 |
Challenges, Mentors and Incredible Success |
This quote is from the movie Fearless starring Jet Li:
“Japanese Opponent: I understand that there are many Wushu fighting styles? Are you saying that no style is greater than another?
Huo Yuan Jia (Jet Li):That is what I’m saying.
Japanese Opponent: If that is true, then I want to ask you,if Wushu does not differ in any way,why then do we fight each other?
Huo Yuan Jia: I believe for all the styles of Wushu, there is no single one that is superior,all of those who practice different styles of Wushu, they would naturally have a different level of skill. Through competition we can discover ourselves”
I think anyone can become good at anything, but not at everything.
It is about choosing what you want to become good at, and choosing that as your main goal and focus, and put 100% into getting better at it.
Drop all other unimportant projects and tasks that distract your focus and energy. This is where most people go wrong, choosing to do 10 or 20 things at once, and not getting any of them done properly. Rather do one or two things properly and finish them, than do 10 things half-heartedly.
Two Ways of Boosting your Success:
1-) Find a Mentor
This is the oldest and most obvious way of becoming good at something fast, yet so many people do not do this. Why re-invent the wheel?
Sure, you can figure something out for yourself and become good at it, but it will likely take many more years of trial and error and making many mistakes than if you were to follow the guidance of someone who has already walked that path and achieved what you are aiming to achieve.
It will take some effort to seek out a proper mentor, but it is really worth it. You can choose to find someone you are going to pay money to give you guidance, and this works but often is costly. You can also choose to seek out someone who has achieved what you want to become good at, someone with a good reputation, and you can try and build a connection and friendship with that person.
By showing your dedication and commitment to learning whatever it is you want to become good at, and by showing your passion for it, mentors-to-be often admire it, and are willing to help out. They remember all too well what it is like being in your shoes, and they often like helping out and sharing their knowledge and experience, provided that you absolutely work hard at it and apply what they are teaching you.
In today’s world, it is easy to get in touch with people via Twitter, email, a telephone call or even better, a personal visit if they live near you.
Learning with the help of a good mentor can boost your achievement, skill and success in ways you cannot imagine.
2-) Friendly Competition
I find there is little as motivating as competing with someone for the best result. The more evenly matched the competition, the harder both of you will work to win and achieve the result needed to beat the competitor.
A story once told to me about the benefit of competition was this:
“There was once an expedition crew heading to a location in a helicopter for observing and analyzing conditions in the Antarctic. Due to a sudden and incredibly violent blizzard, the pilot lost control of the helicopter and crashed into the ice. Only two men survived the crash, John and Peter, and they were 30 miles from the nearest base-camp and no way of contacting base-camp.
These two men were not exactly the best of friends, in fact the frequently disagreed and argued and could not stand each other. They had no choice but to set out to base-camp by foot. After the first 10 miles of walking through the blizzard, icy conditions and strong head-winds, they began getting tired. They did not speak to each other until John fell down and said he was not going any further, he was too tired and would rather freeze.
Peter told him he was a weak coward and challenged him that John would not make it to base-camp. After a few more insults, John’s anger quickly flared up and he accepted the challenge. They did not speak a single word after that, but both kept walking. There would be times when Peter was so tired he could hardly move his legs forward and wanted to give up, but he saw John marching on next to him, so thought to himself “As long as he keeps going, I will not stop”. Then there were times when John wanted to give up , but thought to himself “As long as he keeps going, I will not stop”.
This way, they both drove each other to finishing the almost impossible journey back to base-camp, and both lived to tell the story.”
I think friendly competition is the best way for pushing myself out my comfort zone and achieve what I know I am capable of and more. It is so easy to settle for average. It is easy to stop after 10 reps of that benchpress when you are alone, but when you have a buddy standing there shouting:
“One more, comeon”
and you may just end up doing another 3 reps.
I have entered the challenge with Bud for a race to 1000 subscribed readers for our blogs. Since we both seem to be similar in our posts and efforts, it is a constant challenge to come up with new ideas and posts to promote ourselves and give readers great content so they will be happy to subscribe to future posts. Bud was on around 180 subscribers last week and I was over 50 readers ahead of him, until he wrote 3 guest posts for other blogs and caught up with me and overtook me. Now I feel less comfortable and want to get myself in gear and write guest posts to make sure I get ahead of him again.
This way of competition brings out the best in both parties, allowing the competitors to work hard and bring out their best work and potential.
If you have something you want to get better at, find a friend who has the same interest and who is equally skilled at it. Challenge them to a competition to a seemingly hard but achievable goal and set a time-limit on it. You’ll be surprised at your results!
Thanks for reading!
P.s. If you haven’t seen the movie Fearless yet, then I really suggest you take it out on DVD next weekend. It contains some great life lessons about being humble and is very enjoyable to watch.
Have a Rockin’ day
Diggy
39 Responses to “Challenges, Mentors and Incredible Success”
Leave a Reply
The best no-nonsense guide to blogging, affiliate marketing and making a living online.
Read More...
Do you want your own blog like UpgradeReality? Grab this free tutorial
Some great ideas Diggy.a challenge and accountability to a mentor are great motivating factors. All the best with the race to 1000 with Bud!
Heya Jen!!
Thanks for the Support! Bud is a worthy competitor! Have an awesome day
Last time you recommended me a movie I watched 3 times in a row (I never watch movies), let’s see if it’s the same for this movie as well.
Oscar – freestyle mind´s last blog ..10 Ways to Create Value in What you Do
Heya Oscar!
Haha, cool
It was the movie Yes man if I remember?
Yeah I love Fearless with Jet Li, the martial arts are awesome but also the message of not being arrogant and staying humble even when you are incredibly skilled and powerful.
Let me know how you enjoyed the movie
Cheers!
Oscar, I have seen Fearless and I really enjoyed it … but I may be biased because I tend to like Jet Li movies.
Anyway Diggy, both of those suggestions are really good! I have tried both of them and they have been working out marvelously. Not to mention you and Glen have challenged me to make a video. Well you’ll be seeing it tomorrow… I haven’t let you guys down!
Valerie M´s last blog ..The path of least resistance is being as (im)practical as you can be
I just noticed: it’s only 10:30 a.m. where I am and all of these comments already?? At first I thought you guys don’t sleep, then I remembered the time differences. No wonder why I’m always one of the last to comment
Valerie M´s last blog ..The path of least resistance is being as (im)practical as you can be
Haha I was just thinking about this actually
Glen Allsopp´s last blog ..Challenge Update #2 (And My 4 Days in London)
Competition, friendly or not, is always ego- based and therefore not helpful for the path to enlightment.
Hey Peerluigi!
Welcome to Upgradereality and thanks for leaving a comment!
I agree that competition is always to some degree ego-based, but I do not agree that it cannot be helpful. I believe that it can make you stronger and faster, but I agree that it can also have negative effects, especially if someone cannot take losing or does not know how to lose gracefully without taking it personally.
There are of course other ways to motivate oneself just as good as competition, but I find it a good motivation. Take running for example, If its a few mile run and towards the end I’m getting tired, I could easily give up if I was running by myself, but if there was someone running with me, and he kept going, then I would make it a challenge to keep up with or beat that other person, and that way I would push myself to running faster and further than I normally would.
I appreciate your comment, always interesting to hear another perspective!
Have an awesome day!
Cheers
Diggy
Hey Diggy,
I really enjoyed this post. I think the idea of friendly competition is cool.
Another way would be to cooperate with other people. This may be just as effective or even more effective than competing.
However, everyone is motivated differently.
Gordie Rogers´s last blog ..How To Develop Persistence.
Heya Gordie!
How are you doing?
Yes, that is one way that I did not mention, instead of competing, find a friend or motivated person and work on a project together with them. Two people working together can do the work of 3 or even 4 people.
I am currently doing this with a group, and also working on some projects with a good friend.
This is one way I really suggest also!
Thanks for pointing that out Gordie!
Cheers bud!
Awesome movie and two solid ways to work towards success. Actually I think I might challenge someone in my current project, should push me a bit more.
Dan´s last blog ..Moonlighting On The Internet
Heya Dan!
Thanks for stopping by
Yeah it is an awesome movie, I’ve got it on DVD and watch it every couple of weeks, very inspiring and enjoyable!
Cool, do it, challenge someone, or like Gordie said, find a friend and work together on a project with him.
Cheers
I’ve always hoped to find a mentor out there somewhere, but to be perfectly honest, I haven’t come across anyone who I had such absolute trust in that I would take their word over my own…trust their judgment enough to use it instead of my own.
Competition-wise, I tend to avoid it. I know, I know; the lifestyle design sphere is supposed to be all about being your best and usually that means trying to be better than others. I find that I work a whole lot harder when I compete with myself instead of others. This way, the bar is set infinitely high and I don’t get satisfaction from doing better than the other person (who might be great, might not be, which would allow me to stop at a lower level than I would otherwise reach), I get satisfaction from living up to my own standards.
I’m the kind of person who, if running a race against someone else, will usually slow down because I feel like the other person probably wants it more. Set me to run against myself, however, and I’ll go fast and forever!
Colin Wright´s last blog ..Walk of Shame
Hey Colin
I know what you mean, but there really are great people out there who can be fantastic mentors, it’s just a matter of finding them and building a connection with them, which is not always easy.
I understand what you mean regarding competition, it very much depends on the nature of a person. You need pretty high self-discipline to keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself, I sometimes ahve this, but sometimes I don’t push myself as hard as I know I could, and that is why I like a challenge.
I also enjoy a challenge not neccessarily to beat the other person, but to put up a big fight and make it hard for the other person to beat me. It makes it fun. It’s like playing chess, there is always one winner, but it is really cool to plan and battle with the mind and see who can outthink who.
Thanks for sharing your view with us!
Cheers
D
Adding competition is such a great way to succeed father than you ever thought you could. I applied this a lot in my basketball career, both in high school and college. It’s amazing how great of a motivator it can be.
Nate´s last blog ..the snowball effect
Heya Nate!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment
Cheers!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Valerie Mondesir. Valerie Mondesir said: Challenges, Mentors and Incredible Success http://bit.ly/2Jlf7j via @upgradereality [...]
Mmm, competition is truly the best motivator. Healthy competition is always a good thing.
Monica O’Brien´s last blog ..How to Find Passion in Your Career
Hey Monica!
Welcome to Upgradereality!
Great to have you here
I agree a little healthy competition is a great thing!
Have a great day!
Great post Diggy!
I agree that we can do “anything” we want, we just can’t do “everything” we want. There are so many great choices to make in life, that people have difficulty deciding.
I also like the idea of friendly competition. That is a big debate in children’s education. Should activities be cooperative or competitive?
For the most part cooperation is more conducive to learning good peer relationships, but there is not denying the benefits of the right type of competition.
John Bardos – JetSetCitizen´s last blog ..Interview with Global Artist, Elizabeth Briel
Heya John!
Yes it’s about finding that balance between cooperative and competitive, but I do think that you need both for optimal growth.
When it comes to the choice and how to decide what we want to become good at, I think it’s a matter of listening to your heart and following your biggest desires, and cut out that which you are not truly 100% interested in.
Thanks for stopping by
Hi Diggy,
I love the movie! It really rocks and I highly recommend it to others. Anyway Bud is doing great and Diggy you gotta pull your socks up before he leave you behind in smokes.
Cheers,
Vincent
Vincent´s last blog ..Are You Turning Into The World’s Biggest Liar By Being Overly Optimistic
Hey Vincent!
Yeah man, Bud is kicking my butt at the moment! I have 3 posts ready to be used as guest posts on other blogs though, and going to write a few more this weekend, so don’t worry, I will come back with a vengence.
Even attempted to contact Oprah Winfrey to get her to mention my blog:) LOL that would be crazy cool
Thanks for stopping by man
Great post Diggy. There is nothing better than having a life with challenges and people we can admire to help push us along the way. I will have to check out that movie as well. Thanks for the suggestion!
Cheers,
Dayne
Dayne | TheHappySelf.com´s last blog ..How to Escape the Dark Mood Spiral In Five Steps
Heya Dayne!
It’s an awesome movie, I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do
Thanks for stopping by !
Hey Diggy why is your font size so big? What happend?
Heya Katya!
What? It looks fine to me, the only bigger thing is the size of the headings no?
Is anyone else having a problem with the font size?
Diggy – Upgradereality.com´s last blog ..Challenges, Mentors and Incredible Success
Great post, Diggy. However, on competition, I would add that we can compete against ourselves and not just other people.
Spinning it another way, isn’t that what personal development is all about – competing against yourself to get better in life?
bretthimself´s last blog ..Operation Hamilton – The 98 Day Challenge
Heya Brett:)
Thanks for stopping by!
I agree we can compete against ourselves, and it’s good to push through when we want to give up too easily.
That is indeed a way to see it, life is a continuous journey of experiences and growth, and sometimes perseverance is needed to reach the next level.
Hey Diggy.
I am unofficially competing with you and Bud in that material, but I don’t know if there is such a thing as an “unofficial competition”. I thought I’d point that out, or else I would be the only one seeing it as a 3-way competition.
On that point about mentorship, I agree with you fully, as a mentor boosts you so far ahead that you wonder how you did things without a mentor.
Good stuff.
Armen Shirvanian´s last blog ..Outdoor Mountain Hiking Trail Adventure – Setting Goal Points
Armen!
How you doing?
Hehe, cool, you may unofficially compete with us
. I know there are many equally skilled bloggers on a similar level to Bud and I that would also like to compete, and we all try to help each other out and motivate each other where possible 
Have an awesome day sir!
I’m back!!!!!
Diggy, really, really liked your last posts, just catching up today.
It’s so awesome Bud is taking this seriously, and putting you to the test. He’s a ninja, for sure.
Let’s see your next move!
papa
brian papa´s last blog ..Want a good laugh? Ask a kid to draw you a picture.
Brian
I was wondering where you disappeared too, starting to miss your posts and comments and positive cheeriness
Yes bud is a super jedi ninja, it will be tough to beat him.
I have two guest posts lined up within the next two weeks, going to write a couple more this weekend and send them off !
Have an awesome day!
A mentor is key because you will have a hard time and a long one at that to understand and succeed. With a mentor you can do it with the right path knowing that the mentor will guide you to where he or she is.
Great post
Mac´s last blog ..Life is an Ever Growing Puzzle…
Hi Diggy, definitely another great movie…you are right, the martial arts in it are fantastic.
I think finding a mentor can help you avoid a lot of unnecessary mistakes (although mistakes are usually great learning experiences!) but that relationship needs to be one of mutual gain and respect, don’t you think? One stands to benefit greatly from a mentor, but must have something to offer in return…even if it is just that 100% commitment that you wrote about. Most successful people out there are glad to share their knowledge and experience as long as their student is willing to put forth the effort. In many cases, the student may be proficient in some area in which the mentor is not as strong as they would like. After all, when a person stops trying to better themselves they stop growing as a person! I am fortunate enough to have recently found a great mentor and my life is truly changing before my eyes…
Thanks for the post Diggy.
~Ross
[...] If you desire passion, seek out people who are passionate in everything they do. There is always someone out there who has attained a higher level in the area where you desire [...]
[...] you desire passion, seek out people who are passionate in everything they do. There is always someone out there who has attained a higher level in the area where you desire [...]
Heya Valerie
Ahh, nice, you’re just like me, I LOVE Jet Li movies. My favourites are : Fearless, Cradle 2 the Grave and The One, but there are plenty of other good ones too!
Ooh, nice, so you’re making a video, can’t wait to see it!
Yeah, I’m in the european timezone. I still appreciate your comments much, even if you are not the first to comment!
Have an awesome day