Business Coach : Don’t Let Setbacks Stop You
-You know, there’s a quote that Helen Keller– she’s the famous deaf and blind lecturer. She’s the author–
TIM REDMOND: Oh, she’s amazing.
-Think about that for a second. Deaf and blind. And she said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Now we’ve all had a vision or dream for a life, but at some point we start to get overwhelmed with the routine frustrations of life and we start to settle for mediocrity. We start to feel like well, I just can’t do it.
Tim, in your mind, why does that happen and why do people begin to lose their vision and their sense of ownership of their life? Why does it sort of drift over time? A business coach can help to answer this question.
-Well, taking ownership is really taking responsibility. You’ve got to be willing to stay in there even when you’re knocked down or you’re knocked out. Several occasions in my life, I was knocked down, near death experiences. And I had a choice to stay where I was or to rebuild. To get back up in the game and play full on.
And so it hurts. It’s not convenient. It takes effort to get your heart in the game and really take ownership of what’s going on in your life.
-You know, to hammer home what you just said, Jim Rohn the bestselling success author and business coach, he’s a rags to riches story. And he basically just said what you were saying there. He says, “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. This is something you have charge of.”
Tim, what needs to happen for us– I mean, if I’m watching this, what do I need to do right now? What’s an action step I need to do to take ownership in my life? If I’ve maybe dealt with a physical disability like you have. Or I’ve dealt with the loss of loved ones, like you have. Or I’ve dealt with poverty or– what is an action step I need to take here?
-Well, when you look at this first step taking complete ownership of your life, you can allow your setbacks to define you. And it’s really making a decision Clay, to say listen, these setbacks aren’t going to define me, they’re going to refine me.
CLAY CLARK: Oh, wow.
-I’m going to use these as stepping stones. If it knocks me down, I’m going to get up and defy it. It’s getting this attitude to say I have enough on the inside of me to play this game and I’m going to play until I win. It’s this sheer determination. There’s this fire of desire that comes up where you say listen, I’m going to win even, if that’s my dying breath.
You think well that’s a little bit melodramatic. Life is melodramatic! You know, I mean, these guys are going through rough times! I know it! Hearing your stories, Clay. We go through rough times.
So it’s not what’s the magical formula to get success? It’s learning to get up when you’re knocked down. That’s the skill.
-You said it’s how you– don’t let these setbacks define you, but let them refine you.
-Yeah.
-That is powerful. And I think a lot of times, if you’re watching this and you’re going through some stuff, some of the people that we know about in history that are the most successful people, we actually defined them because of how they were refined by the situation. A business coach will help you to avoid letting situations take control.
So Abraham Lincoln, we talked about what a great leader he was because he was dealing was such a horrible situation. Or we talk about Sam Walton and how Walmart was so great, but because of the challenges he went through to start the company. And so it’s just if you’re going through some stuff, this might be your set up right now.
-It is. I mean, you say Brazil, I was in Brazil and I spoke to a crowd of 15,000 people. Now when I was born, the cleft palate, had all these operations. And there is cleft palate out there, but usually they’re not public speakers. I love to see when they are.
But I would have kids make fun of the way I spoke. I had somebody when I was really young say this guy will never be a public speaker, look at this handicap. And lived under that curse and so for me to get up and speak to two people, but here is 15,000 people, it’s in defiance of that.
And so that was a– it could have defined me and put me in a box, but it refined me. Wasn’t easy. I had to learn to decide to step through the pain. I had to do it afraid, Clay. I had to do it when it is not perfect but that’s what you do to get successful. You do it afraid. You do it when you’re bound up. You do it with a broken leg, but you move forward.