What you look for in earnest you’ll find.
Tony Robbins
There was once a man who wanted to learn to drive race cars. He went to multiple driving schools to become the best he could become at his newfound hobby.
In his first school, the first thing they taught him was how to recover. They said, “You need to learn how to recover when you hit skids in the road because if you don’t, your racing career is going to be very short or very painful.”
So they put him in a skid car. In this car, when the instructor hits a button, a random wheel will come off the ground and the car will skid. You’re unable to predict which wheel will come up or what direction the car will slide. All the while, this is happening at close to 100 mph.
They emphasized when you start to skid out of control there is only one key. LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. Do not focus on what you’re afraid of. Don’t look at the wall you might hit. If you focus on the wall you’re going to get a whole lot of wall in your life.
We often look at what we’re scared of, especially when we hit our own slick parts of the road. This could be a death, a change in jobs, a change in relationships, or just the pandemic in general. The main idea is if you’re not where you want to be, focus on where you want to go.
When the car begins to skid and you look at where you want to go, it might not feel like it’s working at first. You have so much momentum moving you in that direction that even when you look at where you want to go, there will be a lag time before the car turns. So just because you aren’t turning right away, don’t look back at the wall.
What you need is an “f” word. Faith. Faith that the car, that your direction in life, will change.
The first time this man was out on the track and they hit the button, he looked directly at the wall and as they are about to skid into the wall, the instructor physically turns his head back toward the track and the car narrowly misses the wall.
He begins to think, maybe this does actually work.
On the second go-around, as they’re driving, he gets comfortable again and the instructor hits the button. This time he turned his head back toward the track and sure enough, the car turned.
He began to do this from then on. He would take a split second to identify the problem, that he was skidding into a wall, before immediately bringing his attention to the solution of turning his head.
What makes you a great leader is solving problems quickly. Don’t focus on the problem, you focus on the solution.
What’s wrong is always available. We can always find something that’s wrong. But that also means what is right is equally available.
Moreover, work to understand the power of problems. As humans, we often avoid problems. We often don’t initially see that problems are gifts, they have great value.
Norman Vincent Peale (author of The Power of Positive Thinking) was once sitting next to Gene Tunney (the heavyweight boxing champion of the world at the time) who looked like the biggest, most muscular man he had ever seen.
He turned to Gene and asked, “How did you get in such incredible physical shape? How’d you get muscles like that?”
Gene turned back to Norman and said, “I built these muscles each and every day by pushing against immense amounts of resistance. I pushed myself outside of my body’s comfort zone.”
Norman thought about this for a while and realized that God gives each of us problems in our life as a way to strengthen our soul, to build our spiritual muscles. Overcoming problems in life and growing is what makes us proud of who we are.
My toughest days then, whether it’s physical, mental, or emotional pain, become a practice. Can I take a moment to look at the problem, but put my energy behind the solution?
Focus on what you want and you’ll get more of it. Focus on what you fear and you’ll get more of that.
When you do overcome these obstacles, I can guarantee you you’ll be proud of the person you’ve become in the process.
(Thank you and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!)
Photo Cred: Calvin Witt