Coach Kip

I mean I have, you know, fallen, but you get up. You don’t fall, you don’t learn anything

The world is full of lessons if you listen hard enough.  This lesson is from a Vet who now has artificial legs.  No it is not that you have to go through some tremendous tragedy before you can enjoy life.  The lesson is that if you are not failing on a consistent basis you are not learning.  I know I forget sometimes that when I fail at something it does not make me a failure.  I am only a failure if I stop trying.  Failing only means that there is another lesson to be learned.

If everything is going perfectly for you, then you are not growing, you are not getting better.  From an athletic perspective think of it this way:  Let’s take the bench press for example.  If you are a power lifter you want to be able to press as much as possible one time.  Lets say your goal is 500 pounds.  If you are an NFL prospect the scouts want to see how many times you can press 225 pounds.  Lets say your goal is 25 times.  Body builders may just want to use the bench press to gain mass and then use more specific lifts to sculpt their bodies for competition.

What we all know is that in none of these examples do any of the athletes simply go out and hit their goal on the first try.  They have to work at it over  time.  They have many failures along the way.  Many times they will have workouts where the goal is to fail.  And they happily accomplish failure because they know that they cannot succeed until they have failed.

Listen to the interview of Nick Staback on NPR.  Listen to how it begins as another Vet who has come home and has changed.  There seems to be nothing unique about the story until you learn that he has lost his legs.  Then listen to how the tone and the interview changes.  It is not the loss of his legs that has made the big difference, it is not the change to his perspective of life.  It is that he has learned that he needs to keep pushing himself to learn how to use his new legs better.  He knows that he is strong and will have a normal life and falling is part of succeeding in his new life.

So rejoice failure, failing, and challenge yourself.  See if you can fail.  See where failure can lead you.

NPR Interview - http://www.npr.org/2012/10/24/163469815/vet-walks-on-new-legs-with-a-little-help-from-mom

Being a change expert I am proud to say that I am struggling with my current change. Proud?!?! you may say. You are the change expert this should be easy for you right? No that is not right. If it is easy you are not making a big enough change, or maybe not the right change. The more difficult it is the better and the bigger the change.

So that brings up the next logical question. Why is it so difficult for you this time? The answer is because I am not just making a lifestyle change, or a mental attitude change, but I am making both a lifestyle and a mental attitude change at the same time. It has only been recently that I have realized that I need to have both in order to get to where I want to be. You can check out my Bio to see where my changes have been in the past, and although the changes have been significant they were not as big as the change I am making now.

The change that I am going through is a mental change to get to the next level. That has been an ongoing change for me for a long time. I have been holding myself back because it is difficult. I am going to a whole different level and I am leaving some people behind, that is difficult. They are either going to have to change with me or they will only become acquaintances and friends forgotten. I am also having a more difficult time meeting people with the same beliefs and thoughts as me. I find that I am becoming a mentor for a few people who don’t want to be left behind but I am having a difficult time finding my own mentors.

The next change is moving up in a social and financial class. That has become even more difficult than I could have imagined. I will still be a sports loving, beer drinking, outdoor enjoying average guy in that respect, but now I will be choosing micro brews, hanging out in more secluded beaches, staying at nicer hotels, and driving fancier sports cars. I know that the limitations I have been setting on myself are self imposed, but I also feel that there is a little resistance moving up in money and class. People seem to be a little more closed off, more reserved. So is that me and my perception, or is there truth to that and that is how people have gotten to where they want to be? I don’t have that answer yet, but I think that it is a self imposed glass ceiling that I will break through soon.

Ok Coach so what is the point? The point is that the more difficult the change the better. The difficulty does not mean that you can’t do it, the difficulty means that it is worth doing and worth sticking with it until the change happens.