is going on. We allow it. Accept it and then move on. We acknowledge difficulties but we don’t get caught in them. We don’t wallow in our problems.

Too many people bask in the crap when they could, read that again, they COULD bask in all the wonderfulness life offers. They do it because they were conditioned to do it. They really don’t know, or have any better way to think or behave. It is all they know and do.

You Can Do Anything You Set Your Mind To It Takes Perseverance

I am for being a mental warrior, a champion. Bring discipline to your mind and feelings so you can discover what is possible when you do. If you don’t do it you won’t know. AND what you don’t know and have no experience in YOU don’t know and have no experience in.

That doesn’t mean you will never know only that you don’t know how it could be different right now in your present. In order to know and experience the difference you must do something different. You do understand this, right? If you do not know YOU DO NOT KNOW.

You cannot keep doing things exactly the same way and expect things to change or be different.  If you always do what you always did you DO ALWAYS get what you ALWAYS GOT. That is how it works. This isn’t rocket science it is quite simple and easy to grasp.

Will It Be Easy – Nope – Will It Be Worth It – Absolutely

You keep doing things over and over again that you may not want to because habits are reliable. They work automatically. They are neural pathways of behaviors that you learned through repetition over time. They are well practiced and rehearsed. They are habits!

This may include negative thinking and limiting beliefs, feeling sad or anxious, or biting your nails, twisting your hair or smoking. Each habit is developed either by repeated exposure or repeated practice. For something to become a habit you have to do it over and over.

You may not have considered it practice to smoke but each time you sucked on a cigarette you were practicing the habit, and developing the habit of smoking. Same is true about biting your nails, feeling bad or thinking you are worthless. You did it enough times to master it.

Focus – You Can Do This – Repetition Is The Mother Of Skill

You learned a skill that resulted in less than glorious thoughts feelings and behaviors. Get it? It actually is a learned behavior as is any skill you have ever learned. Walking, talking, reading, writing, and each and everything that you do well. Those are habits too.

There is the opportunity to change each of less than glorious habits. Since you learned them to begin with you can learn to replace them. It takes focus, dedication and perseverance. Many people try quitting smoking many times using many methods.  Right?

Because they haven’t quit yet doesn’t mean they can’t quit. Unless they decide it is impossible and keep doing it. You can do anything you decide you can do. To change, first decide you are bigger than the challenge facing you. Second, cut the problem down to size.

You Get What You Focus On – If You Dream It You Can Do It

Approach it with successive baby steps. You are bigger than your problem and you break it into tiny manageable bits. It is like climbing a ladder to the top. You go up one wrung at a time. You eat and elephant bite by bite. You travel one step after the other.

Some people have never learned to do this. If you haven’t yet then this is your starting place. You need to first learn how to think powerfully and positively. Learn to manage and control your thoughts and feelings. Everything is easier after you learn this.

Master your thoughts and feelings and your challenges become more easily dealt with. You transform yourself into a person of solutions instead of a person who has problems. Is it easy? No, not always. Some days it is harder than others. BUT It is simple.

Instead Of Why You Can’t Give Yourself Reasons Why You Can

It is not complicated. You can do each piece. Are push ups easy when you start doing them at first? Nope. Do your muscles get sore? Yep. The same is true of mental conditioning. You will have good days and bad days. Get over that. That is what life is, sunshine and rain.

You can have far more better days, feeling better than ever before when you apply yourself and learn how. It can be incredibly amazing but you won’t know until you actually do it. If you begin and quit you won’t know. You have to succeed to know what success is all about.

If you are like some people, you will claim you tried it, but IT doesn’t work. You assume because you gave it a shot, but didn’t continue, that you know all about it and how it doesn’t work. The brutal truth is you didn’t do it long enough or well enough to succeed at it.

What The Mind Of Man Can Conceive And Believe It Can Achieve

That is not to blame you. That is to get you to take responsibility for what you do. Hey, if you don’t like snails after you ate a few, you are allowed to say, ‘I don’t like snails. I tried them and I don’t enjoy eating them.’ Okay, just own up to what you did and what you don’t do.

Perhaps, you didn’t try all the possible variations until you found one you did enjoy, but you did try them and didn’t like them. Saying ‘I don’t like them’ is not the same as saying ‘snails are horrible’ or ‘nobody should eat snails because they are bad’. Do you get this?

Yet this is what many people do. They give something a shot and then conclude there is something wrong or not valuable because they weren’t able to make it work for them. You must hang in there. It isn’t that IT works it is that YOU work. You make the difference.

Start Where You Are – Use What You Have – Do What You Can

Don’t say, ‘I did a bicep curl a couple times and nothing happened. Bicep curls are foolish. Any one who does them is wasting their time.’ That may be your opinion but who cares. Opinions don’t matter much when it comes to reality. However, they help shape the reality.

Opinions shape your experience. It is likely you may not know the benefits of bicep curls or snails because your opinions may prevent you from ever trying them again. SO YOU WILL NEVER EVER KNOW and if you are okay with that so am I. Just own it.

Don’t blame others or circumstances or make excuses or whine. Own that it is not for you after a couple of non-successful attempts. Admit that you don’t know if it works or not. Maybe it does maybe it doesn’t but YOU are not willing to find out. THAT at least is honest!

Action Is The Proper Fruit Of Knowledge – Talk Is Cheap – Do It

Be honest with yourself and others. If you do things that others have done for centuries, that have worked for the people who have made it work, it is likely, ultimately, it will work for you too. Figuring out how to make it work seems more important than giving up.

But that is just how I think about it. Make it work. Find or create a way. Develop your power and your mental toughness and positivity to the point where you can make, create and attract what you do want. Make it so. That is the choice you have. Do it or don’t do it.

If you decide to do it realize you are not an expert to begin with. You need to have realistic time expectations. Everything takes time. An oak tree takes time to grow. It takes time to get good at baseball, playing a piano, becoming a chef or chess player or a swimmer.

Only You Can Change Your Life – No One Can Do It For You

Yes, you can get some experience early on but to become proficient, to become a master, takes time. Learning to control your thoughts and feelings and behaviors after however many years of not doing this, will take some time. Everything takes SOME time, doesn’t it?

It may surprise you how quickly things can begin to shift for you, especially if you do a little bit daily. BUT expect to be in for the long haul. If you commit to ‘I will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes’ you are well on your way IF you really mean it.

That is why people who bottom out often become great successes. They have no other choice. It is either move upward or stay on the bottom. Once they decide they hate the bottom and won’t accept being there any longer they move to get what they want.

Change  I Can’t Into I Can – Pretty Soon You’ll Say – I Did

You can too. I hope you don’t have to bottom out to do so, but if you think about it as if you have no other choice but to succeed, then you can. It is either I do this or… If you are 1000% committed and there is no stopping you YOU will succeed.

Now let me tell you about a man whose story I was recently introduced to. You know that an Iron Man Triathlon is one of the most grueling forms of self punishing competition there is. You swim for miles. Bike for miles. Run for miles. It is brutal on the body.

Some who attempt don’t finish. Some do one so they can say they have. Can you imagine how you must feel doing one of those? If you make it, it must be elating. If you make it I image it must hurt too. I have never done one so I can’t say. I can imagine, however.

A Positive Attitude Gives You Power Over Your Circumstances

From reports I have heard some people suffer a lot. They do, however, consider it worth it. Some, in spite of the pain and hardship decide to do another one. Can you imagine that? All the training. The sweat, blood, tears. Then the competition. Let’s do it again! Huh?

James Lawrence, The Iron Cowboy, has done a few. He decided to do 50 Iron Man competitions. That is a heck of a lot of triathlons, wouldn’t you say? 50 and he completed 50! Isn’t that amazing? That is truly being dedicated. WOW, can you imagine that?

NOT ONLY did he complete 50 competitions he did it in 50 days AND  in 50 states! Do you understand this? 50 of the toughest competitions mankind has in 50 consecutive days in 50 STATES. That meant do the ironman and travel. That meant no recovery time.

Do It – Be Brave Take Risks – There’s No Substitute For Experience

That meant do it, finish, travel to next competition and do it again the very next day. Then do it again and again. He completed all 50 in spite of the fact that every expert, athlete, doctor and triathlon competitor said it was impossible. They all said not doable. NOPE!

Not only not doable but lunacy to think it possible. Right? They told us the 4 minute mile was impossible. They said, we would never fly or reach the moon. Who said it exactly? Why the experts of the day, of course. The authorities. Those in the know. All said NOPE!

Mr. Lawrence was told he could not succeed! BUT HE DID! He holds the records. The most Iron Mans in a year. He first did 30 in eleven countries. That was 2012. In 2015 this 36 year old swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles each and every day for 50 days.

Positive Attitude Changes Everything You Get What You Focus On

My point? He is born into the same world you and I are the same way. The difference between you and me and him is he decided he would do it then he set out to accomplish it. He didn’t think magically it would be attracted to him. He created the challenge.

He met the challenge with no other talents other than being human and committed. You and I COULD do likewise. Perhaps, we could even surpass his record if we would only try. Even if we didn’t reach 50 we would do more than we might have because we had a goal.

Because we were committed to going further than we ever had before. If one can do it, others can. After the 4 minute mile was broken numerous people did it within months of the record being set. Since then it has constantly been broken again and again.

Whether You Think You Can Or You Think You Can’t – You’re Right

That is because once something is done by one person others begin to believe it is possible. If you believe something is possible you are well on your way to achieving it. If you don’t believe it possible you won’t ever personally know because you won’t attempt it.

Or you will give up after awhile stating , ‘I knew it couldn’t be done’. Don’t let your own thoughts prevent you from being the best you you can be. Learn to take control of your thoughts and emotions and behaviors and make the world your oyster.

Find out what you can do when you put energy into it. This is how you evolve yourself. This is how you overcome adversity and defeat. YOU meet it head on realizing YOU are bigger than any challenge. Develop the champion mindset and don’t let anything stop you and you will be triumphant. Do it. Celebrate it! Then celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

Make it happen today!

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Photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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