Succeed trying to fly like Rambo
Many people never discover what they can achieve until life has passed them by and with it the opportunity to discover what they are capable of. In Rambo III, the hero hijacks a Soviet attack helicopter in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War. His friend, the Colonel, asks, “Can you fly that thing?”
Rambo’s response is memorable: “Let’s find out!” He wastes no time getting on board and ‘finding out’. Of course, he can not only fly it, but also shoot rockets from it. He soon makes full use of both abilities! Experienced Soviet pilots are no match for him.
Notice that you don’t confidently say, “I can fly that helicopter!” Instead, his attitude is surprisingly less macho. The words “Let’s find out!” implies that he will “try” and see if he can fly the helicopter. Some self-help gurus argue that only weaklings use words like “try.”
I disagree. Cowards don’t try even when there is a chance of success. They give up before they even start or at the first hurdle. Strong people try without boasting that they will succeed. Reality demands that they walk before they can run or fly! They try and keep trying. Then, as they succeed step by step, their confidence can grow to the point where they firmly believe they can and will achieve victory.
Reality teaches time and time again that the most confident and experienced don’t always win. Even the great Muhammad Ali and Iron Mike Tyson were eventually defeated.
Unlike Muhammad Ali, the fictional Rambo never brags about what a great fighter he is. The Colonel does that for him. When a mujahideen fighter doubts Rambo’s abilities in battle, Rambo doesn’t comment. He lets his actions earn respect while he rescues the Colonel.
Sports teams and their fans often brag that they will win before a game although, to be fair, they often joke. Time and time again, his boasts are proven wrong. However, if the team tries hard, their fans will usually be forgiving. They will not forgive a lack of ambition or effort. They won’t forgive a team that doesn’t try.
Sometimes teams that try really hard against teams that are supposed to be far superior to them find that they are doing better than they thought. Their confidence skyrockets and they end up victorious.
In one of the first matches of the 2008 Six Nations Rugby Union Championship, Wales played England at Twickenham, the home of English rugby union. Wales had rarely beaten England on home soil and had exited the 2007 World Cup early. England, for their part, had reached the final.
No one was surprised that England led at half time. But in the second half Wales began to try harder and as their score rose the Welsh team grew in confidence until they played like men possessed. Wales won and have beaten every other team they have played for so far in the championship. They achieved all of this simply because they began to push themselves and strive.
Recently, in what some call the world’s biggest club soccer competition, the FA Cup, minor league teams from England and Wales have beaten top teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. These shocking results took place in early March 2008.
They succeeded because they tried hard. They could easily have turned around and made the reasonable excuse that the best teams have huge financial resources that allow them to buy the best players in the world.
Beverly Sills stresses the importance of trying: “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you’re damned if you don’t.”
If you don’t try, you won’t fail but you won’t achieve much. Even if you fail, you will learn lessons and your skills and knowledge will grow. No one likes to fail, but it can be the fastest path to ultimate success.
Sometimes we don’t try or only half try because we have been convinced in childhood or later that we are useless at something. We need to clear our minds of such thoughts and find out the truth for ourselves.
We also need to believe in ourselves enough to try. If we don’t believe enough to try, we can try methods like affirmations and visualizations to see if they will help us develop the necessary belief. Google ‘affirmations’ and ‘visualizations’ and you will find many websites that can help you learn how to do affirmations and how to visualize.
One site, for example, suggests a variety of ways to affirm effectively. You can affirm while walking or exercising. For example, you might say, “I’m strong and healthy” or “I’m getting better every day.” Repeat this affirmation as you walk or train.
When I was at school on the Isle of Man, I soon found that running cross-country was not my forte. However, I got better at repeating one word “Faster” while running or, rather, fighting! I never got “fast” but I did get “less slow”.
I suggest to my martial arts students that they tell themselves phrases like: “I am getting faster and stronger.” They can say this in training sessions and qualifying when they need to replace nervousness with confidence.
A typical NLP technique suggests that when you say or think something negative like “I’m not good at making money”, listen in your mind for the phrase to fade away. You can then replace that sentence with a positive one like “I’m getting good at making money.” Let this phrase grow stronger and stronger in your mind until it dominates your thinking.
Another method uses writing. Write what you want in your life about fifteen times a day. You could write “I am healthy, wealthy and wise.” Writing things down is an effective way to unleash the power of your subconscious mind.
The website I visited suggests various affirmations such as: “I radiate good health” or “I have all the energy I need to achieve my goals and fulfill my desires” or “I am healthy and full of energy and vitality.”
Visualization also helps. I tell my students to imagine receiving their black belt. If you want to receive money instead of a black belt, imagine that you are presented with a large check instead. Alternatively, you can visualize pound notes and/or dollar bills raining down on you from the sky. Of course, you will need to visualize for some time and take appropriate action on a daily basis before these images become reality.
Don’t imagine coins raining down from the sky for obvious reasons.
You might imagine things you don’t want, like that broken-down car driving away from you, and then visualizing a powerful, intelligent car turning toward you. Imagine it stops before it knocks you down!
Imagine performing that skill you are trying to master. See yourself making the necessary movements with ease. If you’re learning to dance like a Zulu (one of my secret ambitions), just imagine kicking the floor and waving your arms like one of the best!
Like Rambo, we should get on that helicopter and try to master the controls. We might discover that we, too, can fly and destroy the obstacles that prevent us from succeeding.