Message #103 - You Don't Have to Like It.......

Sometimes You Have to do What you don't like to Achieve What you Want.

I get asked a lot what I did to be a successful wrestler and the main thing I say is a lot of what I did I really didn't like.

The problem with being successful is most of us have a fuzzy idea what it takes! We all want the end result...the spoils... the victory... the nice house... car... etc.

The problem continues with most people only focusing on the part of the process they like. Based on the God given natural abilities you got at birth and the skills you have been able to attain you will land somewhere on the success scale.

If the place you land on the success scale is not where you want to be, then SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE.

THE CHANGE THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE usually involves DOING THINGS WE REALLY DON'T LIKE.... and SINCE MOST OF US RESIST DOING THINGS WE DON'T LIKE THE SUCCESS WE WANT NEVER COMES.

As a wrestler there were many aspects to training I really liked. But there also were some things I didn't like... I really disliked RUNNING... and I avoided it as much as I could.

When I was at my first elite level training camp in 1978 training for the World Championships I was introduced to running by Coach Dan Gable. We ran HARD every day. Up hills... over gravel roads... in sand... with guys on our backs... ect.

Because it was Gable and because I was convinced I needed it to win... I did it with excellence and with a good attitude... I strived to win or be in the front of every run.

Figure out what you have been avoiding because you don't like it and really determine if that very thing, if you were doing it, can help you toward a goal you have.

www.LeeKemp.com

Message #99 - ANTICIPATE don't HESITATE...

Anticipate SUCCESS and look forward to what you WANT to actually HAPPEN... BELIEVE in yourself and your abilities.

The key to being able to anticipate the thing, event or whatever happening is to first COMMIT to it. This is the golden nugget. This, however, is easier said than done.

The reason why commitment is so important and has to come first in any endeavor, achievement and success is: ...... Watch This and make note of the point to follow........

Until one is COMMITTED there is HESITANCY...the chance to change your mind... the chance to draw back... the chance to not try as hard... the chance to QUIT. Yes I said quit. We all want to quit sometimes.

It is always easier to quit when there's no commitment, or weak commitment. Without commitment there is always ineffectiveness.

There is a unlimited stream of inner strength, resolve, and "get tough grit" that occurs at the very moment of the decision to COMMIT to something. Also at this moment (the moment of making the decision to commit) a whole host of other things begin to occur that divinely tips the scales in our favor that ultimately helps us achieve our goal. I can't explain this exactly, but it's POWERFUL and it has proven itself to me time and time again in my life.

I've had unforeseen incidents, chance meetings, help and assistance in my life (all helping me towards achieving my goal) that before they happened I could not have even dreamed of any of it coming my way. You've heard of the saying "you don't know what you don't know". Like I said I can't fully explain it but these divine powers are only unleashed once you commit to something.

Click HERE to read some of my past blog posts on COMMITMENT.
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 #51 - If Your Not Where You Want to Be, Maybe Your Not Dreaming Big Enough!

Dream Bigger!!!

• That's Right...Let Your Imagination Run Wild and Shoot for the Stars.

• Be a dreamer and DREAM BIGGER. When you walk down the street look towards the heavens and DREAM.

• No one has every achieved GREATNESS by surprise. Sometimes we can be at the right place at the right time and something good can happen to us, but true accomplishment is expected, deliberate and planned.

• It may not happen when you want...but it's RIGHT ON TIME when it happens.

• Be careful not to compare yourself with someone great right now if your not where you want to be, but go back in time and compare yourself with that person when they were getting started. You'll be suprised at where some great people were when they got started.
  

• Remember setbacks are a chance to reaffirm your goals.

• Remember Commitment is the foundation of all Success. See Message #15 - “Burn the Ships”

Message #46 - Stay Focused on Your Goals

Be Prepared to Be Tested...

• What is a TEST? A test is when you are challenged...when you doubt...when you stumble...when you don't succeed at first...when you feel like quitting...when you fail...when you think your not good enough...when you get sick...when you get tired...when you are wondering how in the world are you're going to do this...
  


• A test is merely a chance to reaffirm your commitment to your goal. Welcome any and all opportunities to be tested, because after going through the test you become stronger. So the more tests - the stronger you become.
  


• Stand firm and determined not to quit during the test knowing that when you make it through you will be stronger and more committed to the goal.
  


• Never let the outcome of a test discourage you from your goals. Always remember your desire is to achieve your goal and not any particular test.
  

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 #33 - Go for Your Dreams!

Don't Ever Give Up




Inspire and be an Inspiration!

Message #31 - Dreaming Big Wilma Rudolph Style

This is an Amazing Story About one of American's Greatest Athletes and her Mother!

On June 23, 1940, Wilma Rudolph was born in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Having been born prematurely and weighing only 4.5 pounds, little Wilma was susceptible to illness and her mother spent several years nursing her through measles, mumps and scarlet fever.

One day her family noticed that Wilma's left foot was becoming weak. Her mother took her to the doctor who informed them that Wilma had polio and would never walk.

Wilma's mother refused to accept the diagnosis. She had something special in her heart - she had the power of belief and she told her young daughter that one day she would walk. Wilma's mother had the belief the led her to take action and twice a week for the next two years, she took her daughter for treatment to a hospital that was over 50 miles away.

The doctors at the hospital taught Mrs. Rudolph how to perform the physical therapy exercises Wilma needed and every night she would massage her daughter's legs late into the evening.
Wilma progressed slowly but steadily. By the time she was seven she could walk with the aid of metal leg braces.

At school, Wilma sat and watched the other children running and told herself that one day she too would enjoy the freedom of being able to run.

In 1952, 12 year old Wilma finally threw away her metal leg braces and was able to walk without assistance for the first time. It was then that she made the decision to be an athlete.

She started to play basketball and also did some running in the off season to keep fit. As time progressed, Wilma became a basketball star, setting state records and leading her team to a state championship.

During one basketball match, Wilma was spotted by the Tennessee State track and field coach Edward Temple who was amazed by Wilma's athletic ability. With coach Temple's help, Wilma turned her focus from basketball to running and she never looked back.

By the time she was 16, Wilma had earned a spot on the US Olympic track and field team and won a bronze medal in the 4×100m relay at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Four years later, Wilma Rudolph won three Olympic Gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics in the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay. The little girl who was once crippled was now "The fastest woman in history."

"I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened." - Wilma Rudolph

When you DREAM BIG...Anything is Possible!

Message #24 - What is Commitment?

Remember the Story about the Chicken and the Pig, and how they contribute to our Breakfast? What's a small sacrifice of the eggs for the Chicken, becomes a total commitment for the Pig when he provides the bacon.

Joking aside. There is Great Power in making a Commitment. People often think because they are making some sacrifices (large or small) towards a goal that they are committed to the goal; when in fact they are not really committed at all. Sacrifices and Commitments are different...very different!

Sacrifices may get you in the game but commitments get the job done! Making Sacrifices are a lot like making Promises in that when things get tough, promises are ofter broken and sacrifices are often stopped. What separates sacrifices and promises from commitments is that Commitments are Never Broken or Stopped. Sounds tough when you hear it like that.

“Unless a commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes and maybe a little sacrifice...., but no plan of definite action and uncompromising will to succeed"

The one common denominator for all personal achievement is a person's ability to make a Commitment (to themselves) to do what every it takes to achieve the Goal. It's the "Let's Get'er Done"..."Cowboy up"..."Burn Your Ship"..."Go Ahead Make My Day" or quite simply "I'm going to do this no matter what!!! attitude". Remember commitments are NEVER BROKEN.

"Chickens and Pigs look at life differently...Which are you?"

Message #23 - Over and Above Your Expectations

What Would You Accomplish If You Knew You Could Not Fail!

WHAT IF THE ABOVE STATEMENT WERE TRUE FOR YOU.

What if you had the revelation that anything you tried would be successful. WHAT THEN WOULD YOU SET OUT TO DO?

Would you set out to discover the cure for the deadliest cancers known to the world?

Would you strive to break a record that was said could never be broken?

Would you go to medical school?

Would you tryout for the varsity team?

Would you try out for the Olympic Team?

Would you make an attempt to repair a broken relationship?

Would you attempt to create something that has never existed before?

Would you set out to climb Mt. Everest?

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? EVERY SUCCESSFUL GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT STARTED OUT WITH SMALL FAILURES ALONG HE WAY. IT'S THE CONVICTION TO THE LONG-TERM GOAL THAT ALLOWS YOU TO OVER LOOK THE SMALL FAILURES.

ACT IS IF YOU COULD ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING YOU SET OUT TO DO!

Message #20 - Dreaming Big Jamill Kelly Style

Never Quit and Never Give Up! You Never Know When Your Breakthrough is Coming.

Deep down inside Jamill Kelly always believed that some day he would WIN BIG...and he DID!

Jamill made the 2003 World Team and Made the 2004 Olympic Team by beating opponents that won a combined total of 5 NCAA Titles.

Jamill Never Won A State Title and he Never Placed in the NCAA's



IMPRESSIVE ISN'T IT!

Message #18 - Dreaming Big Shackleton Style

Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance

In December 1914, Shackleton set sail, on "the Endurance" with his 27-man crew, to accomplish something that had never been done before...to be the first to completely cross the Antarctic continent on foot. This was an extremely dangerous mission.

To select many of the 27-man crew, it is said, they had responded to the following recruitment notice: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. —Ernest Shackleton."

Ice conditions were unusually harsh, and the wooden ship, which Shackleton had renamed Endurance after his family motto, Fortitudine Vincimus—"by endurance we conquer," became trapped in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea. For 10 months, the Endurance drifted, locked within the ice, until the pressure crushed the ship. With meager food, clothing and shelter, Shackleton and his men were stranded on the ice floes, where they camped for five months.

When they had drifted to the northern edge of the pack, encountering open leads of water, the men sailed the three small lifeboats they'd salvaged to a bleak crag called Elephant Island. They were on land for the first time in 497 days; however, it was uninhabited and, due to its distance from shipping lanes, provided no hope for rescue.

Recognizing the severity of the physical and mental strains on his men, Shackleton and five others immediately set out to take the crew's rescue into their own hands. In a 22-foot lifeboat named the James Caird, they accomplished the impossible, surviving a 17-day, 800-mile journey through the world's worst seas to South Georgia Island, where a whaling station was located.

The six men landed on an uninhabited part of the island, however, so their last hope was to cross 26 miles of mountains and glaciers, considered impassable, to reach the whaling station on the other side. Starved, frostbitten and wearing rags, Shackleton and two others made the trek, and on the afternoon of May 20, 1916, Shackleton, Worsley and Crean walked into South Georgia's Stromness station. They had marched non-stop for 36 hours. Dressed in rags and black with blubber smoke, they were unrecognizable. The station manager asked "Who the hell are you?" "My name is Shackleton," was the modest reply.

After arriving at the Stromness station, Shackleton made immediate plans to rescue the Elephant Island group. The Norwegians volunteered a ship; but 60 miles from Elephant Island, the ice prevented the unprotected vessel from continuing. As the months passed, Shackleton made increasingly frantic rescue attempts, each time thwarted by ice or weather. At last, on August 30, they succeeded in bringing through the Yelcho, a tug loaned by the Chilean government. It was their fourth attempt. Four months had passed since the Caird's departure, and Shackleton feared the worst.

On Elephant Island, the Yelcho was spotted. As the castaways ran onto the beach, Shackleton, straining through binoculars, counted anxiously. "They are all there!" Worsley reported him crying. It was August 1916, 21 months after the initial departure of the Endurance, Shackleton returned to rescue the men on Elephant Island. Although they'd withstood the most incredible hardship and privation, not one member of the 28-man crew was lost.

Shackleton was quoted as saying "If anything should happen to those fellows while waiting for me, I shall feel like a murderer."

Message #15 - “Burn the Ships”

Commitment is the foundation of all Success

This phrase “Burn The Ships” comes from a historic conquest of history when, in 1519, Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico on the shores of the Yucatan, with only one objective…seize the great treasures known to be there, hoarded by the Aztecs. Cortez was committed to his mission and his quest for riches is legendary. Cortez was an excellent motivator, he convinced more than 500 soldiers and 100 sailors to set sail from Spain to Mexico, commanding 11 ships, to take the world’s riches treasure. The historic question is “how a small band of Spanish soldiers arrived in a strange country and swiftly brought about the overthrow of a large and powerful empire that was in power for over six centuries?”

For Cortez, the answer was easy. It was all or nothing! A Complete and Total Commitment. Here’s how Cortez got the “buy in” from the rest of his men. He took away the option of failure. It was conquer and be hero’s and enjoy the spoils of victory…or DIE! When Cortez and his men arrived on the shores of the Yucatan he rallied the men for one final pep talk before leading his men into battle, and utters these three words that changed the course of history. “Burn the Ships”.

He met with resistance from his men. "Burn the ships," he repeated. He then uttered these words "if we are going home, we are going home in their ships". With that, Cortez and his men burned their own ships, and by burning their own ships, the commitment level of the men was raised to a whole new level. A level much higher than any of the men, including Cortez, could have ever imagined.

Amazingly, the men conquered the Aztecs and had succeeded in something where others had been unsuccessful for six centuries. With the victory Cortez and his men took the treasure. Why did they win? They had no escape. No fall back position. They had no choice! It was "succeed or die". Their ships were burned. They had no way to get back. Their backs were to the wall.

To “really succeed” you must have an attitude much like that of Cortez and his men. Cortez and his men did not have a “crutch” or “fall back position”. They frankly didn’t have any options. It was simply “succeed or DIE”. Pretty strong position, isn’t it? How would you like to be engaged in fighting someone with that level of motivation and commitment?

This is the level of motivation and commitment you must have. The “BURN YOUR SHIP” level of motivation and commitment. Take away your crutches and excuses and burn the ships that are keeping you from achieving your goals. Identity the ships in your life that are keeping you from accomplishing dreams. I have a saying and it’s “Dream Big”. I have a new saying and it’s “Burn your Ship”. You see, whatever prevents you from achieving your goals and dreams are ships that must be burned. Not dismantled, or run ashore…but burned and destroyed.

If we know that our ships are still out there, when things get tough we instinctively head for our ships so we can escape. It's just human nature. The path of least resistance. This level of thinking and commitment sees sacrifice as a positive thing, not something weird or impossible, but something to be cherished and fought for. Cortez didn’t allow himself or his men to have the option of going back to Spain. By removing this option, Cortez and his men were forced to focus on how they could make the mission successful. And so it is with you. How can you make the missions in your life successful?

This is really a story about commitment. Commitment is the foundation of success. Not a single accomplishment is ever achieved without it. By focusing on commitment, we seal our future.