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MESSAGE #915 FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING…

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Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Nikki White in Oklahoma City.

“The reason sport is attractive to many of the general public is that it’s filled with reversals. What you think may happen doesn’t happen. A champion is beaten, an unknown becomes a champion.”
-ROGER BANNISTER

The year after Roger Bannister broke the previously thought physically impossible four-minute mile, 37 runners also ran a sub-four minute mile. A year after that, three hundred runners did the same.

There are no limits. Anything is possible. Does the fastest horse always win the race?

For the first time, the New Orleans Saints are going to the Super Bowl.

For the first time, there are two quarterfinalists in the Australian Open from China.

And this is just in the past couple of days!

Michelangelo said that the problem is not that we set our sights too high and we don’t reach them, it’s that we set our sights too low and we DO reach them.

If you have a growth mindset and focus on constant improvement, the sky is the limit.

Shoot for the moon. If you miss, at least you will be among the stars.

See you in orbit…

MESSAGE #772 MORE UPSETS IN THE US OPEN…

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Yesterday I was at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for another beautiful day of US Open tennis.

But for some of the top players, it wasn’t so beautiful.

Maria Sharapova lost.

Andy Roddick lost.

Dinara Safina lost.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s message, anything can happen.

In the world of running, Roger Bannister ran a four-minute mile in 1954, after all the experts said it was impossible. Then, thirty-eight people did the same thing the following year.

The same thing is happening now at the 2009 US Open. The youngsters are invading. The underdogs are prevailing. They know they have a chance. And so do the top players.

My condolences to Sharapova, Roddick and Safina. Here are my tips to you…

1. Winners know that a loss is a source of feedback.
2. There is no such thing as failure, only new beginnings.
3. You don’t drown by falling in water, you drown by staying there.
4. A loss is like a knife, it can either serve you or cut you. It’s your choice whether you grasp them by the blade or the handle.
5. Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

Tuesday I will be back at the Open bright and early doing tennis trivia in the ticket line with Denise Capriati and giving away a few signed copies of my book, “Game. Set. Life.”

Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #463 FOR ALL YOU RUNNERS OUT THERE…

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Today’s message is especially dedicated to all the runners that participated in the recent New York City Marathon, especially Todd Kovacs, who read “Game. Set. Life.”…hope it helped!

From The Quotable Runner…

“To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain – not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it.”
Dr. George Sheehan

“If I am beaten the next time I run, I do not mind. If you have a salad that is all one thing, all lettuce, it is not good. It has no flavor. So victory, always, would be flat. You must mix it with defeat to gain the flavor.”
Gerard Cote, four-time Boston Marathon champion in the 1940s

“My life is a gift to me from my Creator. What I do with my life is my gift back to the Creator.”
Billy Mills

“Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.”
Sir Roger Bannister

“There are people who have no bodies, only heads. And many athletes have no heads, only bodies. A champion is a man who has trained his body and his mind, who has learned to conquer pain for his own purposes. A great athlete is at peace with himself and at peace with the world; he has fulfilled himself. He envies nobody. Wars are caused by people who have not fulfilled themselves.”
Coach Sam Dee in The Olympian

“Who are you? Who are you?”
Japanese official to Billy Mills after he won the 10,000 in Tokyo

“Have a dream, make a plan, go for it. You’ll get there, I promise.”
Zoe Koplowitz, Achilles Track Club member with multiple sclerosis, who required 24 hours on crutches but finished the 1993 New York City Marathon


Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #460 DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!

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Nobody knows you better than you. So don’t worry about those people who don’t believe in you – they don’t know you! I know anything is possible and that if you want anything badly enough, you can achieve it…

“Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.”

–Roger Bannister (After becoming the first person to break the four-minute mile, 1952)

And guess what? After Bannister broke the four-minute mile, 37 others did so as well within the following year.

Impossible?

Never.


Thanks for reading.