Stones, Belt Buckles and Gold

"When you're betting for stones in an archery contest, you shoot with skill. When you're shooting for fancy belt buckles, you worry about your aim. And when you're betting for real gold, you're a nervous wreck. Your skill is the same in all three cases - but because one prize means more to you than another, you let outside concerns weigh heavily on your mind. He who looks too hard at the outside gets clumsy on the inside."

Chuang Tzu

Whatever the goal, the stakes, the result you want for - play the mental game INSIDE where you're simply... shooting for pebbles and stones.  

Because in that way... you come to the table and shoot with ALL your skills, with ALL your attention on ALL of the game!

So Let It Be Written, So let It Be Done

My Friend Steve Hardison instructs and coaches me through the simplest and most innocent of sentences.

"So let it be written, so let it be done".

Now what does that mean? What is the instruction?

My paraphrasing of it is; 

If you write it, then by doing so, you've activated it into reality, it's already created into existence. And then along with that, there are a number of committed actions to stitch the whole thing together. That you are the kind of person who will bring it to LIFE.

Another way to interpret the instruction: 

Don't waste precious words and thoughts and energy and life on writing about or dreaming about something that you're not committed to bring into existence. The experience will exhaust you. Especially if it's a daily, repetitive habit.

You and I both know certain words have immense power.

Almost miraculous in their effect.

And it's true whether using them on and for, ourselves. And, when using them on and for, others.

So imagine a life where what we say and write, happens, arises, comes into existence? That's a pretty powerful thing to contemplate, isn't it?  

And so what kind of human being would we have to be in order to have our written words, be incredible, instructional, acts of creation?      

A person committed to oneself. 

A person committed to creation.

A person committed to surgical thought deconstruction & reconstruction. 

A person committed to systematic action.

Can anyone be that kind of committed person?   

Look around and inside your life of people. You'll find living examples.

For you: are you that committed person you want to be? 

Test it and prove it to yourself.

So let it be written, so let it be done

Don't Just Report It... CREATE It!!



Rafael NADAL - 8 Time French Open Tennis Champion June 2013

If you don't know the story, Rafael Nadal was out of the men's professional tennis game for several months since July 2012 with a chronic knee injury.

 

That's a LONG time to be out. Especially when you have players who are improving whilst you aren't even in the game.

 

And so it makes Nadal's victory in the French Open in Paris, all the more remarkable. (He also created  history by being the only player to win a major SLAM tournament... EIGHT TIMES!) 

 

His play throughout the fortnight was SENSATIONAL. He played like the fearless swashbuckling gladiator he's famed for. His tennis really did...take your breath away.

 

It's like he's never been away.

 

Incredibly, his speed, power, agility, mental toughness was better than it's ever been.

 

How so?

 

His incredible persistence. A close team of people around him who helped, coached, nurtured and brought him back to life. A group of people who were deeply committed to the process of rejuvenation, rehabilitation and in fact, re-CREATION.  

 

And now look; don't let this piece of writing or Nadal's efforts be something that's just reported on event. Don't let it be a piece that's hoarded in the database of your own mind. Let it be a powerful catalyst for you and I to create a similar piece of extraordinary magic in what we do.

 

Let's not us just marvel at Nadal. Let's be deeply inspired by him. Let's take his formula for winning and apply the same kind of discipline, the same kind of practice, the same kind of commitment and dedication to create something incredible in our own lives.

 

It doesn't matter WHAT we apply the 'Nadal Formula' to -- whether it's our job, our business, our communications, our sporting endeavours, our relationships, ... whatever it is we want to be better at, why not we learn from the best in the way they become the best?

 

So let's not be like the stuck-in-the-seat pundits and tv commentators, reporting on an incredible event with energy and enthusiasm, which eventually dies a death when the tv programme scheduling ends.

 

(And incredibly, there are very very few tennis commentators and pundits who really inspire by their words, their comments, their energy and enthusiasm that it makes you wonder at the hiring and selection process.)

 

Let's not be inspired by those couch potato type reporter people, because listen, we can all get energised and high when we report on something, we can all do that, it doesn't take that much skill or learning for us to do that.

 

Let's be inspired by the people who motivate, inspire, gets us into action.       

 

Let's be inspired by someone who is humble, magnanimous and has a character of gold.

 

Why not have that inspiration be someone like Nadal?