This year I’m making the effort to re-evaluate how I see the world. By examining how successful people view the world and then putting their ideas into practice to see how it can impact my life. We develop our worldview through our own experience and we can be stubborn in thinking that those views are the only way. If you look at yourself and you’re not where you want to be then maybe it’s worth re-evaluating if how you think about the world is the best way.
The first person I’m looking at, is legendary Powerlifter Mark Bell. Bell is known primarily for his powerlifting career and incredible feats of strength, but also, for his invention the Sling Shot, along with his social media presence where he shares information in order to help others. The ideas in this post are taken from this video and are about fostering a mindset for success not strength training per se.
Hold yourself accountable to a higher regard. Things you should hold yourself accountable to, are things that you feel will make you happy.
The entire underlying theme of this video is that you’re capable of much more but you need to cultivate self-belief. In order to do this, you must to hold yourself accountable and stop giving yourself excuses. What you hold yourself accountable to depends entirely on your goals. What do you want to achieve this year? How can you hold yourself accountable to those goals? We give ourselves excuses every day and part of getting around this, is planning, which I’ll come to later.
Prove yourself to yourself and improve yourself for yourself. You can’t think anything of yourself unless you do, not try but do.
This comes back to our idea of self-image. Prove to yourself that you can be a better person. I’ve been guilty of spending too much time acquiring information and not spending time putting this knowledge into practice. It’s the first time I’ve thought about reading fewer books. It seems counter-intuitive but knowledge is not power unless it’s utilised. The idea of quantity over quality. This may have grown out of my tendencies to be greedy as an only-child, more is better.
Bell is recording this “podcast” while simultaneously being on the stair master. I’ve been fighting against the idea of multi-tasking for a while but Bell is suggesting that there are certain tasks which can be done in this manner. From this, I take that he’s reducing the amount of excuses you are giving yourself. Short on time? Multi-task to make what you need to happen, happen. He frequently mentions that “A violent attack today is better than a well planned attack tomorrow.” An idea I’m reticent about, but once again incredibly aware that I don’t yet have the level of personal success that someone such as Bell does so is an idea worth exploring.
Face your fears or you can never truly live. The only way you’re going to overcome these fears is by taking the first step. To take the first step, you must take the first step. Even if it’s a step in the wrong direction you still learn something about yourself. Stop living behind, start living ahead.
Bell blasts out a string of one liners to do with stimulating progress. He’s faced his fair share of adversity in his life, including career threatening injuries and life threatening fails on the powerlifting platform. The idea that someone can be a world record holder, then tear a major muscle such as the pec, to then come back to an elite standard, is incredible. Of course, this shouldn’t be surprising considering he already has the mind of a world class athlete but naive to overlook the work put in to develop this mindset.
He talks about the need to plan ahead. In this context, he’s talking about preparing your meals ahead of time so that you aren’t guessing when and where you’re going to eat. A key to losing weight or putting on mass.
Plan the week ahead on a Saturday so you know what you’re doing and when. Don’t leave things to chance. Stacking up the planning over a long period of time is where you get these monumental life gains. Go from broke mindset to rich mindset. These statements are cheesy but unfortunately correct, word it how you like. He also talks about getting a head start on habits by starting on a Sunday not Monday. Get ahead of the game.
Strength of character is to do with your will to do and the power of self-restraint. The idea of what you do and what you choose not to do.
Life is a series of decisions, how we decide to act in each situation will result in how our life ultimately turns out. You’re in control of what you agree to do and how you spend your time. The bigger problem most of us face isn’t say yes but saying no. Our self-restraint. This isn’t simply saying no to fast food but saying no to engagements that don’t serve us. Saying no to a dinner you don’t want to attend or overtime at work because being there means you won’t have the time to spend working on yourself, which will make you happier in the long run.
You’re self sabotaging yourself and you need to face it. You might even need to write it down. What are 3 ways you’re sabotaging yourself? Are you not that interested in your goal? We want our goals to happen too fast and we’re unrealistic. These things aren’t sexy (gradual progress.)
This couldn’t hit closer to home. As if we have any doubt what our bad habits are, but how often do we ask how we’re sabotaging ourselves? Bell is talking about having a long way to go with his own personal development, he’s questioning the ways in which he is sabotaging himself, even at his elite level. This is the mindset of a truly successful person; continued growth, learning, and application of these principles. Start looking for the PBs (personal bests) and PRs (personal records) in areas where you don’t excel and that you have yet explore. Start doing more. How can you be a better partner, or parent?
Creativity. Imagination. Wisdom. Courage. Wisdom is knowledge that you put into use. You already know the answer.
Think of a question you have, about a topic you would ask an expert in their field. Write it down and ask it back to yourself. You could come up with 3-5 answers yourself of how you could answer this question, with fairly reliable results. How can I earn more money for example. I could develop one of my skills and think of ways to utilise these skills in exchange for money outside of my main job. It’s about asking the question and taking the action but don’t let the weak excuse of not “knowing the correct answer” hold you back from taking the first step.
There’s no excuse for allowing anyone to get in your way. The truth is, no-one is getting in your way. You’re getting in your own way. Step aside. Pull the excuses away. Turn worrier into warrior. If there’s too much self-doubt you become paralysed. You’re in or you’re in the way.
This is a common idea about taking responsibility for your life and once again removing the excuses. Is it worth repeating? Certainly.
Training is taken one session at a time, one set a time, one rep at a time. This idea of how to break bigger problems down into manageable chunks.
The final note is that you break down the big tasks into manageable chunks. You eat the elephant one bite at a time, climb the mountain one step at a time. Bit by bit, the continued effort adds up.