Raise your Standards

Don’t sell yourself short

In 1959, world-class runner Roger Bannister did the unthinkable. Participating in a race in England, Bannister managed to run a sub 4-minute mile. Leading up to his record-breaking day, the general consensus in the running community was running a mile below 4-minutes was impossible. Bannister thought otherwise.

Now here’s the crazy part. Prior to breaking the record, the fastest mile time was 4:01. This record stood firm for 9 years. Amazingly, once Bannister set the bar, within 3 years, 13 runners managed to also run the mile under 4-minutes. What happened that allowed other runners to accomplish this super human task? Appropriately, this story, and many like it, drives my passion for human potential and realizing what our species is capable of.

Self-Imposed Limits

Studies in psychology have uncovered the answer to the question posed above. Research has shown that humans have a keen ability to establish self-imposed limits on themselves. In short, self-imposed limits describes our failure to harness the capacity to see what’s possible. Instead, we replace it with rationalizing what’s impossible.

When something impossible is achieved, it becomes reality in the natural world. The concept is pretty simple. People are now able to set a benchmark based on a known idea. Consider the thought, “well, if he did it, who’s to say I can’t”.

Don’t get me wrong, this outlook is great. Anyone who strives to equal the best is on the right path. In contrast, why don’t we set our own benchmarks, our own feats of incredibility constructed by values we possess. Conceptualize a dream based on our vision, not someone else’s.

Here’s the thing, your dream could be something that’s already a reality. Something that has come into fruition for many millennia. Examples like exercise, weight loss, career change, taking on a project out of your comfort zone, or working to make your family unit stronger. All these have been done before, but they have not been done by you. My question is “why”?

Because we look at the impossibility in things rather than the possibility!

I want to tell you a quick story. 7 months ago, I deployed to Central America with 3 other men. Leading up to the deployment, our team was provided little information on what was expected of us. In the end, we were giving U.S. strategic objectives in the region, a pat on the butt, and told good luck. Off we went.

I’ll be honest, I had no Idea what was expected of us. What I did have though was a dream. A dream to start a youth program in said country. The intent, or vision, was to bring representatives from different occupations to schools on a weekly basis to showcase opportunities available. Moreover, the representatives would emphasize the importance of values, civic pride, the importance of personal growth, and personal experiences of triumph and failure.

Rather than tackling the problem at the surface with symptomatic solutions, which lead to short-term fixes, I wanted to create a fundamental solution that had a long-term effect.

From the beginning, I was met with resistance. All the critics said “this has never been done before, let’s just continue with what teams in the past have done”.

I didn’t listen, I had a dream, and even though others saw it as impossible, I didn’t. I believed I could do it, cultivating a mindset built on what I thought was possible.

As I write this, we have completed one 8-week iteration and will be graduating our second 8-week iteration this week. In total, we effected 502 children. Also, a U.S. State Department agency adopted the program. They will continue it once we leave.

I am confident that my dream changed the mind of 1, maybe 2 children. That’s enough for me. With patience, these minds will vibrate infecting others with hopes of making this country, and the World, a better place. The gangs don’t stand a chance.

Let’s raise our standards

The fact of the matter is this, if you want something bad enough, and are willing to put in the work, success is imminent. I can write and bore you with all the obstacles I faced, i.e. team internal feuds, logistical considerations, connecting people and organizations which hadn’t worked together, and selling the idea of high-leverage actions that didn’t have an immediate result.

I couldn’t quantify what I was doing. Instead, I had to emphasize actions being taken will make a difference years from now. Delayed over instant gratification. I was disciplined in my commitment. Working together as one, my team and I accomplished something never seen before. We held tight to the vision driven by our value system.

Application to life

The same principle can be applied into our personal lives. Between you and your goal is a bunch of work. Rather than viewing the work as strenuous and difficult, view it as an exciting opportunity to learn, overcome, and grow as a person. We can achieve anything we desire, so long as we don’t sell ourselves short. Don’t wait for someone to tell you it’s ok to start, start now. Start today!

When I start to think about the difficulty in things, I like to take a second and think about a baby learning to walk. To them, walking must seem impossible. They see us old people strolling around effortless. And here they are on all fours, preparing themselves to attack. When they start, they fall, they get hurt, they fail over and over. Here’s the thing, they never quit. They keep going until the inevitable moment when walking becomes a reality.

So, the next time something seems impossible, remember, at one point you too learned how to walk.