Personal Best - How to Achieve your Full Potential 2e - Brossura

Woods, Marc

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0857082663 ISBN 13: 9780857082664

Casa editrice: Capstone, 2012

Riassunto

True inspiration from a true inspiration

"…vibrant and instructional ... fresh, original and devoid of the usual sound bites and transatlantic psychobabble of many books of this genre..."
—The Independent on Sunday

It's not always easy to embrace life, to get up and go, to follow your dreams and make things happen… imagine how much more difficult it must be to achieve your dreams after suffering from cancer as a teenager and losing your leg. But that's exactly what Marc Woods did. Marc overcame his challenges and went on to become a four times Paralympic Gold medalist. It's that determination and dedication that Marc shares with us in this powerful book. His inspiring story is the motivation we all need to start being the best we can be. This fully updated Second Edition includes a new chapter on Resilience.

"Personal Best is a truly inspirational book, written with great honesty, compassion and humility. Marc's ability to overcome adversity and triumph in so many diverse areas is an example to us all."
—Sarah, The Duchess of York

"Marc has a remarkable story and is an absolute inspiration."
—Roger Daltrey

Personal Best will help you to:

• Set specific, measurable and achievable goals
• Learn to forge supportive teams and communicate with those around you
• Find role models and follow their example
• Learn to ignore other people's prejudices and not let them hold you back
• Deal with change—both change that you chose and change that you don't
• Manage stress both at home and at work

Marc Woods is a five-time Paralympian. He has won 12 Paralympic medals as well as 21 other medals from championships around the world. He was a member of the British Olympic Athletes Commission and a founding member of the British Athletes Council. He works extensively with individuals, teams and global businesses, encouraging them to develop best practice within their given areas of interest. Approximately 25,000 people each year watch him deliver his motivational presentations.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Marc Woods is a five-time Paralympian. He has won 12 Paralympic medals as well as 21 other medals from championships around the world. He was a member of the British Olympic Athletes Commission and a founding member of the British Athletes Council. He works extensively with individuals, teams and global businesses, encouraging them to develop best practice within their given areas of interest. Approximately 25,000 people each year watch him deliver his motivational presentations.

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Personal Best

How to Achieve your Full PotentialBy Marc Woods

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-85708-266-4

Chapter One

Living proactively

Don't let life happen to you

"The will to do, the soul to dare." Sir Walter Scott

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." Benjamin Franklin

THOUGHTS ON DIAGNOSIS

We arrived back home at around 1.30am, way past my parents' bedtime, if not mine. The Parent–Teacher Association's annual Christmas fundraiser at my school had been a real success. Not least, because I won six out of the ten raffle prizes – a large ham from the local butcher, a bottle of Liebfraumilch, a Christmas pudding, two boxes of chocolates and, of course, the obligatory gift box set of Old Spice aftershave and deodorant.

The note from Dr Watkins was scribbled on a piece of paper and had been pushed through the letterbox:

Maurice, Give me a call on 875419 whatever time you get in.

Dr Watkins

'Do you think that it's too late?' Mum said, as much to herself as to Dad. But he was already punching in the number.

'No, he knows we want to know the score as soon as possible.'

'Hello, Dr Watkins? Maurice Woods here. Right ... OK ... OK ... we'll see you in five minutes, then.' He put the phone down and crossed the kitchen. 'He told me that I should have a stiff drink and make him a cup of tea. He's on his way round.'

Mum put the kettle on and put out the best cups and saucers on a tray. I glanced at my brother Ian, Ian at my Mum. My Dad was staring into thin air, his mind working at a million miles an hour as it always did.

Dr Watkins arrived, looking somehow older than when I had last seen him two weeks earlier. He took a seat and launched straight into what he had to tell us. 'I know you are all eager to find out the results from the biopsy. I have been chasing Mr Evans for news, but he was keen to get a second opinion.' His hands holding the cup and saucer shook. Not just a little tremble: it was so pronounced, it looked like a hammy actor trying to do 'nervous'. 'But it has been confirmed now. You have an oesteosarcoma, or bone cancer. You will have to have your leg amputated below the knee and six sessions of chemotherapy.'

Tears welled up in Dad's eyes.

'What if I don't want to have my leg amputated?' I asked.

'Then you'll die,' was the instant reply. 'Bone cancer is a very virulent type of cancer and this course of treatment has been proven to give the best prognosis. You will have one course of chemotherapy first, then your amputation, and then the other five bouts of chemotherapy.'

I left the room. In the kitchen I leant against the units and began to cry.

'Don't cry, mate,' my brother said as he came in.

'Why me?'

'You'll be all right.'

And then I thought about it. What would my friends and peers think? What would I think if it was one of them that had cancer? I'd probably be mildly concerned, but it wouldn't stop me from living. It wouldn't stop me deliberating over what I would have for my tea.

'You're right, I will be all right,' I said. 'People aren't going to be that upset for me, so I won't let it upset me. What happens to me isn't going to stop them living, so I won't let it stop me from living.'

I'm not sure how much logic there was in that thought, especially given the circumstances, but at the time it seemed to make me feel a whole lot better. I didn't know if I had six months, six years or sixty years left to live – but I did know that, from this moment on, I was going to live my life to the full.

Until that moment, I had been the typical teenager, just happy to let life wash over me. But this was a pivotal moment in my life. It was the proverbial 'kick up the arse' and it made me realize that I no longer wanted life to just happen to me. From that point on, I wanted to take control of my own destiny as best I could.

DON'T LET LIFE HAPPEN TO YOU

Before I was catapulted into the world of cancer, I was like most of the people I meet – I let life happen to me. From day to day, life impacted on me and I did very little to affect it.

As humans, we have a predisposition to die. Every cell, from the moment it forms, is programmed to die. Every skin cell, every hair cell, every blood cell has a spell of life that is planned, before it self-destructs. Scientists call it 'apoptosis': programmed cell death.

But sometimes, something goes wrong within the cell. Somehow the DNA gets damaged and the cell changes its attitude. A cancer cell is born and, given the chance, a cancer cell loves to live. It stops doing the tasks that its mother cell performed and then begins to divide, replicating itself with a view to hanging around for as long as possible. It doesn't self-destruct. Cancer cells are strong – they have character. All cancer cells are trying to do is live. The only way you can get rid of them is by poisoning (or irradiating) them into submission. That's what the chemotherapy does. Chemotherapy encourages the cancer cell to commit suicide.

People talk of cancer being sinister. They whisper about it under their breath as if the cells are listening. All cancer is trying to do is live, but it is life at all costs, life until its host is dead.

It was only when I came face to face with these cells and their passion for life, so to speak, that I decided to be passionate about life myself. I was going to have an effect on my life and not just let life happen to me. It is amazing what it takes for some people, and I am including myself in this, to realize that life is a do-it-yourself thing.

Many people need a push in life before they actually start living. They cite near-death experiences or the loss of a loved one as events that have made them reevaluate their life and how they want to live it. Such things can force a period of self-reflection so thorough that it affects the very nature of how an individual wants to spend the rest of their days. They make a decision about how they want to actively approach life. But what about the people who haven't suddenly been faced with their own mortality, or suffered a terrible loss or shock? Those people who are living life passively? I certainly don't recommend searching out such experiences; instead, let's try and learn from those who have been there.

Extraordinary lives

History is full of examples of people who have grasped life with both hands; people who have got up off their backsides, got on and achieved great things; people who have been proactive rather than reactive.

We all know about the great leaders, for example Sir Winston Churchill, or humanitarians such as Mother Teresa. Their achievements are world famous. But these are not the only people who have seized the day and attacked life with vigour. Root around a little in the archives of history and it doesn't take long to discover that there are countless less well-known tales of ordinary people living extraordinary lives.

The problem for most of us is that doing things at 90% of maximum effort is easy. The extra 10% may be disproportionately difficult, but it is that little bit extra that makes us exceptional. The first step is to decide that this is a journey that you want to take. It is not a quick or easy process: it may well take far longer then getting the first 90% right. It fact, it may even take you the rest of your life.

Just my luck

I was lucky: something happened to me to make me reevaluate my life. I am one of many people who have had a major life crisis. It can be a serious illness, losing your job, losing someone close to you, a narrow miss, an accident, or an event that stops you in your tracks for a moment – psychologically, physically, or both.

Better still, for me, it happened when I was young enough for it to make a difference – although it can still galvanize you into action if it happens later on in life.

And, perhaps even more importantly, I was lucky enough to be the kind of person who took the positive, rather than the negative, from a situation. Not everyone would view such a major life crisis as positive.

Psychology professor Richard Wiseman, author of The Luck Factor, conducted research into people's attitude towards luck. A broad range of people took part in the study: at the two extremes, some participants considered themselves to be very lucky, others very unlucky, with a range of people falling somewhere in between. As part of the study, Wiseman proposed a scenario to the 400 participants and recorded the various responses.

The scenario was as follows:

You walk into a bank to cash a cheque and, as you are standing in the queue, someone decides to rob the bank. In the confusion, a gun is fired and you are shot in the leg and wounded. But you survive. What would be your response?

One set of people responded with answers such as, 'Why is it always me?', 'I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time' and 'Life is so unfair'.

Others replied along the lines of, 'Well, it could have been a lot worse; we could all have been killed' or 'I am lucky to be alive'; and, in extreme cases, 'Wow, that's lucky – I could write a book about it!'

Obviously the scenario was the same for everyone, so it is only the individual's attitude towards the scenario that varied. No doubt you know which camp you fall into – the people who consider themselves to be generally unlucky in life or those who believe luck is with them.

Personally, I feel that we make our own luck through the choices we make. We are all capable of positive and negative thoughts and attitudes; the important thing is to let the positive side control the negative and not vice versa.

Bitterness

We don't have time to be bitter about events – it's far better to use them as a catalyst to spur us on. It's not always easy, but perhaps we should follow the example of Nelson Mandela. If anyone has a right to be bitter, it is he. Mandela spent 27 years enduring the brutal prison regime on Robben Island, a place he described as 'the harshest, most iron-fisted outpost in the South African penal system'. He was incarcerated for struggling against injustice and subsequently exonerated by the actions of later generations.

Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1993, along with F.W. de Klerk, the man who ordered his release and then helped to run the government with him, for 'their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new, democratic South Africa'.

At the award ceremony, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee noted: 'many people have remarked on the apparent lack of bitterness that characterizes Mandela's conduct since he was released from prison. He himself has said that perhaps he would have harboured bitter thoughts if he had not had a job to do.'

Would Mandela have achieved what he has in life if he had wallowed in bitterness and hatred following 27 years in prison? Obviously not, and millions of people should thank him for his strength.

Not everyone, however, has the benefit of a life-changing event to spur them on. So what about these people? If that's you, then you may well be thinking, 'Do I really need to re-evaluate the way I live my life?' It's a fair question. Why should you bother?

• Perhaps it is worth considering a few statistics. The average American television viewer spends 151 hours per month or 75 days a year watching television. That means a 70-year-old will have spent over 14 years of their life watching television. Even if you exclude the first ten years, that is still 12 years.

• In the UK, the average commute to work is 47 minutes per day. Over a year, that is the equivalent of 34 eight-hour working days. Over a working lifetime from 18 to retirement at 65, that is about four years and three months of your life spent travelling to and from work.

• According to the World Toilet Organization – yes, such a thing exists – the average person spends about three years of their life on the toilet.

• If we live to 70 and assume that we get an average of seven hours' sleep a night, we will have spent the equivalent of a little over 20 years, 24/7, asleep.

• In China, people from Beijing spend one hour and 42 minutes eating daily. That's 25 days a year, and just short of five years 24/7 if they live to 70.

• The average person over 50 will have spent at least half a year waiting in queues and anything from one to three years looking for lost items.

• At current rates the average person in the US spends 16 days a year on the internet. Or two out of every 50 years.

In other words, just taking account of these few activities, someone who lives to 70 will have spent not much short of 50 of those years, eating, sleeping, going to the toilet, travelling to and from work, watching television and using the internet, waiting in queues and searching for lost items.

When you look at life in this way it makes you realize how little time we actually spend doing the things that matter to us. What value, for example, do you place on watching television or commuting to work, or sleeping, compared with doing things with your family, travelling or spending time with friends?

If you throw work into the equation, especially if you don't enjoy your work, then there is very little time left for you. Most people don't stop and think about things like this, or only very rarely – they are too busy getting through life, living from day to day. Because of my illness, I was forced to confront the way I lived my life and how I wanted to live it.

Surely, though, it would be better if it didn't take a major life crisis to make you think seriously about what you want from life and how you want to live it. That's one of the reasons why I wrote this book: I found out the hard way, but hopefully you can take a short-cut.

LET'S GET IT ON

This book contains anecdotes and insights from my life experiences, and details of how I turned a major life crisis into a positive life-affirming outcome. It is not meant to be prescriptive: my illness and my subsequent experiences as a competitive swimmer and a businessman have taught me some useful lessons about life. Take from them what you will.

If you follow some or all of them, I strongly believe that they will help you achieve your personal best in whatever it is you want to do.

If you are going to take on the challenge, you will need some weapons in your armory, some ideas about how you can change your life for the better. In the rest of the book I will write about:

• Personal responsibility

• Goal setting

• Motivation

• Teamwork

• Communication

• Adversity

• Role models

• Prejudice

• That little bit extra

• Resilience

Personal responsibility

Being the best you can be

Few of us appreciate what we are truly capable of. No matter what your starting point is, you can do more than you think: more physically, more mentally.

Goal setting

Ever onwards

There's little point in setting out on a journey if you don't know where you are going. People do better with goals than without them, provided those goals are well chosen.

Motivation

What gets you out of bed?

It's the 'why' of what we do. It's the reason we get from A to B. No motivation, no goals achieved. The obvious motivation is that attractive carrot – money. But money isn't necessarily the best motivator. You need much more than financial reward for motivation if you are going to realize your potential.

Teamwork

All or nothing

We all work in teams of one sort or another. Don't believe me? Well, if you are not in a formal team at work, you are probably in an informal one. Outside of work there is family life, even if it is a team of two. If you live and work alone, there's your social network. And if none of the above applies, you are probably stranded on a desert island and there are even some swimming tips dotted around for you!

Communication

Loud and clear

Effective communication is at the heart of excellent personal performance. Communication isn't just about talking, though – much personal communication, for example, is non-verbal. And listening is one of the most important communications skills you can master.

Adversity

Going under

The path to doing well is rarely an easy one; there will always be setbacks and it pays to know how to deal with them. Stress is a big factor in modern life. It is hard to reach your true potential if stress is holding you back. Luckily, there are ways of combating stress that really work.

Role models

A helping hand

We don't arrive in the world with an innate knowledge of how best to live our lives. We need guidance from somewhere. This is where role models come in. But not just any role model, not the conventional pop, movie and sports stars. Role models are all around us, we just need to find the right ones. Well-chosen role models and mentors help us help ourselves to get better.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Personal Bestby Marc Woods Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Excerpted by permission of John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Capstone
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0857082663
• ISBN 13: 9780857082664
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 308
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile