We define ourselves by what we think, others define us by what we do.

Do I see the look of a believer?

I have started training for the Triathlon Season. I started early this year because the previous two years Angela, my trainer has killed me with a twelve week burst leading up to one event. This of course has been my choice and, given that for the prior part of the year I had not trained at all,  this was all she had to work with. This year I was determined to have two things happen. I would be ready to be able to use the twelve week training session that we have with Angela to it’s maximum and, I would have fun getting there.

Last week I had an epiphany; I was running my second 5K and I could hear all of the familiar little voices in my head saying quit, why are you doing this to yourself, you were a lousy runner when you were 20 why do you think you can be any good now you are nearly sixty. To silence the voices I thought, instead of thinking I could not do it why don’t I simply think that I could? In that instant my whole approach to running changed.It suddenly changed from the conversation being one of difficulty to one of ease. It changed from one of struggle to one of joy and from one of failure to one of success. 

Young people today are beset with the challenges of reaching a standard in school that is nothing short of painful and they are made to think from an early age that the successes and failures that they gain in what is a very short part of their lives, defines who they are now and who they will become in there future. Are you going to University? No?Then what that means is...You are going to University, then you will almost certainly be a success. All that has happened here is that the students choice has made the teacher feel better about themselves and not really helped the student at all.

My thinking has defined me all of my life and, while I have read many books and am an avid TED Talk enthusiast and I am told every day that I have a positive attitude, it was only last week as I turned the corner and faced an absolute bitch of a hill to finish the last 1 1/2K of my run that I understood the power of my own thoughts. Suddenly all of the doubts that I had brought along for company were replaced with the successes that I also have had over my lifetime. In that one thought I redefined who I was and proceeded to knock a minute and a half off my best time.

I know that this stuff works but I have never seen it work so well as it did that day because of one small equation; ‘Thought plus Action’. What I learned was the most important lesson  of all, one that is missed by even the best motivational thinkers; nothing changes for the better or worse until action follows thought. Usually a negative thought is followed by no action, however, that in of it’s self is action. Having a positive thought must be followed directly by the same value of positive action otherwise it is simply a warm and fussy thought leaving you just as unfulfilled on the other side. If we are to be the person we think we are, we must be willing to take action on those thoughts. As we take more and more action so we add to our bank account of confidence and we generate more and more equity in that account to spend on our future.

Live Passionately, Think Positive!