|
|
|
|
FROM GOOD OLE UNCLE VICAugust 2005
Boy, you guys are sharp. I didn't realize how many people knew the answer to last month's quiz, "what does scuba stand for, as in SCUBA diving." Yes, it is Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Those who got it right were: Miriam Spatz, Dilip Paliath, Wendy White, Daniel Schmidt, Gary Logan, Sue Gury, David Allan, Jessica Feeman, Kristen Grose, Rochelle Cohen, Pam Monacelli, Debbie Emery, Stacy Wittich, Lauren Flowers, Elizabeth Laffey, Scott Lintz, Kristen Grose, Shannon Davis, Nora McDonald, Erica Ruddie, Laurie DeHoff, Ranee Appleby, Andrea Mitsos, Malcolm Kahraham, Briana Myers and Khepe-Ra Maat.
This week's quiz, again for a free movie pass: how many months have 28 days in them? Email your answer to Vicki, at Vicki.Brick@BrickBodies.com.
Okay, here is another question. This one should be an easy one. Who is the greatest cyclist of all time, at least according to the experts? Lance Armstrong? Wrong. It is Eddie Merckx. Eddie who? Why Eddie "The Cannibal" Merckx, of course, the famous Belgian cyclist who in the late 60's and early 70's won more stages of the Tour de France than Lance Armstrong and won his Tours by a wider margin, as well as winning other major races and world championships ... none of which Armstrong won. They called him "The Cannibal" because he ate all his competition for lunch! He won one Tour by 18 minutes! Lance's biggest margin of victory in his seven Tour victories was 13 minutes.
But if he is so great, why did he only win five tours while Lance won seven? Because that is all he set out to win. Five. Just like Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Jacques Anquetil. That was the standard at the time and that was what was thought possible. Until Armstrong, that is.
The size of the dream, my friend, the size of the dream. Why is it that records are always broken? Why is it that when a feat that was thought impossible is accomplished suddenly it becomes achievable by many? Within two years of Great Britain's Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile in 1954, 12 runners had accomplished the feat. Why? Because Bannister enlarged the size of the dream. Many others were certainly capable, most notably the great Gunder Haag of Sweden. But no one thought it possible. No one, that is, except Roger Bannister.
So, why don't more people think big? Why do so many people put a limit on what they think they can accomplish? Because they are afraid of failure. Because they listen to others. Because they doubt. And, as we all know, doubt is the killer of dreams.
But you know the funny thing about failure? The only failure is in the not trying. As my good friend Buzz Braman, The Shot Doctor says, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. Or, as any Little League baseball or softball coach knows, you can't hit the ball if you don't swing the bat.
Several years ago Lynne and I went to Scotland to tutor under a guy named Dan Pena. Dan started an energy company with $400 and turned it into a public company with a fair market value of $800 million. His goal was $2 billion. He missed his goal by over 50%. A failure in anyone's book. But he still had an $800 million company. You know what he said? "Just think if my goal had only been $1 billion. Or $500 million. Or $100 million." It's not about accomplishing your goal. It's about the size of the dream.
Lance had a bigger dream than Eddie. Now, granted, he accomplished that dream, which assures him a singularly unique spot in cycling history. Nonetheless, he had a bigger dream.
How about you? How big are your dreams? Are they realistic? Easily attainable? Do all they require is hard work and determination? Or are they BHAG's? Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals? The kind that are so compelling that when you tell them to people most think you are crazy. (Especially your mother-in-law!) You know what Ted Turner's dad told him? Set goals you cannot possibly accomplish in your lifetime. (And you also know what they say? Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law!)
As with most things, you can't take the dream thing entirely literally. For instance, most of us will never play in the NBA or sing in Carnegie Hall, no matter how big our dream is. But, if we choose something for which we have a talent and a passion, anything is possible. Just ask 5'4" Tyrone "Mugsy" Bogues of Baltimore's own Dunbar High School who played at Wake Forest and then for 14 years in the NBA. Fourteen years! At 5 feet, 4 inches tall! Ridiculous! When Wake beat Maryland, then Maryland coach Lefty Driesell said "Bogues went under us!"
We may not play in the NBA but if a poor boy from a broken home in Arkansas can become President of the United States... if an Austrian immigrant with an accent can become the highest paid actor in Hollywood... if an African-American woman from a broken home in Alabama can become the most influential woman in America... if a Stanford dropout can become the richest man in the world... if a guy with cancer given a 40 percent chance to live can win seven Tours de France, most of us can accomplish a lot more than we think.
It is all about the size of the dream.
Semper Fi,
|
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"It is not what we are that holds us back, but what we fear we are not."
|
|
|
