Alan Bishop has a solution to all of the negative excuses that prevent us from getting what we really want: Kill the quitter inside you.
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What is it that makes you want to quit? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Chances are that the same thing comes up again and again because that’s The Quitter Inside you. The Quitter manifests itself in our excuses and while for each of us these excuses may be different, their impact is the same. We suffer. We do less. We get depressed. We give up.
“Resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation” – Jack Nicklaus
How can we kill The Quitter Inside? I’ve had many times when I have wanted to quit. I remember back in the days when I was Expedition Racing and pushing my mind and body into realms that they could never have possibly imagined. Picture this. My team and I had already sailed, river kayaked (upstream), horseback ridden, trekked and Mountain biked over 350km of hostile and unforgiving Brazilian terrain, only to be faced now with 150km more.
We were all injured, tired, hungry and frankly not excited about anymore racing. We were faced with a decision; STOP as a team since 2 of us could not continue due to injuries or re-evaluate and continue as a 2-person team. We made the hard choice to say goodbye to our teammates, get into our kayak and continue out on the course.
Not more than 500m down the river we came to a shallow rocky section and needed to get out of the kayak to navigate past it. As we were moving the kayak I slipped on the rocks and fell on my hip. Lying there in more pain than I have ever experienced with the water soiling my fresh and last set of anything resembling clean clothes, I was struck with a choice. Lay here in pain, wallowing for a few more minutes, then with head hung low make my way back to the transition area and quit…or, get back up and attempt to succeed and finish what I started.
I got up and tried. On that day I learned about my Quitter Inside.
How can you do the same? Learn these 3 simple steps, put them into practice and The Quitter won’t have a chance.
Step 1 – Start the day with a success mindset.
What ever you do, make the first conscious activity of your day into a success. If you’re like me you have goals, a schedule and a calendar that is bursting at the seams. It’s imperative that you start out each one of your valuable days by SUCCEEDING at something. If a goal is to eat better, then as soon as you get out of bed prepare a healthy breakfast and get it in you. Now mentally tick that box of success inside your head – YOU’VE MET YOUR GOAL – you ate better. Acknowledge the fact that you met your goal and let that success fill your body with a warm glow. It will propel you into another success and another and so on as your day progresses. Your excuses – The Quitter Inside – have no power against a success mindset. The quitter withers away and crawls back into the darkness with the other cowards waiting ever so patiently for the opportunity to return.
“He that is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else” – Benjamin Franklin
Step 2 – It’s not action until you do it.
Get out there and do it. I don’t care what it is that you’re attempting to do but you have to put yourself out there and DO, DO, DO. No one else is going to do this for you. If you want it, you are going to have to get it.
You’re the only one that can take the first steps. You must be willing to look foolish, to get dirty, to make a mistake, to get up after being knocked down, to bleed and to fail.
You can have results or your excuses, but you can’t have both. The Quitter Inside likes to tell you “other people have tried and failed” or that “It’s been done before” or the ever popular “I don’t think I can”.
The truth of the matter though, is that The Quitter has never tried. The Quitter has never taken that leap of faith or tapped into the intestinal fortitude that truly makes life great. “Look before you leap, but leap you must”.
“The athlete fails in training to succeed in competition” – Unknown
Step 3 – Discipline trumps chaos and weakness.
Everything you do is under your control. No one else, it’s your fault or your success. The ability to control our daily lives and I do mean our lives, not those around us or those we work with or those we play with but our lives, is where we have the best defense against The Quitter Inside.
The simple act of discipline can combat chaos, willpower can destroy impulse and determination will outwit weakness every time.
The Quitter Inside has only a select few weapons to come at you with and here’s the thing—The Quitter’s a coward. As you build up your immunity you will find that The Quitter Inside rears its ugly head only when you let it. You have the control to say know.
“It takes less time to do a thing right, than to explain why you did it wrong” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
And you? Do you have a Quitter inside you?
I’m curious to hear what your Quitter looks like and your execution strategy? Send me a note or leave a comment below and share your experiences in dealing with excuses or quitting.
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Photo: protohiro / flickr
Alan – great post…and I love your stories. That expedition race story is mind blowing.
Keep up the great writing!
– Tom
Thanks Tom.
It was mind blowing being a part of that story. Did I ever tell you the one where the toilet got stuck to my ass?
Now that was an opportunity to kill the quitter for sure.
Talk soon and I hope your travels are going amazing.
Alan
Pretty amazing story you tell about when you killed the quitter inside.
Some good advice – I particularly like the idea of starting the day with a success.
Hi Larry, Thanks, it seems amazing now to me as well but it sure wasn’t in the moment. I think it was the nature of the sport and all of us who “went into that arena” faced these battles…. often although not quite as long and epic as that particular one. HA. The first thing out of bed success moment has been a huge impact on me so far this year. I made it one of my “The 365 Effect” commitments for this calendar year and it’s been amazing. Just the mindset change of knowing you’ve accomplished…something… goes a long… Read more »