“Dream BIG, be unrealistic.”
Jay-Z
“Outside your comfort zone is the answer to all your dreams.
You need to expand your comfort zone.”
Coach Mike Tully
My friend and mentor, Coach Tully is the creator of Total Game Plan, a terrific website dedicated to peak performance (totalgameplan.com). He’s teamed up with Dr. Rob Gilbert of Success Hotline (973.743.4690) for a series on “How to Do the Impossible” and has been posting inspiring blogs on this theme for the past two weeks. If you need a dose of motivation — and who doesn’t? — be sure to check them out! Each has a can-do message that we can all apply to our writing. Here’s a peek:
“Impossible Weather” focuses on Norwegian explorer Raold Amundsen, who led the first successful trip to the North Pole. Coach Tully notes, “Amundsen made it to the pole driven by a force that produces miracles, namely, competition. Amundsen was trying to beat British explorer Robert F. Scott to the goal. This rivalry drove Amundsen, a precise man with the heart of a wilderness explorer, to plan better, to think better, to execute better.”
“Impossible Rejection” tells the story of Walt Disney’s quest to create Disneyland. Originally, he wanted to build his theme park in Burbank, California but Burbank turned him down. Instead of spending time and energy trying to convince the city to reconsider, Walt regrouped and chose a new site, Anaheim. As Coach Tully notes, “In getting a door slammed in his face, Disney ranks with so many other greats who were turned down: Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Stephen King and the Beatles. They all tried again, not letting rejection stop them.”
“Impossible Feedback” focuses on how to use this valuable tool as a springboard for growth and success. “Feedback is information from the past that you can use in the present to create a better future,” notes Rob Gilbert: It can point the way to making adjustments that can transform your performance. According to Coach Tully, “the coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team learned things from a 10-3 loss to the Soviet Union just a week before the Olympics. He used the feedback to beat the Soviets 4-3 en route to a gold medal.”
Whatever our writing goals, pushing past our comfort zones, letting go of self-imposed limitations, and using rejection and feedback as fuel are all stepping stones to creating the life we want. For some inspiring help, be sure to check out Coach Tully’s Total Game Plan and Rob Gilbert’s Success Hotline — these are tools you can use to keep yourself motivated and improve your performance. They’ve also teamed up on two terrific books, Think Better, WIN MORE! and Thank God You’re Lazy. Write on!
