If You Think About It Too Much, You'll Burn Your Foot!

So, the first time I got on to the scorching ret hot coals on my crazy firewalk adventure, I breezed through it like a pro.

And the second time? A burnt foot!!

So what happened here? Pro, to a burnt frazzle... all in the space of 15 minutes!

Was it... fear, lack of belief, shaky confidence, lack of enthusiasm?

If I say to you that the cause of my burnt foot, was my own emotion, would you believe me... maybe just a little?

Well, that's exactly what happened - my own emotion and my own thoughts about things.

Let me ask you this:

Have you ever had this happen to you; you have this great idea or thought about something and the more you think about it, you find that you've filled your head with reasons to not go ahead with things.

And so now, you've convinced yourself out of the whole idea. Have you ever had that happen to you?

And on the other hand, have you done something without thinking too much about it? And so, you went ahead and did it without too much care and without the whole debate and conversation about it.

And because of that, you achieved what you wanted?

Well, that's exactly what happened to me and the firewalk.

The first time of asking, I didn't think about what I was doing so I just went ahead and did it. There was no inner chatter and no conversation that was going to convince me out of things. I was focussed.

And, I wasn't riding high on any emotional wave.

However, the second time around, something happened inside my own mind. Some conversation or other had taken place. And however subtle it was, it took place. And in that conversation, some emotion or other took place.

And the result?

A burnt foot.

How many times have we all convinced ourselves out of doing something that we know, deep down, could enhance, boost, create something new and great in our lives?

How many times?

Probably, plenty.

It's really true that our emotions can work for us, or against us.

Because when you really think about it, my task in that firewalk, was to walk from one end, to the other. Nothing else. But, it was my own made up drama that caused the resulting physical pain.

Imagine the tightrope walker walking from one end of the rope or plank, to the other. And it's just that the plank or rope is 1000 feet up and between two buildings... what are your thoughts now?

Again, the only task we're involved in, is to walk from one end to the other.

And maybe you'll see this too, because most things in life that show up as results, are pretty logical and formulaic.

Now what if our emotions take a hold and the inner mumbling starts... what do you think will happen to the walk?!!

Quite naturally... disaster!

But is that tightrope task any different to anything we may want to do?

Well, I'd carefully consider the idea that wherever we're not achieving or succeeding in an area of life that we say is important to us, I'd say there's a firewalk, or tightrope or self hanging conversation going on.

And do you know what - it's only a conversation so what if we could change and create another conversation? One that totally supports what we're up to.

What do you think will happen then!?

Now doesn't that make life rather more interesting than a burnt foot experience?

Stamping Out The Practice of Mediocrity

If you ever wanted to see what class and professionalism and excitement and extraordinary ability is all about, all you have to do is watch and marvel and excite over the tennis matches played between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

And when you see these titans in action, you'll not be stumped by mediocrity or lethargy or incompetence. You'll not ever wonder about the lack of magnificence and beauty and finesse and muscle.

But on the other hand, if you wanted to experience what mediocrity and flatness and incompetence and devastating boredom is all about, simply - if you can bear it - listen to the BBC commentators when they're describing the excellence of a Federer and Nadal match up.

And so the 2009 Australian Open final between these extraordinary Tennis Gladiators produced the inevitable glory and drama and excellence.

And, inevitably, the BBC tv commentators produced their flat, funereal, pathetic mixture of incompetence and dryness and mediocrity.

The ability to inspire and move and motivate is what happens when you see true excellence in motion. And that can happen anywhere and everywhere. The movies. The newspapers. Sport. Literature. Our own communication. It can happen everywhere.

However, mediocrity and incompetence and suffocating unprofessionalism is more widespread and obvious, than not. And it's a full time job stamping all that out from our lives.

So now we know that we've got to be aware and on the ball and full of deliberate consciousness if we want to be on the side of excellence and professionalism and excitement.

And when we do that, we'll send mediocrity and incompetence and the pathetic and flat way of being, out of our lives.

So if you want to experience the difference between the extraordinary, and the bland and mediocre, and that too, in the same heartbeat, experience a tennis match between Federer and Nadal and listen to the BBC commentary about it.

(And of course, I'm not including one John McEnroe as one of the mediocre commentators - quite the opposite, he's pretty much the only real class act when it comes to tennis tv commentary)