Here’s another motivational message from my friend Arnfried, from Be Motivated Today and a story from my experience this past weekend:
We all face obstacles from time to time, I’m facing one at the moment. Whether the problem overcomes me, or whether I rise up to overcome it, depends on my attitude towards it. How do I see this obstacle? How do I mentally approach it? The answers to these questions will determine whether this obstacle takes me down or makes me grow.
I must see this as a “challenge” not as a “problem”. The word “problem” conjures up visions of defeat and struggle. But a “challenge” is something to be overcome. It draws the best out of us.
“Problems” can make us depressed. “Challenges” inspire us to grow. It starts in the mind. They are challenges. Not problems. They make us better. They are opportunities for improvement. We can use them to our advantage. Challenges train us in a new area we need to overcome.
All great achievers take this approach to obstacles and they carry on growing and achieving as a result. You will too.
Affirmations:
I have no problems only challenges
I love challenges
I am an awesome Winner
Be all you can be.
With Fond Regards
Arnfried Klein-Werner
Motivator & CEO – Be Motivated Today
For more inspiring messages like this, and a free e-book on releasing your potential and a report on a unique way to help you create a passive income that actually works, Visit http://www.BeMotivatedToday.com/71058.
My Story
If you read my last post From The Road: Do You Need A Mentor? then you know that I was away this past weekend at a national weightlifting competition with my son. We did have a little adversity the day that he was to compete right before he had to weigh in. It was a what could have been a big problem but we treated it as a challenge.
Weightlifting competitions, like wrestling and boxing, are arranged by weight class. For these national competitions you must qualify in the weight class that you are going to compete in. You may move up or down a weight class, but that has to be done at the verification of entries which is held the night before the competition starts. So if you are over or under weight you can move up or down a weight class if you submit it in writing at the verification of entries. After that you are committed to compete at the weight class that you are entered in. If you do not “make weight” at the weigh in, you are not allowed to compete and are removed from the competition.
My son Peter is in the 69 kilogram weight class. That means that he must weight over 62.00 kg (136.4 lbs) but no more than 69.00 kg (151.8 lbs). When we arrived in Shreveport?the day before he was to lift,?he weighed under 68 kg.?So there was no need to worry about changing his weight class. Even after a large diner, when he checked his weight the next morning before breakfast he was only 68.2 kg. So we went out and had a?big breakfast – maybe a little too big.?When we checked his weight again?about an hour before weigh in time, he weighed in at 69.9 kg. He was 0.9 kg over weight! And he?had less than an hour until he had to weigh in.?That might not sound like a lot of weight to you, but 0.9 kg is?1.98 lbs. He had to make weight before the end of weigh in. Fortunately, the weigh in is held for one hour, so even though he had less than an hour until the start of the weigh in, he could make use of the extra hour to loose the weight.
Weightlifters usually use a sauna to get rid of excess weight before weigh in. But the sauna was not at the hotel where we were stayer nor at the competition venue, where we had to be for the weigh in. So I decided not to waist time finding the location where the sauna was and getting him in there. I had him dress warm, in layers, even though it was warm outside, (remember we’re in Louisiana)?and I drove him over to the venue in the rental car with the heat turned up. We both were sweating on the way to the competition?venue.
When he got to the weigh in and got on the scale, he had lost some weight, but he was still over by 0.38 kg. He had lost about half of the weight that he needed to get off. Now we were in a real tight spot, he now had only about 45 minutes to lose the rest, and if he?wasn’t able to lose the excess weight,?he wouldn’t be allowed to compete. We would have spent time and money to come to Shreveport for nothing. And not only Peter and myself, but also his coach who had come with us.
We both took this on as a challenge. He put all of his layers of cloths back on, added another layer by putting my warm up jacket over his and we both went outside to walk around the building in the heat. I had to walk with him to make sure that he moved at a good pace. I wanted to keep him moving to get the food and liquid that was in his gut moving. The idea was to make him sweat and hopefully move things around so that he would also have to urinate and possibly even void anything in his large intestine. We walked at a fast pace for 20 minutes. We were both sweating bullets when we came back into the building and went up the stairs to the weigh in room.
He got on the scale – 69.15 kg. Again he had only lost about half of what he had to lose in order to compete, and now he only had 15 minutes left to make weight! This was his first Collegiate Championship and he intended to win his class. He had won the American Open at the end of last year and the National Junior Championship earlier this year. He was expected to win his weight class in this contest as well and we were both determined to do whatever we could so that he could compete!
He got dressed again in all of his layers and we went outside one last time for 10 more minutes. We had to be back inside and he had to be on the scale before?those last 15 minutes ran out. This time when we had only?a couple of ?minutes left to go, I let him do one last jog around the building. Bob Giordano, another coach from our area, and a good friend (Bob had also been a member of the 1980 Olympic team that had boycotted the Olympic games, now he is a Judge in New Jersey) came down to let us know that we only had a minute and half left for Peter to get on the scale. Peter went up the stairs and took one last trip to the men’s room and then stripped down and got on the scale. This time he was only 0.02 kg over but we only had 30 seconds to go!
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Our friend Bob had been trying to find a razor so that we could have Pete shave off some of his body hair in a last ditch effort to make weight. But all Bob could come up with was a pair of scissors. The contest was being held at Louisiana State University, and the weigh in was in one of the labs. Bob grabbed Pete and brought him over a large sink that was in the room and started cutting his hair. Pete’s hair is short but he has a thick head of hair. He got back on the scale just in time and weighed in at 69.00. He just made weight by a hair, or should I say hairs.
Now he had an hour to rest and rehydrate before his session began. He went on?to win his weight class. Fortunately his coach had missed all of the excitement. I didn’t let him know what was going down until the verdict was in and he made weight. He had been busy refereeing another session and I didn’t want him to be?worried about Pete not being able to make weight. I have to admit down to the last few seconds I was thinking about what I would tell him if Pete didn’t make it. But the whole time we had?treated this as an challenge that could be overcome, not as a problem that we might not be able to able to solve.
What problem are you facing now that you could look at as an challenge that can be overcome?
Who can you call on for help or guidance?
What plan can you formulate to meet this challenge head on and overcome it?
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