Monday 26 July 2010

Rolling with the punches - part 1

I took inspiration for this post from Rob Franta's blog post in which he tells of how he went through various trials and tribulations on his way to finding his success. Through it all he persevered and emerged a winner. There are lots of stories that are thrown our way about amazing feats of human endeavour and of course, some are truly amazing. We look in awe at how some people are able to continue when others would fall by the wayside and wonder how? How are they able to carry on? I think some people are just physically and mentally strong to the point of being virtually unbreakable but in many cases I look at it at think, you know what, this isn't about money or even necessarily the achievement itself. They have a very powerful 'WHY' that they are determined to effect come what may.

We can't all succeed at everything we try and more often than not I've learned more from failures than from successes. The key is in not giving up and in continuing towards our goals and dreams. We may have to reset some expectations and sometimes we're going to get a little battered and bruised. We can all get there. With the right people around us, powerful motivators and by engaging fully on what is we want to achieve and WHY, then the only people to stop us is in fact ourselves.

A couple of years ago, I decided to take part in a white collar boxing match. This version of boxing get it's name because the participants have other day jobs covering the whole employment spectrum. However every person that takes part goes through a vigorous training regime in the same way that a normal boxer would and on the night, it's protective gear on and ding ding round one!

I trained really hard for my fight. I used a boxing gym in London which is a considerable distance from my home and like everyone else I found the time to train in amongst my work schedule. I got fitter than I'd ever been in my life and fight night came round in the blink of an eye. All of a sudden I was sat backstage, bout 3 in an eight bout card, listening to the roar of a thousand people all cheering on either the red or the blue corner. My warm up was half-hearted as I was consumed by nerves and then I was walking out to cheers and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns & Roses blared in the backgound. This was it. All the preparation came down to three 2 minute rounds....

I learned something about myself that night. Within the first 30 seconds I'd been clipped a few times and my bottom lip was busted and I had some large swelling going on under my right eye. I guess this is paying the price for a half-hearted warm-up! My corner were concerned the referee might stop the fight at the end of round 1. I remember rolling my eyes as my trainer asked the assistants to pass the end swell (metal gizmo used to push the fluid away from the main injury)... No end swell. OK just the ice then.... No ice..! But we did have water and after getting a talking to and pat on the head I was back out for round two. I realised I had to dig deep. I was looking battered and to sway the judges I had to get on top and work hard. Three tough rounds of back and forth and the final bell rang.

Had I done enough? I felt like I had but I knew it was going to be a close call. We lined up either side of the referee and after what seemed like an eternity the winner was announced. And the winners is.... in the red corner.... It was me! I'd won. I looked like I'd lost but I'd won the fight. I felt like a champ and all the hard work was worth it.

I think back on that night often. When things get tough. It reassures me I have the capacity to carry on, and more importantly to succeed, to win. I had a very powerful WHY that night. I was raising money for a charity at my children's school. All the kids had wished me well and my own boys were incredibly excited. My wife wasn't able to attend but was on the phone to the organisers during the fight and was posting updates on the fight blog to keep friends and family up to date. I wanted to win for them probably more than for myself. I think it was them that kept me going.

So even if we are seemingly swimming against the tide and things just don't seem to work out, sometimes just doggedly hanging in there will get you your result. If we quit we will never know whether success was just around the corner.

This is a picture taken a few days after the event. My kids were proud. And yes, those bruises were as sore as they look but not for long and it was all worth it!

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