Believe in yourself even if not many people do.

Believe in yourself, even if not many people do

Believe in yourself, even if not many people do. Be a leader, even if some think you can't be one.

Let’s test your memory. Do you remember who broke the four minute barrier for the mile? That was one feat that millions had tried to achieve since the days of the ancient Greeks. In fact, there are legends that say that the Greeks had lions and other wild animals chase runners, thinking that would make them run much faster.

Nothing worked, so they made a decision for everyone, that to run a 4 minute mile was impossible. For thousands of years, everyone believed it couldn’t be done. Doctors, Physiologists, Trainers, Scientists said that it was physiologically impossible for a human being to run a mile in four minutes or less.

They made the argument that our bone structure was not geared to allow us to achieve it. Wind resistance would not allow human beings to break that barrier, inadequate lung capacity were also cited as a minus, and there were probably a thousand other reasons.

Then one guy, one dedicated, focused, human being, proved the doctors, trainers, psychologists, physiologists, the athletes and the thousands and thousands before him who tried and failed, were all wrong. He led the way to breaking a barrier and lo and behold, the year after Sir Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile, over 30 other runners also broke the four minute mile and the year after that, more than three hundred runners broke the four minute mile. It took one leader to lead the way.

A few years ago, in New York, I stood at the finish line of the New York Marathon. In that particular year, over 14,000 runners participated and over 9,500 finished the race. The fellow that finished in the four thousand nine hundred and something position was 83 years old. Can you imagine? The guy that finished 11th was 47 years old.
Why did Roger break the 4 minute mile record? Why did an 83 year old man beat over 9,000 runners, many of them in their twenties? There have not been any great breakthroughs in track and field over the last few years. Human structure is basically the same as in the last thousands of years and it hasn’t improved. The answer is: Human attitudes have improved.

Well, to be fair, in certain sports there have been changes that have nothing to do with human attitudes. You might have asked yourself, how is it that Johnny Weissmuller, alias Tarzan, a magnificent athlete had slower times than any fourteen year old female swimmer that swam the Beijing Olympics?

How can a strong guy, over 6 feet tall swim the 100 freestyle swimming race slower than 15 year old swimmers practicing the sport in the year 2010?
It had nothing to do with attitude. It had to do with GOGGLES. That is right. There were no goggles when Johnny Weissmuller used to swim and his eyes couldn’t take hours of practice. Today, swimmers practice hours and hours and with goggles, the eyes don’t suffer so they can train more and better.
But getting back to attitudes, think about a common stonecutter. He hammers and hammers at a rock a thousand times without denting it. On the one thousand and one blow, the rock splits right down the middle. You know it is not that particular blow that did it, but the accumulation of all the blows that went before.

You can accomplish your goals if you set them and you persist, persist, persist, until you reach them.

Even some unrealistic goals are reached by people that simply don’t give up. Look at Mugsy Bogues. You have better odds of winning the Puerto Rico lottery than making a NBA team. Now, add to the equation the fact that you are only 5’ 3”, a full 16 inches shorter than the average NBA player and you have an unrealistic dream. No one took Mugsy’s lifelong dream of becoming a professional basketball player very seriously except Mugsy. And that is why he became the shortest player in the history of the NBA.
Mugsy said it best: “You can do anything you want in life, if you have a fierce belief in yourself, a strong will, a big heart, and some role models to inspire you”

Earl Boykins of the Washington Wizards is 5’ 5”, only two inches taller than Mugsy. He scored the winning basket against the New Jersey Nets last week.

If I asked you what is the record in the NBA for consecutive free throws would you know? 97 by Micheal Williams of Minnesota.

You would be surprised, I bet to know that the world record is not held by an NBA player but by a 72 year old man, Dr. Tom Amberry. In fact, in one hour, he shot 374 consecutive ones.

One characteristic all these over achievers had is that they believed in themselves, even if many other people didn’t. They had a firm determination to reach their goals even against difficult and sometimes impossible to overcome obstacles. We should all learn from them.