A story: Back in the 1960s, Dick Fosbury was a young man on a mission – he wanted to excel as a track-and-field athlete. He proved to be a good high jumper and competed with some success in track and field. But at a certain point, he plateaued – he seemed to have reached the maximum height that his body could clear. He kept trying using the standard jump style, but he would knock the bar down and be disqualified. What to do? What to do?

Dick’s head was telling him that he’d gone as high as he could go – that he’d reached a limit and his full potential. But his heart told hm differently. He listened to his heart.

He began to experiment with every different way he could propel his body over the bar. The approach he developed – the new strategy he came up with for clearing the bar – was different from anything anyone had seen. He began jumping head first with the flat of the back clearing the bar; then he would draw his knees in like a jack-knife. When people first started watching his new routine, they walked away shaking their heads.

But here’s the end of the story: In the 1968 Olympics, Dick Fosbury won a gold medal for the United States and set a new Olympic high-jump record. Many of the world’s best high jumpers have modeled their style on what came to be called the “Fosbury Flop.”

Amazing story, isn’t it? Dick Fosbury’s victory was born of fresh thinking, dogged determination and experimentation – and a big dose of heart. Today, you may be facing some big challenge, some big problem – just as Dick did some 50 years ago. And your head may be telling you that you can’t handle it – you’re not skilled enough or talented enough. You don’t have what it takes.

But your heart? It may be saying something else very different. It may be saying that you have everything you need already inside you, that you can figure it out and find a way to succeed despite what your head and even the people around you, are telling you.

On his Success Hotline,* my wonderful friend and mentor Rob Gilbert is fond of saying, “You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the number of apples in a seed.” How true! Who knows how far your potential can take you? Not even you can truly answer that, can you?

So if you’re wrestling with something big, why not see it as an oportunity to shine instead of an obstacle? Why not try some fresh thinking, a new strategy, another avenue? We all have roadblocks to overcome – let’s create our own versions of the “Fosbury Flop” and go over, under, around, or through them. Write on!

*Check out Dr. Gilbert’s wonderful Success Hotline at 973.743,4690.

Please help KWD grow by sharing: https://karinwritesdangerously.com/