I have to admit, I’ve always been a fan of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movies – primarily because of their inspirational messages. This video highlights a message that I think is more pertinent today than ever before.

Rocky’s son blames his dad for not getting what he wants from life. We’ve all been there at some time in our life – looking for something to blame out of pure frustration because things are not going the way we want. I know I’ve been there on more than one occasion.

However, as natural as the inclination to blame other people and events is, it will never ever make any difference to our situation. Playing the blame game is like sitting in a rocking chair – it gives us something to do but it never gets us anywhere. In reality, it does not even make us feel good. The only solution is to take responsibility for the situation and move forwards, but why don’t we do that? Because that requires courage and true courage is rare commodity these days. As someone once told me, true courage is that little voice that says at night, “Tomorrow, I will try again… one more time!”

Stallone addresses this very smartly with his line, “If you know what you are worth, then go and get what you are worth – but you have to be able to take the hits.” This is just so true. He goes on to say, “There ain’t nobody who can hit as hard as life, but it don’t matter how hard you can hit. What matters is how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards – how much you can take and keep moving forwards.”

Whenever, I’m going through tough times, I always remember these words: “Life is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards.” One of my mentors says it differently – he says, “When you’re going through hell, keep going. Because if you stop, you end up in hell”. In other words, when you’re going through tough times, you must have the courage to persevere and get through. Otherwise, you’re just going to end up stuck in a rut, frustrated and looking for things to blame.

“Tough times don’t last but tough people do” – often the key factor determining your success in life is your resilience, your tenacity and your ability to persist. We’ve all heard the saying, “success is falling down 7 times but getting up 8”. The ability to be able to last through tough times is what separates the men from the boys – it’s often the single quality that is the difference between success and failure. Harrison Ford, star of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars Series said, “I knew that to succeed in this industry, I just needed to hang in there longer than everyone else.” Ford was paid $65Million for the latest Indiana Jones movie.

So go out there and strive to get what you want from life – but it is not always going to be easy and it is not always going to be smooth sailing. As J. Sidlow Baxter said, “Every opportunity has a difficulty, & every difficulty has an opportunity.” So get yourself ready for the hits and go forwards anyway!

Unfortunately, there is a whole movement out there which seems to suggest that if you just sit around and visualise success, then success will come to you easily. Nothing could be further from the truth – as Rocky says, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it.”

Everyone has had their tough times and tough times will come again – the question is what will you do when they come? Will you let life beat you down or will you aim to stand up one more time? Will you allow yourself to lie on the canvas or will you get up for another round? There have been times for me, especially when I was over $109,000 in debt with no income and people suing me for money that I wanted to throw in the towel. I have to admit, I was on the canvas and I felt like lieing there.

However, no matter how tough life gets, always remember that you and you alone decide how many times you want to get back up again. You can choose to quit or you can choose to persist. I have 3 strategies that I use whenever I feel like quitting:

1. I tell myself, “I can always quit tomorrow so why not just go another round today?” It’s a silly little saying but it keeps me moving forwards and ultimately that’s all that matters
2. Another strategy I use when I’ve had a tough day is I’ll take the day off and get an early night. When I wake up in the morning, I remind myself that today is a brand new day. Whatever happened yesterday is in the past and today is a clean canvas and I get to create it anew.
3. When things are going really badly, like when I was almost on the verge of bankruptcy and I felt like the whole world was against me, I remembered saying to myself, “I might as well quit now because things are not going to be any different tomorrow.” And then I remembered thinking, “Ok, let’s say I quit and I go back to just being like everyone else… and in 50 years time when I look back at my life, would I be happy that I quit just because a few people were trying to make my life hell or would I have wanted to keep going until I got through the tough times?  That was a very easy question to answer and I persisted and I fought and I got through. Let me assure, life looks a whole lot better today. So whenever you feel like quitting, project forwards a couple decades and look back on your life. Would you wish you’d continued or are you happy that you quit? The answer is often quite easy.

Many of us have seen great sporting feats where a team or an individual was down and out; yet they found something from deep within them that turned everything around. It is these stories that we find inspirational and Rocky is a classic example of this. But why not be your own inspiration? Why not reach deep down from within yourself and inspire your own revival? After all, what do you have to lose?

Remember, this thing called life has an end – but it ends when our hearts give out and not before. And as far as I’m concerned I’m going to keep striving for what I want from life until one of the following two things happen. Either, I’m going to get what I want or I’m going to die first – it’s just that simple. How about you? Are you willing to dedicate your life to achieving something glorious or are you going to allow life “to beat you to your knees”?

What strategies do you use to bounce back from adversity? Remember, “there ain’t nobody who can hit as hard as life but it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards. How much you can take and keep moving forwards.”

Leave me a comment below and let me know if you think Rocky’s advice is sound and what strategies you use to get back up again when life knocks you down. I’d love to hear from you.

And finally, if you ever feel like things are getting too much, remember the famous words of Winston Churchill:  “Never, never, never, never give up!”

To bouncing back from adversity,

Niro

0 people like this post.

Like 

In life, many of us have a tendency to complain about our situation, about the fact that the deal we were dealt was unfair. Too many of us then focus on all the things that are wrong and bad, rather than the things that are good, positive and wholesome. Many of us also let the things we cannot do prevent us from doing the things we can do. We’ve all been guilty of this at some time or another – I know I have.

However, when I watched this video, it humbled me and brought me to tears. This is the story of a  boy who is crippled and blind and yet plays the paino amazingly well. This is a story of a father who will do anything for his son – and together, the two of them are making magic.

Watch this video now!

If you watched this video, then please do two things for me:

1. Leave me a comment below and let me know how this video touched you.

2. Share this video on Facebook, Twitter, Digg or even via email. Sometimes a few minutes of inspiration can be just the tonic someone you know needs.

Thank you and God Bless,

Niro

0 people like this post.

Like 

The world lost another great soul this week with the passing of one of the father’s of Personal Development – Jim Rohn. This year we have lost a few legends, Michael Jackson in the world of music, Patrick Swayze in the world of acting and now Jim Rohn.

I remember when I first came across this legend – I was reading a book about how to make money in property and the author had, as his first chapter, an excert about success from Jim Rohn. I don’t remember learning anything about property investing from that book but I’m still grateful I came across the book because I came across Jim Rohn – and he started affecting me with principles that I’d never heard of.

I remember some years later attending a Tony Robbins conference which was life altering in many ways – and I was stunned to hear that Jim Rohn was the “big man’s” first mentor. This week, Robbins along with anyone else involved with personal development is mourning the loss of a great soul. In honour of his passing, I have included one of my favourite videos and then some of the quotes that have impacted me the most below:

Some of Jim Rohn’s Quotes that have had a great impact on me – and my comments

“Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion” – So many times we affirm something, we say we are going to lose weight, we say we are going to start the business, we say we are going to inject more passion into our relationship… and yet a few days, weeks or months later, the inspiration is gone, the desire dead. Why? It’s because to achieve anything requires discipline. Discipline to work out, discipline to say no to the chocolate cake, discipline to make those phone calls every day, discipline to email your list, discipline to practise your presentation. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Yet many of us are unwilling and that is why for many of us, our dreams will remain just that, dreams that were never realised.

Don’t bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill. If you don’t feel well, tell your doctor, but not the marketplace. If you need money, go to the bank, but not the marketplace.

This quote is what changed my business completely – from struggling to successful. For years, I could not understand why people would not give me money when I was struggling. I felt I was a good person and I deserved a break – so why wouldn’t anybody give me one? Then I realised that I needed to bring my skill to the marketplace. Once I realised that I went to work on developing my skills and then selling my skills – and the moment I started doing that my whole life changed. Money came but more importantly, I started to enjoy life a lot more. Life is definitely more enjoyable when you are working on your passions and skills everyday. What skills could you work on to increase your income?

Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.

Whenever I feel like complaining, I remind myself of this quote. We cannot control the strength of the struggle, we can only improve our only strength and skill. So when things out there got tough, I stopped complaining and instead I started to work harder on myself. The harder things got, the harder I worked on me and eventually the struggles disappeared but my new found skills did not. In fact, by working on me to overcome my struggles, I became a far greater person of value than if it had not been for my struggles. As someone said, Golliath was the greatest thing that happened to David. Without him, David was just a shepherd boy but with Golliath, David became a Giant Slayer. What struggle are you complaining about that you could instead use as motivation to become someone greater than you thought possible?

IT is not too expensive. The problem is YOU cannot afford it.

This quote was like a complete kick up the backside for me! It was true! Somebody could afford “it” (whatever “it” was at the time) – I just had to become one of those people. Again, time to stop complaining and get into action. When people started complaing about house prices being too high, I realised that it was not the fault of the houses. The houses did not choose their prices. It was my fault for not being able to afford it – after all I could change, I could grow. As Mr Rohn said, “If you don’t like your situation, change it! You’re not a tree!”

There can be no new life without labour

“Ask any mother,” Mr Rohn said when I had the pleasure of hearing him live one evening in Sydney, Australia. He said, “Nature has all the wisdom we’ll ever need, if we’ll listen”. I am still trying to listen And hopefully I’m getting a little better but I do know that nothing we want will ever be achieved without hard work. However, with hard work, discipline and some education, over time there is nothing we cannot achieve – Absolutely NOTHING!

Thank you for sharing your philosophy with us Mr Rohn – R.I.P

(If you have been impacted by Mr Rohn or you have a favourite quote of his, please share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below and let’s all build the legacy of the legend that was Jim Rohn)