Dream Big! Succeed Big!

Below is another excerpt from by upcoming book “Preparing for Battle”. This section is all about goal setting, and to me the most important part to becoming successful. I want all of my athletes both onsite and online to read and implement. To become a part of the Mash Mafia Online Army and to have me as your coach, go to http://www.mashelite.com/online-programming/. I’ll be in Orlando this month at CrossFit Broken Chains with my Learn 2 Lift Series, so to check out this seminar and the all the others go to www.MashElite.com/seminars/.

I hope you enjoy this section:

Lou Holtz has been the biggest influence on my goal setting strategies. I first heard Lou Holtz speak in Denver, CO in 1997, and from that moment my outlook on goal setting was forever altered. Coach Holtz references a point in his career where he found himself without a job. Most people experience bouts of depression when they find themselves jobless causing them to go into seclusion. Coach Holtz simply locked himself in a room, and allowed himself time to dream. He freed his mind, and did away with all limits. This is the first step ‘Dream It’!

Coach Holtz wrote down over 100 dreams during that session of dreaming. Writing the dreams down is a big part of the equation because now the dreams are on paper making them more of a reality. Step 2 to becoming successful is to write your goals down causing them to come alive. Coach Holtz understood like so many successful people before him that amazing happening in life are preceded my even more amazing dreams.
To accomplish amazing things in life, one has to dream big. Whatever limits that one sets in life, is exactly the ceiling that their success will experience. The first advantage that successful people have over others is that they allowed themselves the chance to dream without any preconceived limits. The biggest difference in a Michael Jordan and some guy still playing on the playground was that Michael Jordan dreamed that he would someday play in the NBA. Michael could actually see himself soaring through the air, making shots, and winning games.

Every day I have people tell me about their dreams, and how they are going to do extraordinary things in life. I am never the one to crush dreams, but I will ask them, “What is your plan, and what are you willing to do to reach your dreams?” This is step 3 to the goal setting process ‘formulate a plan’. Your dream is only as good as the plan that you put in place. I encourage all of my athletes to spend the most time in this area because the planning phase is crucial. I encourage them to do their homework, and to be very careful to pay attention to detail. For example if you want to become a world famous chef, you are going to want to know which culinary school is the best in the world. You are also going to want to know the prerequisites, and the process of application. You are going to want to know the advice of previous students, so you have a proper mindset. These are all just a few of the planning steps.

The most failed portion of the goal setting process is normally follow through and commitment. This is step four to successful goal setting. Most people for whatever reason are so afraid of failure that they simply don’t try. I guess they think that if they never try, then they never will fail. Well guess what that is the essence of failure! A true champion will commit to whatever it is that they are doing. They will finish whatever they start. This is the most important part of the process. Looking back over a life of some major accomplishments along with even more failures, I know now that following through and doing all that you can to reach your dreams is more important than actually reaching them. If, when you are on your death bed, you can look your family in the eyes knowing that you gave everything in life your all, then you can die knowing that your family will forever have an example of victory. My goal in life is to live with follow through and commitment, and I simply leave the results up to God.

The fifth and final step to the goal setting strategy is ‘constant reminder’. Normally when I set out to make one of my dreams reality, I will tell my closest friends so they can hold me accountable. A lot of people don’t like to tell people their plans because then if they slack, no one will know. I want everyone to know when I slack, so they can call me out immediately. Another technique that works really well is putting sticky notes everywhere that you look at daily like the bathroom mirror or on the kitchen cupboards.

Lou Holtz wrote down over 100 goals that day, and as of 1997 he had achieved over 95 of those dreams. One of those dreams was to be the head coach at the University of Notre Dame. Don’t be afraid to dream, but more importantly don’t be a dream killer. If someone tells you that they are going to be the President of the United States, you support them and help them develop the plan. People will always be a supporter or killer of dreams, and all I know is that I never want to be the one who someone is trying to prove wrong. I want to be the one that they are thanking during their inaugural speech.

Goals Setting Defined

1. Dream It!
2. Write it down!
3. Make a Plan!
4. Commit and Follow Through!
5. Use Constant Reminders!