We had the honor of hearing author and speaker, David Cook speak on Greatness last week in Dallas.
His talk was titled, Selfless Exceptionalism. Cook captivated the room as he shared stories of peak performance athletes and how they handled high pressure situations when their lifelong goals were on the line – a pole vaulter who competed at the Olympic trials with 36 stitches(!!!), a pro-golfer who nailed the challenging hole to win the tournament, and an NCAA Volleyball coach who chose to speak belief over a key (but unpredictable) player during their championship game instead of pick the safer route with another player.
We were inspired by each of these stories of humans who rose to the occasion by embracing pressure to reach their goals, but who were also choosing sacrifice and “the other” over themselves. That is true greatness. Depth of character with the volition to win.
As I reflected on his speech (in addition to just admiring every aspect of his delivery!), I wanted to capture my own take-aways. Watch my video below:
Preparing For Greatness
When you must achieve a goal, so badly that you can taste it, ask yourself these two questions:
1. Are you painting a masterpiece in your mind, or are you painting a tragedy?
There are so many times that I’m focusing on interference that I can’t control. I’m focusing on all the noise. I’m focusing on all the things I don’t want to occur. How the heck do I think I’m going to achieve a goal if I am not visualizing and painting the masterpiece in my mind? Don’t paint tragedies! Be good to yourself, believe in yourself, trust yourself! If you want the goal that bad, visualize how to get there.
2. Are you embracing pressure?
I have to be honest, I’ve taken some risks lately. I’m really proud to have founded TruPotential Group. We’re growing our team out and there are so many terrific things happening. But, if I’m honest, I have not been putting myself in higher pressure situations. I need to do it more. And why? Because Game Day for me is every day. In business, Game Day for me is every single day. So how do I know how I’m going to respond to all the interference and unknowns unless I intentionally put myself in pressure situations and build that muscle?
So this week, and I am going to work on these two things, and I challenge all of you as well! I’m painting masterpieces in my mind. I’m being good to myself. I’m believing in the goals that I’m setting out for myself. I’m not painting a tragedy. And secondly, I’m putting myself in pressure situations. So, have fun with that, and you, too, can achieve greatness.
For more information on David Cook and his incredible book, Greatness, learn more and order here.
