Message #42 - Stretch your Mind

Once Something is Stretched it never Goes Back to the Way it was Before. Anything you actually do is first contemplated (or incubated) as a thought in your mind. When you let your mind dwell on a thought long enough something very powerful happens. IF YOU CONTINUE TO HOLD A THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND YOU BEGIN TO GRAVITATE TOWARDS IT. What do I mean by this? Think about anything you've ever accomplished and you'll agree it first started with a thought that came into your mind that you formed into a goal. The greater the goal the more time you will spend thinking about it. The time spent thinking about the goal will be greater than anything else you think about...you will spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about it compared to everything else. There are many ways thoughts come into our minds. We are bombarded with all kinds of images, messages and situations. The moment we fixate on one of them we form a thought about it. If the thought is something we desire, we immediately rationalize and access how realistic it is to attain it. This is where most people fail. If they think they can't attain the goal they let the thought go and start thinking about something else. This reason why successful people realize their goals is that they keep the desired goal in their mind as a thought, and continually keep it there. Sometimes these people are characterized as one-dimensional or one track minded. I CALL THESE PEOPLE CHAMPIONS! By doing this you are are effectually "stretching" your mind; once you do this you will never be the same.

Message #41 - It's All In Your Mind

You are what you think about.

Think about the last time you were having a so called "bad day". Identify the sequences of events, and more importantly, the resulting thoughts you had from the events, that led up to you concluding you were having a "bad day".

What you will find is, when something happens to us that we don't like, we attached a bad thought or feeling to it. And conversely, when something happens to us that we like, we attached a good (or positive) thought or feeling to it.

This process just described puts us at the mercy of events and things that happen to us. If more bad things are happening to us than good things on a particular day; we think, feel, and say "I'm having a bad day". And the opposite is also true.

The problem is, what if you have something very important that you want to do or accomplish and your having a so called "bad day". Does your important accomplishment, by default, get automatically get included in the "bad day" your already having?

I'll show you how you can avoid this from happening. First you must start separating feelings and thoughts from events, and let your thoughts and resulting feelings STAND ON THEIR OWN, independent of any event.

When thoughts and resulting feelings are attached to an event, the event can, and will dictate your feelings. So if you are feeling bad as a result of negative events it will be impossible to perform at you best level at anything you endeavor to accomplish. I have witnessed people going through incredibly difficult events, but they seemed to still have JOY and inner peace. They may not have been happy, but they had an uncompromising joy and exuberance for life that couldn't be quenched.

Happiness is very different than JOY. Happiness IS based on what's happening to you - but - JOY isn't. For example: You're not going to be happy if you find out you have cancer, but you can have the knowledge that you are still the same person before and after the bad news, and that you also still possess the same intelligence, talent, charm, personality, desire and will before and after the bad news.

Allowing an event to affect your JOY and the essence of who you are is a CHOICE. It's YOUR CHOICE. Don't let an event or another person make that choice for you.

I use the cancer example because I've met people that are battling cancer right now, and I'm amazed at how positive these people are about life and about themselves. You see, these people have not let their circumstance or negative events in their life; define who they are, or steal their JOY of living, or diminish their desire to accomplish things.

If you string together enough bad thoughts as a result of negative feelings derived from negative things that happen to you, I guarantee that you will end up concluding "you are having a bad day"

www.LeeKemp.com

Message #40 - Resist the Feelings of Fear and Doubt and Perform Anyway

Consistent Performance requires Resisting the Feelings of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt in the midst of Challenge, Controversy and Disappointment.

I heard a story that exemplifies this principle:

"A well known circus performer was performing his act, with several large Bengal Tigers in a locked cage, before a live audience; when in the middle of his performance, the lights went out."

"For almost 30 seconds the circus performer was locked in with the tigers, in total darkness, with the audience starting to panic. The tigers, with their superb night vision, could see him, but he could not see them. The circus performer survived the ordeal, and when the lights came back on he finished his performance."

"After the performance the circus performer admitted he was afraid and felt immense and overwhelming fear, however, he said, he knew that even though he couldn't see the big tigers, they didn't know he couldn't see them. The circus performer acted in the cage as if nothing had happened and continued cracking his whip and talking to the tigers as he normally would until the lights came back on."

"The circus performer rested in the fact that the tigers never knew he couldn't see them. And so it is with each of us. Resist the urge to panic and feel despair in the midst of a "storm" in your life, and perform exactly as you were trained and exactly as you've prepared ahead of time."

Act in faith that your actions will be successful if you simply just carry them out exactly as planned.

Message #39 - Do Your Actions Mirror Your Words

Stop and Think About Several Important Things You SAID YOU Were Going to do. DID YOU DO THEM? What attempts did you make to do them? How PASSIONATE were you in trying to do them? You get my point.

Say Less and DO MORE. Keep track of what you say and reconcile it with what you actually DO.

I'm not talking about things like "I'm going to win this tournament" or I'm going to land this big business deal" or "I'm going to discover the cure for cancer". Truth is, we can't predict or see into the future, so we really don't know what's going to happen.

What I am talking about are things like "I'm going to bust my but today at practice and give it everything I've got", "I'm going to study everyday for eight hours so that I can be as prepared as possible to pass the Bar Exam", "I'm going to spend ONE (or 2 or 3...) entire day each week devoted to...", "I will help someone in need today", "I will not get angry today no matter what happens", "I will be positive today no matter what happens", "I will not give up today on anything even if it gets unbelievably hard", etc. These kind of affirmations are totally in our control and are predictable. The question becomes...do we actually do what's in our control. Or do we make excuses and turn our talk into just that...TALK. Do we walk the talk.

SAY LESS AND DO MORE...AND DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO.

Message #38 - See The Possibilities Before They Become Obvious

Don't Be Detoured By The Doubters & Naysayers; Your Future is Made Up Of The Things You Dream About Now...DREAM BIG!!!

Consider these statements by "so called" experts:

• "Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching" Tris Speaker, 1927.
  
  
• "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." -Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
  
  
• "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
  
  
• "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
  
  
• "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." -Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
  
  
• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
  
  
• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.) .
  
  
• This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -Western Union internal memo, 1876.
  
  
• "You should change your major to Phys Ed, the Business School is too tough for you" - A professor's response to Lee Kemp when he was seeking help in one of his business classes (Lee Kemp not only earned a Bachelors Degree in Business but a Masters of Business Degree (MBA) 1977.
  
  
• "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
  
  
• "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
  
  
• "The United States will never beat the Russians in Greco Roman Wrestling" - The general sentiment and consensus of "so called" wrestling experts of our day (The United States did the impossible, and won the team title in the 2008 World Greco Roman Wrestling Championships, in Baku Azerbaijan, by beating the Russian Team.)
  
  
• "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." -Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
  
  
• "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" -Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
  
  
• "You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training." -Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.
  
  
• "Don't set your goal that high, you'll only be disappointed when you don't reach it" - A coaches response to Lee Kemp's goal of wanting to be the first 4-time NCAA Champion 1974 (a split referees decision in overtime prevented Lee Kemp from achieving that goal).
  
  
• "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." -Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
  
  
• "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929 (Before the great stock market of 1930).
  
  
• "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
  
  
• "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981.
  
  
• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
  
  
• "But what ... is it good for?" -Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
  
  
• "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
  

I think you get the picture...

www.LeeKemp.com

Message #37 - Having The Right Attitude

The Difference Between Having The Right Attitude and Almost Having The Right Attitude is the Difference Between Lightning and The Lightning Bug!

What do I mean by that? Well there is a heck of a big difference between what Lightning can do and what a Lightning Bug can do; but they sound similar. Lightning really sounds powerful until the word bug is added to it. Lightning and Lightning Bug sounds like they could be similar until you examine what they both can do; then you conclude they are not close at all.

The same is true when we have a Lightning Bug Attitude. A little flash that's only visible when it's dark outside. But when Lightning flashes across the sky it doesn't matter how much daylight is present; it lights up the entire sky and is clearly seen by all. Lightning never goes unnoticed.

When we come up short in a task or achieving a goal we find solace in thinking "well I was close". We all know being close doesn't count really. We need the lightning and not the lightning bug.

We see the "Light" in our "minds eye" that tells us we're giving our best effort. But is the light we see coming from our effort a Lighting Bolt, or just the glow from a Lightning Bug. Not all "Light" is as bright nor is the same.

Attitude is the key driver of success and achievement. Be a lightning bolt. Light up the place with your effort and attitude. Let your effort soar to heights you never thought possible because the power of your attitude was just like lightning...Limitless and Powerful!

Which do you have in your Attitude? Lightning or Just a Lighting Bug!

Message #36 - Start With A Blank Canvas...And Paint Your Future

"Speed of the Ship is the Speed of the Captain". Don't You Know That "You Are The Captain of Your Success Ship"...What's Your Speed?

Over the years I've noticed that this quote is true, not only with my life but also in the lives of others. If you want to find out where a team, business or any organization is going, just simply take the time to meet the people in charge.

The same is true for each of us as individuals. I can tell you where an individual is going by simply spending some time with them and observing their "speed". I don't want to sound judgemental but a person's actions speaks much louder than their words.

I get asked all the time by younger wrestlers "what do I have to do to become a good wrestler?" I always answer this question the same way by answering with this question, "what are you doing now to become a good wrestler?" The wrestler's answer is almost always the same, "Well I'm not doing anything yet".

Then I ask the "killer" question, "have you ever been to a camp or clinic and been inspired by hearing an accomplished wrestler or athlete tell their success story?" The answer is usually "yes". Then I ask "why haven't you started doing the things that you heard this accomplished person say they did to have greater success?" The answer is usually "I don't know".

This to me is like standing in front of your "success canvas" and putting your paint brush down and leaving all the colors in their containers, and staring at your canvas and wondering why it doesn't change for you. The inspiration has to come from within and be sustained. There can be a catalyst, like a motivation talk, to ignite the inspiration, but is has to be sustained from within.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got. If your not happy with where your at then start with a "blank canvas" and dream and paint...then dream some more and paint...then dream some more and paint...you get the "picture"

Message #35 - Breaking Through Fear

In War it Has Been Said That There are Only Two Types of Soldiers - Those with Courage and Those without Courage. Those with Courage are sometimes called Heroes and Those Without are sometimes called Cowards.

No one likes to talk about FEAR in sports (and War) because it somehow makes us seem weak and wimpy when we admit and acknowledge it; when in fact everyone feels fear. And certainly no one wants to be called a coward. The connection here is Contact and Combat sports are much like war. The more violent the situation - the more like war. Wrestling and certainly more so, MMA fights, are like war.

The mind senses the stress of the situation and involuntarily signals the fear emotion. Since the fear emotion is involuntary and out of our control, the reality is, EVERYONE FEELS FEAR.

In war the HEROES respond, act and perform appropriately, according to their preparation and training, and they do all this at the right time...RIGHT ACTION; RIGHT TIME.

Quite simply, those who lack courage feel the same fear but either don't act or don't act appropriately, or if they do act - they act at the wrong time, and ultimately miss the opportunity. WRONG OR NO ACTION; WRONG TIME.

Frankly, we've all felt like cowards at one time or another based on what you've just read, haven't we? I know I have. We simply froze and didn't act (or perform like we've trained). We knew we were hesitating and shutting down, but felt we could do nothing about it.

Since FEAR is felt by all, then HOW does the Hero perform with courage when overcome by this paralyzing emotion, while others become paralyzed and fail?

HAVING COURAGE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR, BUT THE ABILITY TO FEEL THE FEAR AND ACT AND PERFORM ANYWAY!

IT'S A CHOICE. HEROES DON'T PLAN TO BE HEROES. THEY JUST SIMPLY ACT AND PERFORM IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT, IN SPITE OF THE OBSTACLES AND CIRCUMSTANCES.

TELL YOURSELF YOU WILL ACT AND PERFORM NO MATTER WHAT!