Message #114 - "DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU"

Live Your Dream..!

A woman lay on her bed at the end of her life waiting to die.

Her dream came to pay his last respects and bid farewell to the woman who had never used it.

As it entered the room the woman hung her head down in shame and embarrassment.

“Why did you not realize me?” the dream asked.

“Because I was afraid,” the woman replied.

“Afraid of what?” asked the dream.

“I was afraid I would fail.”

“But haven’t you failed by not attempting to use me?”.

“Yes I did. But I’ve been busy. I always thought there would be tomorrow to pursue my dreams.”

“You Foolish woman!” said the dream. “Did it never occur to you that there was only ever today? The moment that you are in right now? Do you think now that death is here you can put it off until tomorrow?”

“No…” sighed the woman, a tear gently slipping down her cheek.

The dream was softer now, because it knew that there were two types of pain, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret, and while discipline weighs mere ounces, regret weighs pounds.

Then the dream leaned forward to gently wipe the tear away from her cheek and whispered, “You need only have taken the first step, and I would have taken one to meet you, for the only thing that ever separated us was the belief in your mind that you couldn’t have me”.

Then they said goodbye and they both died.

--- Adapted from anonymous story about a man’s dream
www.LeeKemp.com

Message #107 - Dream vs Duck....

Dreaming to Accomplish Something versus Ducking to avoid something... In Life our Actions are Based on either trying to Gain Something or Trying to Avoid Something...

That's really what achievement is all about. We all know achieving something can be hard and requires overcoming many obstacles and setbacks.

The challenging question for all of us when faced with challenges and hardships is: "Do we continue Dreaming or do we start to "Duck" or avoid the challenges".

Ducking to me involves avoidance; hiding; deception; denial; accepting the status quo; hoping for something better rather than seeking something better; sitting in the back of the class so you don't get called on; putting in the minimal time - leaving work or practice right at the scheduled quitting time - no extra effort; seeking no extra responsibility, being on the Defensive always countering someone else's attack having none of your own.... etc.

Dreaming is just the opposite of all these: Meet vs avoid; Reveal vs hide; Truth vs deception; Approval vs Denial (Denial means Don't, Even, Notice, I, Am, Lying); Reject status quo vs accept status quo and so on...

Duck has another connotation: Ducks are not viewed as strong, in fact they are weak. You can think of Ducks as always complaining ­ (quacking) ­ about their failures and something not being right.

Compare the Duck to the majestic Eagle and think of the Eagle as Dreaming instead. Eagles soar above the fray. Eagles have no limits. They are strong, confident and have no equal.

Don't have a Duck mentality but have a Dream mentality. Let the Dream - soaring like an Eagle, mentality travel with you for the rest of your life; don't embrace ducking through life; don't be a duck... but be an Eagle and keep Dreaming.

www.LeeKemp.com

Message #84 - Living Backwards in Time...

Live into Your Dreams!

The first time I heard the phrase "Living Backward in Time" I questioned what it meant. I thought it had something to do with living in the past... something we definitely don't want to do. However once I fully understood what it meant I immediately embraced the concept.

1. Start with the Goal you want to attain (which is a future event) visualize and embrace the goal as if you have already attained it... Know that it's yours.  
   
2. Once you've visualized and embraced the goal ask yourself "how did I get here?"
   
3. Write down all the things you did to get to your Goal... the training, preparation, studying, discipline, sacrificing etc... 
   
4. From that point... "Live Backward in Time" to the present (this is the point you're at right now) doing all the things necessary to make sure the future events unfold the way you envisioned it.
   
5. Each day "TiVo" your life and watch the replay of your past days actions, accessing whether your actions really do align with the things you've outlined in #3 above as the "way you got to your goal." 
   
6. TAKE ACTION!
7. If your actions of the past day aren't in line with step#3 above (and in turn your goal)... make a CHANGE... CHANGE THE NEXT EPISODE of your upcoming day's actions so that your are always on track! 

DREAM BIG!

www.LeeKemp.com

Message #67 - A __ __ A __ I __ ......

If you were pretending to be what ever it is you're aspiring to be, HOW WOULD YOU ACT?

That's my question for YOU.

In my case as a young wrestler back in the 70's I had the good fortune and opportunity to be in the presence of Dan Gable - arguably the one single person that's had the greatest impact on wrestling in this country.

Gable's impact reached deep to all of us young wrestling "wanna bees". I was 15 years old when I went to a wrestling camp Gable was teaching at. It was the summer of 1972. That summer Gable won the Olympic Gold medal in Munich Germany.

Gable had such an impact on me that I started to ACT AS IF.... I WAS DAN GABLE. That's right. I started to pretend I was Dan Gable.

With that idea came a huge amount of responsibility. I started to do what I saw Gable do at that camp (he was in his final training for the Olympics so he was very focused and intense).

WOW! THAT PUT ME INTO A DIFFERENT WORLD! ... I MEAN I WAS ON A DIFFERENT PLANET FROM EVERYONE ELSE!

There were times I wanted to NOT BE DAN GABLE. I was putting myself through some killer workouts and felt tremendous pressure. At times I didn't think is was worth it.

BUT SOMETHING INTERESTING HAPPENED.

I started to win more. You get the picture. It wasn't hard to convince myself that I was on the right tract. I went on to do a lot of winning in wrestling because of Dan Gable.

REMEMBER ALL I DID WAS SPEND SOME TIME IN HIS PRESENCE. I didn't know him and he doesn't even remember that specific camp where I met him.

So I ask you this question. If your were pretending to be what ever it is you're aspiring to be, HOW WOULD YOU ACT? WHAT ADDITIONAL THINGS WOULD YOU DO?

If someone was watching you would they be able to characterize you as someone who was at the Top of their profession?

ACT AS IF ... If you haven't figured it out yet that's what the A __ __A __ I __ stands for...

Message # 65 - Logic You're Not Wanted Here!

If Only We Could Have the Faith as a Little Child and Believe in Our Dreams...

Consider These Thoughts from Some Accomplished People:

• I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true. --Debi Thomas, World Figure Skating Champion.
  
  
• Ideals (like Dreams) are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them. --Carl Schurz, Missourt Senator from 1869 to 1875. (blue is my comment)
  
  
• If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. --Henry David Thoreau, an American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.
  
  
• I have had dreams, and I have had nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams. --Jonas Salk, an American Biologist and Physician best known for the research and development of the first effective polio vaccine.
  
  
• Everyday is another chance to make your dreams come true. --don't know who said this.
  
  
• Great love and great achievements involve great risk. --this either.
  
  
• Do not follow where the path leads. Rather, go where there is no path and leave a trail. --I like this one.
  
  
• Dreams defy all reason and logic so you don't have to justify them...just believe in them. --Lee Kemp, 3-Time World Champion & Youngest American World Wrestling Champion.

Message #48 - Dream Big and Always Believe in Your Dream!

People May Doubt...Just Believe Anyway!!!

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 #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 #34 - Love The Process

Winning Does Not Lead to Passion; Passion Leads to Winning

You must absolutely Love The Process in order for this success principle to work. You're wondering "WHAT IS THE PROCESS". Well, the process is EVERYTHING that comes before the success. This includes the PRACTICE time; the REHEARSAL time; the DRILLING time; the LEARNING time; the GETTING THE DETAILS RIGHT time; the REBOUNDING AFTER A SET BACK time; the OVERCOMING A BAD CALL time; the REHABILITATION AFTER AN INJURY time; the THINKING ABOUT QUITTING time. All in all. you must love the PROCESS in order to reach the highest goal possible.

It is the LOVE of the PROCESS that separates the mere team members (what ever the team - sports, business, whatever) from the State, National and World Champions! Granted the champions are team members too, but before the champions became champions they first LOVED the process.

Think about this. I've read when Michael Jordan played, his love of the game of basketball was so great that he would have played for nothing (in fact he had a "love of the game clause" in his contract that allowed him to play basketball when ever and where ever he wanted). Larry Bird has said the same thing. Other great achievers in various disciplines have said the same thing..."they would have worked and toiled at their craft regardless of any reward". Quite simply THEY LOVED THE PROCESS, and by loving the process they were able to achieve great success.

It the case of Michael and Larry, it was their PASSION for the game of Basketball that paved the way for them to become great basketball players. This is going to sound crazy, but these two great basketball players in my opinion, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, actually loved the game more than they loved WINNING. Think about Michael's career with the Chicago Bulls how he hung in there all those losing years with the Bulls but he himself playing really great basketball. It was his great love of the game that came before the great periods of winning.

A lot of good athletes in high school sometimes fail to excel when they get to college, or even quit their sport after they get to college. I believe these athletes realized they were going to have to "climb the mountain" again and do all the work necessary to get back on top (just like they did in High School), and when they relalized this they didn't want to do it again. IT IS A LOVE OF THE PROCESS THAT IS THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS.

Message #30 - Dream the Impossible

Every Time I Fly in an Airplane I'm Still Amazed.


What Are You Now Going To Set Out to Accomplish...That You First Thought Was Impossible...??? The Ball is in Your Court!