HOW YOU TRAIN BRINGS THE FAME An Excerpt from THE DISTINCTIVE WATERMARK PRINCIPLES: How to Elevate Your Efforts and Stand Out...

Every second and every detail matters. The tougher you are when you practice and do regular even mundane activities, the better you will be when the results matter.  The game or even your job may be on the line. Are you training like a champion, a competitor, or just a casual participant?

Michael Jordan practiced harder during practice, and longer than anyone else so that when he had to take the last second shot or make a game changing move he could be counted on.  His six championship rings in eight years defends the intense practice, don’t you think?

As you watch the extreme competiveness of the Olympic champions they are crowned not in feet, nor inches, but thousandths of a split second.  Think about that for a minute.  
 
There are usually about 24-30 people that are considered to be the best in the world in their given sport or area of excellence. They fiercely train daily for four to eight years for the chance to get to the finals of their event where they strive for perfection with a medal.  In the end the minor mistakes are measured by the width of a blade, the placement of shoe, or the outstretched hand.  
 
Every one of these athletes had focused on beating the world record for years, measuring every inch; watching countless hours of practice and other competitions seeing where they can make micro changes—adapting little changes and improvements to perform under pressure like a machine-- and most of them do come close to that record pace, but in the end only one of them gets their name in with the record next to it. They have coaches helping them from every detail and angle to push them beyond the limits they could have done on their own for a chance at
glory.

HOW EXCRUSIATING!!! To train for so long and so hard and to fall into history by thousandths Of a second!  Who remembers the second place silver medalist?  Most of us don't and the same goes true in business.
 
In talking to my friend Brad Barton, the 2013 World Masters Champion in the Steeple Chase, and Worlds Fastest Masters Mile—he and his coach designed a training regimen that every time he practiced included trying to beat
the world record.  Not just hours and days before the event, but every practice.  He had a clear picture in his mind of
what success was. Every detail planned in the crispest detail.  He trained his body, but more importantly he conditioned his mind that he would hold the world record in those events.  (Ironically, he is now being inducted  into his University’s Athlete Hall of Fame as this book goes to print, for his lifetime pursuits of achievement.)

Do you know what you have to do to make it not just a win but a record?

As you look back on your daily practice or actions throughout your career, how much time have you wasted or misused?  What areas could you have performed better or faster?  What would the result have been if you had gone above the radar instead of trying to navigate underneath it?  Where would you be at in your career if only you had put in more effort than you did? What if you had taken your spare time and developed another skill or sharpened a key
tool?

I know that it is hard to swallow or too review in your mind but there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not the train that most people think of, and that is, NOW is the time to make the change and commit yourself to winning at the little things so that you will have the chance win on the big stage that is before you.  NOW is the time to make a decision that you too deserve to be remembered and it up to you and how your plan every moment of everyday to make that difference that is needed to stand out and stand above everyone else.

Now is your moment, just like the one that I had earlier in the High Jump that changed the course and outcome of my life, your time to start to run faster, jump higher, and compete against the greatest competitor in the world…You!  You deserve to be the best and it is never too late to switch to a better path.   You don’t have to worry or be scared about competing against others around you, just start by keeping track of the activities that you do every day and try to better the next day.   And keep repeating the pattern until you have perfected it!

What are you going to change? How are you going to make a difference NOW?  Now I want you to spend a few moments and transform yourself.  I want you to think like both Michaels and Brad Barton and focus on seeing every detail of that Gold Medal Podium experience.  
 
You are standing on the top tier of the Podium with your arms waving around to the crowd cheering your success while you glance at the video monitor portraying the new record!  Now they are placing the heavy gold medal around your neck and the chairman is congratulating on your effort while he shakes your hand!  You are speechless, near tears as you realize all of that effort was worth it.  
 
Then the crowd is asked to stand and salute you as your anthem is played as the victor.  You are the champion and now you have a rightful place in history as one who dug in to win and have your name associated with the greats of all time!  Then the surprise comes, you get summoned into the chairman’s office and there he presents you with the added bonus of a fat check and a promotion.   All because you choose to make a difference in your own life and not to give up, all because you believed that you could make the difference and you did!

How did that exercise feel?  It was amazing, yet there are countless stories of successful athletes, professionals, and other successful people that do that exercise every morning in front of the mirror and they end up triumphing just as they had seen in the mirror or their minds eye.
 
Once you have mastered one skill or pattern, add another skill to your resume, and then another. Before you know it you will have a multitude of champion skills and be renowned in your sphere of influence all from making a  choice that your life depends on NOW.  Humans are the only creatures on earth that can change the outcome or the
experience if they are not happy with the current situation.  No other creature can change its stripes, or in our case become something that we have not yet been! 

See yourself doing it, Be the champion at it, now go Achieve it!   You can do it!  (If you are thinking yah right that will never be me—then go back a few paragraphs and reread it until you believe that you can win.)  I know that we each can win our own race we just need to decide to get in the game.