The three rules for being mentally tough!
By
admin
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Published
March 1, 2010
 Hello again mates and welcome to a brand new week. 
Mentally tough isn’t necessarily about developing the inner Special Forces soldier in you – although that kind of mentality is certainly tough: It’s about finding a way to make the most of everyday no matter what misfortune transpires!
One sure fire way to get you mental game off on the right foot, is visualization: In other words, your future becomes your focus. But, if you think that alone will ward off the evil spirits, Murphy’s law, or whatever other “bad” luck you’ve got heading your way, think again!
Mentally tough really boils down to these three practical things and not necessarily in this order either:
Be prepared – expect the unexpected.
Don’t start feeling sorry for yourself – no matter what.
Cracking a joke at your own expense, first – then consider how you’re going to deal with the problem at hand.
The toughest one of these is usually the, “expect the unexpected” – followed by, “not feeling sorry for yourself,” and then finding the humor in your situation.
We are going to look at, “Not feeling sorry for yourself” – first.
Steven Callahan wrote a book aptly titled, Adrift about his 76 days at sea, after his home made boat was destroyed during a solo voyage around the world. Half his survival equipment didn’t make it onto the emergency rubber raft after the accident, and he was only half dressed!
He talked in detail about the emotions that threatened to destroy his mindset during his adventure. More importantly he revealed that the choices he had made, like walking away from the security of society in order to pursue his dreams of sailing, were at the root of why refused to feel too sorry for himself.
He knew he had made choices that had led him up to this point in his life. The things that seemed to conspire against him as the days in his tenuous rubber raft gave way to weeks, he did his best to remind himself that giving up and dying wasn’t an option.
Believe me, after reading his account of things, it would be hard not to seriously think about throwing in the towel…
Most of us in our lifetime don’t get 76 days alone – let alone consecutively, and although there are times when 76 days alone anywhere, including the ocean, might appeal to us, the reality is we’d be scared silly.
How would you cope?
At the heart of every survival story is the million dollar question we ask about ourselves, would I survive that?
 The truth is, if you struggle to get through a regular working day, constantly letting the problems of the day get the better of you, then the chances are you’d become just another statistic if something transpired out of the ordinary.
Our focus goes askew when things drift outside the “vision” we had for the day. It’s not that we are mentally weak, although in some cases that also applies, it’s more that we tend to focus on who’s to blame rather than whether we can fix it.
Our energy is quickly converted into anger or frustration about what has happened, instead of focusing on how to best deal with it. We let loose the voice in our heads that screams this wasn’t your fault; once again it’s just bad luck piling up.
It has nothing to do with luck, good or bad. Things just happen. You are lost in the wilderness and it begins to pour with rain. It was going to rain any way, Mother Nature hasn’t decided to play some cruel joke on you just for grins.
Mother Nature is coldly indifferent to whether you live, or die. She doesn’t care. She certainly doesn’t feel sorry for you – and neither should you!
Wasting your energy feeling sorry for “poor little old you” doesn’t help anything. Instead, you should immediately look around to see what you have at hand that can be used to improve your situation. Nearly everything in life can be used for more than just its original purpose, it just takes imagination in order to fathom how.
 That’s where your energy should be directed. Self pity is a wasteful occupation; as is sitting and waiting for someone else to come and rescue you.
Which brings us to, “expect the unexpected” …Or at least it will tomorrow!
I’m off to attend a Toastmasters meeting now and will pick up with this again tomorrow.
Cheers, Terry
www.highintensityteambuilding.com
Posted in Keynote Speaking, inspired, teambuilding
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Tagged adrift, being adrift, charlotte speakers, commando, community team building, community teambuilding, energetic, engaging speaker, example of public speaker, exciting speakers, funny speakers, Keynote speaker, mental toughness, Oprah, Public speaker, public speaking, steven callahan, Terry Vaughan, Terry Vaughn
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Why the hell would I want to be mentally tough anyway?
By
admin
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Published
February 23, 2010
Because, frankly, if you aren’t, life can royally suck…
 And life isn’t supposed to suck: At least not all the time. It’s supposed to suck from time to time, but you should always manage to bounce back, better and stronger than ever – and that’s why being mentally tough is so important!
Developing mental toughness sets you up to bounce back quicker than the competition after you both hit the proverbial wall!
Of course, not everything is a competition, right?
It’s not as if we:
Have to fight for everything we get in life…
Struggle to keep ourselves running successful business’…
Battle to keep our kids safe and on the straight and narrow…
Juggle the sort of schedules heads of state would have marveled at 20 years ago…
All while eating healthily, exercising, volunteering our time to worthy causes and trying to get enough sleep so we don’t burn out before our next birthday..
Or is this just me?? LOL
Unfortunately, when we imagine someone mentally tough, we always seem to end up with some sort of Drill Sergeant Caricature, who doesn’t actually resemble anyone we’d ever want to emulate – or is it? Drill sargeants aren’t always grumpy you know, and tough love is still love after all…. 
So what’s the happy balance?
For me, it starts with exercise.
I stumbled across a neat and short Blog posting in reference to the whims of exercise and what the current training trends reflect right now – http://www.malepatternfitness.com/2010/2/9/1303157/fitness-circa-2010
Don’t worry about it saying male pattern anything, it’s more a segment about why training is going the way it currently is, and I must say I agree, but with an additional reason tacked on.
If trouble is ever going to find you, it’s going to require a relatively short, incredibly intense burst of activity on your part in order to facilitate, “fleeing” the scene, so-to-speak!
In very few instances will there be a need for you to lift a car engine sized weight above your head while admiring “witnesses” applaud your strength. But if you visit just about any Gold’s Gym, or equivalent, in the country, you’ll be sure to find a huge segment of the visiting clients training as if this were the case.
Steroids are rampant, heavier is always better, and wife beaters which allow full view of the male nipples are the fashion du jour. It would seem that very little emphasis is being placed on over-all maximum fitness. Ask one of these meat heads to run a few laps around the parking lot and their tanks will be empty before they get through the double doors exiting the building.
And yes, I know, running isn’t everyone’s cup of tea: Which is why exercise programs like Cross-fit are so popular. It is a great alternative to running in order to improve cardio vascular fitness.
This “new” training regime harkens back to a time when most exercise programs were practiced for combat only.
Fond memories litter my aging brain of training many of my clients using strategies like full body ranges of motion, and maximum effort, because it seemed to me that if the body moves that way in everyday life, we should train it that way.
 I’ve always believed that maximum effort was important because when you are in a pickle and flight isn’t an option, fighting is brutal, exhausting and messy. The combatant with the most resiliency was most likely to walk away – or more likely stagger away, but either way you’re leaving the scene.
But you aren’t going to walk, or stagger, any where if you haven’t put your body through its paces on a regular basis. This for me is where the mental toughness begins to come into play.
Conditioning yourself to get to the gym more than once in a blue moon is a great start. This alone takes discipline: which is the other part of the equation.
These days when most people get an ache or a pain, it’s off to the doc’s and get it looked at – stat!
I once had a kickboxing client who kicked me so hard he bruised his ankle. In contact sports, as in life, bruises are to be expected.
What’s not expected is the E.R. visit that followed because he was convinced he’d broken his leg…
He used the correct medical terminology for his injury upon seeing me next time, defending his visit to the E.R. with the colorful explanation that he’d sustained a contusion; which, by any other name, is a bruise.
Not particularly tough…
I know he wasn’t used to getting those types of bruises, or feeling that kind of pain, but when did you ever hear that life was supposed to be pain free???
It’s not. We have pain receptors for a reason. Sometimes, shit hurts. The good news is, if you’re feeling pain it means you aren’t dead yet, so suck it up and keep on trucking….
Regular training, especially intense challenge your whole body until it shakes, can’t catch your breath or feel your fingers kind of training, develops your pain threshold. It pushes the body to the limits.
Some days that might be ten minutes. And some days it might be 50. Either way, going to the gym or participating in a class environment that challenges your entire physiological make-up, begins the process of developing mental toughness.
Self-Discipline adds another facet to the equation. We’ll continue covering more on this subject over the next few days as this is so close to my heart. Plus I can’t wait to see what emails arrive from today’s post
 We’ll have a look at few folks who are shining examples of discipline personified and why it was so important for them be remain disciplined in order to save lives; their own and others.
Cheers, Terry.
www.highintensityteambuilding.com
Posted in Keynote Speaking, inspired, teambuilding
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Tagged balancing family and professional lives, balancing life and work, beating your demons, beating yourself, being stronger than ever, bouncing back, bouncing back after heart break, broken heart, competative toughness, competition, Cross-fit, dominant woman, dominatrix, eating healthy, energetic, engaging speaker, example of public speaker, exciting speakers, functional training, funny speakers, getting the right exercise, GOld's gym, keeping kids safe, Keynote speaker, life shouldn't suck, life sucks, making a better life, meat heads, motivational speakers, motivational speakers nc, Public speaker, public speaking, running a business, steroids, time management, tough love, training for combat
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Karaoke anyone?? It will help your decision making under pressure….
By
admin
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Published
February 22, 2010
Developing mental toughness and staying cool under pressure.
Today we are going to start with the last part first, before going onto the first part last, beginning tomorrow… You following me? Hahaha! 
Does being mentally tough just come down to genes?
Is it just a case of you are whatever yo’ momma gave ya, and that’s it?
I don’t think so!
I want you to imagine a simple scenario: You are out on the town with a group of friends and the first place you guys happen to stop in has a Karaoke machine.
You aren’t drunk yet, not by a long shot! Do you go up and start singing??
You should: But not immediately. First you should sit for at least 15 minutes contemplating going on stage and singing. I want you to think about which song you’ll perform. I want you to think about all those people watching you up there alone, most of them are drunk, and there might even be some heckling after you get going.
They might hate your singing ability!
But you should go up any way, and today’s Blog is about why…
For years it was thought that our brains couldn’t develop more “mass” once we left childhood behind. The latest research has blown that theory well out of the water and this is good news.
When it comes to making decisions under pressure, you can train yourself to make a choice quicker, by keeping your new life experiences quota up.
Why? Because more life experiences, particularly exhilarating or frightening ones, help our brain mapping, and neuroplasticity occurs…. New experiences mean faster cognitive abilities when circumstances demand it.
 Going up on stage to sing Karaoke, sober, would qualify as a new and exhilarating experience for most of us, and this is a good thing. For most of us public speaking, or even better, sober public singing, would be cause for great amounts of panicking.
The brain loves new challenges and revels in the chance to improve its own efficiency. It will lay down a new marker within itself and then, the next time you are forced to make a decision quickly, under pressure, it can run straight to the “marker” or file cabinet labeled, “Holy shit, I need to make a decision” – and do so faster than it did before.
It adapts faster to new and unexpected stimuli because it has new, “pathways” on which to travel.
We make decisions primarily based upon the totality of our own life experiences, the more varied and plentiful these are, the better we are equipped to handle unusual circumstances, threats, or scary encounters.
When we become complacent about life, or mentally sedentary, our brain starts going into cruise mode. Everything is pretty much, “normal” until suddenly it isn’t.
Then your brain effectively does a shoulder shrug and asks what the hell do you want from me? I’m not equipped to handle this; resulting in a freeze and a dumb looking facial expression.
This is exactly what happened to the doctor that attempted to intervene during that poor girls’ traffic accident I described last week. Theoretically he had the medical knowledge needed to help me with the incident. Unfortunately he lacked the stressful life experiences to keep him calm when it happened. He had no new, recent, mind mapped “flags” for his brain to fall back onto. His brain had to go way back to med school, or maybe even further back than that, for his brain to have a reference point from which to start the decision making process.
Basically he was out of practice when it came to doing things, “on the fly”. His capacity to improvise and remain calm in the face of all that stress was severely lacking. He may have been a Podiatrist for all I know. Or possibly when he yelled I’m a Doctor he failed to mention the whole story and he was a Doctor of Philosophy. Who knows!
I know that if a Dr. from one of the local E.R.s had of shown up, there wouldn’t have been any delay getting down to brass tacks. Even a nurse, or a cop, or a fireman, or Tiger Woods P.R. person, would have remained calmer than this guy!
My life, however, at that time was far from calm. I was still serving in the Commandos: An environment that prided itself on developing men that could stay calm under pressure.
After all, what good would you be running around firing blindly in all directions the first time things got a bit dicey?
 We were placed into deliberately stressful situations and made to think clearly…at least most of the time. There were always going to be moments when running around like a chicken with its head cut off would seem like a good choice, given all of the options…LOL.
So, in an age when doing anything, “risky” is viewed with varied levels of disdain, I want you to embark on a journey of adventure this coming year and you can attribute every “crazy” experience towards becoming a more effective person under pressure.
That covers the “decision making process” part of last week’s Blog, tomorrow we’ll take a look at the final part in this series, Mental Toughness, and whether you are or aren’t mentally tough.
 Cheers! Terry
www.highintensityteambuilding.com
More information about neuroplasticity on the following links:
http://www.headstrong.com.au/FAQ/~Q4-54/What_is_neuroplasticity
“Keeping your brain fit!” – follow the link below.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/04/usnews/main3787019.shtml
Posted in Keynote Speaking, inspired, teambuilding
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Tagged better decisions, better decisions under stress, charlotte speakers, commando, community team building, community teambuilding, cool under pressure, energetic, engaging speaker, finger puppets, flash mob, flash mob dance, fun blog, funny blog, funny speakers, gothic, karaoke, Keynote speaker, keynote speakers nc, mascara, mental toughness, mind mapping, motivational speakers, motivational speakers nc, neuroplasticity, Public speaker, singing, Terry Vaughan, Terry Vaughn
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Save a life – crack a joke!
By
admin
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Published
February 10, 2010
 Save a life – crack a joke!
How do you cope when the chips are down? I mean when it really hits the fan?
If you were to face a life or death situation right now, would you remain calm or panic?
People often associate panic with a colorful scene in their head of people running around screaming and generally making fools of themselves. In most cases people don’t panic like that. They tend to freeze, and perform no task of any use, whatsoever.
I personally favor those kinds of people that perform the freeze panic, because the screamers, they are an unwelcome distraction to those of us that tend to remain relatively cool headed. Also, those that just stop doing anything are usually easier to get moving again, particularly if the cool headed person can give them a simple task to perform.
So which are you?
I recall spending a great deal of time working in and around helicopters during my time in the Commandos, and, as a means of transporting troops, they make great paperweights.
They don’t glide worth a damn when they stop working which can be very troublesome when you are 3000ft up in the air.
It was during such an occasion that the “cab” I was riding in decided to be a tad temperamental and not work in accordance with our plans for the day. I was a door gunner in the Lynx Attack Helicopter and we were practicing low level insertion for a section of 7 men. Prior to dropping down and beginning our low level approach we were flying at around 3000 ft when the, “heads-up” console (a panel of lights located where the heat & A/C vents are in the dashboard of a car) between the pilot and co-pilot, lit up like a Christmas tree.
Nothing is more alarming to anyone than the sound of alarms and flashings lights in an aircraft that’s already airborne. It just screams problems…
I heard the pilot and co-pilot chatting amongst themselves and running through various drills to find the source of our predicament. At first I thought there really couldn’t have been that much wrong, as the conversation between the two of them, sounded much like they were ordering breakfast at some low key restaurant. 
This of course served to sooth my nerves and I was about to go back to scanning the ground far below me for signs of the enemy patrols, when the “cab” dropped like a stone for a couple of hundred feet. If you happen to be kneeling in an open doorway of a helicopter when this happens, I can tell you from personal experience, you will float up into the air weightless… If you are not securely gripping the headrest handle on the back of the co-pilots chair, you will now involuntarily exit the aircraft.
I didn’t want to do this, so I remained holding on firmly to the small handle and began asking a few choice questions of the crew…
“Any chance you lads can keep this thing in the air long enough for us to make it back to base for lunch?”
Imagine my confidence souring to an all time high with the pilots reply,
“Unless they’ve changed chefs, it’s gonna be the same crap as yesterday, so I don’t think you’ll be missing much, mate…” Nice.
At which point the “cab” did it again, this time dropping even lower than before, and seemingly faster.
I turned to face the boys behind me and they were all laughing. The pilot told me to tell them to “assume the position” which I relayed through various facial expressions and hand signals.
I received several varieties of hand signal in reply and none of them were very polite.
I repeated the instruction insisting that they put their heads down between their legs and grasp around their ears to help prevent whiplash upon impact. I can’t tell you how funny this is to do when you aren’t strapped to anything.
‘Cause if the helicopter hits the ground from that height, it won’t matter what you’re grasping, the last thing that will pass through your mind will be your ass….
They knew it, and so did I. But sometimes it’s still better to do something rather than nothing when facing your own impending death. It gives you a sense of facing things on your own terms – kind of.
The smiles faltered on their faces when the “cab” dropped for a third time and this time dropped so hard and fast several of them floated into the air too, even laden down with all of their kit…
 I performed the universally accepted signal for death by drawing my hand across my throat. They were all looking at me wide eyed as it dawned on them the pilots weren’t actually messing around attempting to scare them, we really were in trouble.
Everyone quickly went through the unnecessary drill of double checking safety catches were applied to their weapons, followed by helmet straps pulled a little tighter, followed by shuffling a little lower towards the floor of the “cab”.
We dropped for a fourth time and one of the guys threw his hands up in the air and screamed…. At first I thought he was panicking; then he started laughing his ass off.
He looked like a kid on a roller-coaster, which was his intention.
It’s so loud in the back of these aircraft you can’t hear diddly unless you are hooked into the communications system. But that didn’t stop everyone from starting to roar with laughter. Now the entire section was poised ready to throw their own hands into the air should we drop for a fifth time.
We didn’t drop again and the pilots had already begun a controlled descent the moment the first trouble had begun. As the skids touched down on the grassy hillside in the middle of know where, I heard the pilot say to the co-pilot,
“That was interesting.” As if we had all just taken part in some mundane high school science experiment.
What stopped my panic? Well, it helped me to hear firsthand the complete lack of panic in the pilots’ voices. Later that day they told me my question about us making it back for lunch helped them remain calm – I know they were just saying it to be nice, but I liked it anyway. LOL.
The guys riding in the body of the aircraft were helped by the clown who threw his hands into the air and pretended he was riding a rollercoaster.
No one panicked. People looked a bit concerned for a minute. But no one panicked. Of course, what would they have done if they had of panicked? It wasn’t as if there was anywhere to go… Jumping wouldn’t have helped; you weren’t going to get there any faster than the helicopter.
 In just about every case I can imagine, nothing good occurs with panicking: It solves nothing and typically only adds to the problem. These days most folks have had their fill of stress anyway – why would you want to add to it? Good leaders seek out ways to alleviate not only their own stress, but also that of their teammates, so that everyone can perform more effectively.
It’s not just in business where maintaining a sense of humor can help balance the status quo, either. It can also help maintain perspective on family issues, your friends’ problems, debilitating health issues; in fact, just about every facet of your life becomes easier to manage when approached with a sense perspective. - Follow the link.
The higher up the rankings you are in terms of influence within your peer groups or work, the more important this talent becomes. When others look to you the moment the proverbial, “merde” hits the fan, it’s time to step up and lighten the moment.
Any asshole can add stress – your challenge is to think of a way to lessen it, and quickly!
The faster you can do this, the faster people will come to trust you to be their anchor whenever things go awry. Do you want to be a truly great leader? Make people laugh and relax in a crisis. Defuse the situation by risking a little of yourself in order to bring about some levity. Problem solving becomes a whole lot easier if someone has the ability to temporarily relieve the tension.
It has to be someone; it needs to be someone – so why not you?
Cheers, Terry.
P.S. “Experience: A comb life gives you after you lose your hair..” – Judith Stern.
www.highintensityteambuilding.com
Posted in Keynote Speaking, inspired, teambuilding
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Tagged absurdity, amazing girls, beautiful women, challenge, charlotte speakers, comedian, commando, community, community teambuilding, cool in a crisis, countdown to flash mob, dance, denigrate, embarrassment, energetic, engaging speaker, example of public speaker, exciting speakers, eye opener, family, first move, flash mob, funniness, funny, funny man, funny speakers, generosity, gorgeous women, happiness, having a sense of humor, High Intensity, High Intensity Teambuilding, hotties, humor, im not an aussie, irony, joy, Keynote speaker, keynote speakers nc, laughter, leap, listener, listeners, motivational speakers, motivational speakers nc, Oprah, president obama, rebuttal, risk, save us, sense of humor, show of strength, solving personal issues, staying cool in a crisis, strategic self-presentation; impression management, success, survival, T-mobile, thin line, triumph, troubled times, truth of the matter, unease, vulnerability, winning
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Do you believe in magic?
By
admin
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Published
February 9, 2010
Do you believe in luck?
 If you do, then you probably also still believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and magic spells….
A long time ago, back when I was young and vibrant, I served with the military. The military is the ultimate place when it comes to rumors. Part of the reason for this is the fact that for the majority of the time enlisted men are treated like mushrooms: Kept in the dark and fed on crap.
One particular day a favorable rumor started in regards to a deployment to Kenya, Africa, but only for a handful of our guys. Of course, the rumor stated that only the most senior guys would be considered and all others should just forget about it…
That didn’t sit well with me as I really wanted this deployment and visit a place I might never get a chance to go to again – and get paid for doing it.
I didn’t even mention my interest to my mates. Most of them would have enjoyed going every bit as much as I would, but they had already stated they didn’t stand a chance and resigned themselves to failure before even trying: I loved that!!
The problem with the military is, it thinks of itself as some sort of dictatorship and everyone should follow the rules. I’m in favor of the system in war time because second guessing orders gets men killed, more often than not.
But during peace time, I believe the rules should be approached a tad more open minded…
Plus telling me not to do something is pretty much a freaking guarantee that I’ll do it. That’s what got me into the Commandos in the first place. Even my own Father didn’t think I could make it. Everyone said you’re crazy, they’ll beat the crap out of you and fail you, and then what’ll you do?
 As if the risk of not making it should be enough to deter one from even trying? WTH?
A plan started to form in my mind: A plan of audacity, rule bending and just a hint of rebelling against the system. But one must be careful. The military doesn’t take kindly to individual free thinking souls – unless they come with a smile and truck loads of charm and persistence. Of which I am amply blessed when my mind is set to achieve something.
My war of persistence began in a very low key and unassuming manner. The day after the rumor began, I showed up at the Sergeants’ office and off handedly remarked that if there were to be a trip to Kenya, I would be willing to deploy, even on short notice.
Did you notice how I twisted it around a bit? Now the trip didn’t sound so much like the glory trip it might have seemed initially. I was actually doing him a favor by letting him know that no matter what happened, I was his go-to-guy if things looked dicey for putting boots on the ground.
It didn’t work – exactly, “Vaughan, you’re a wanker. And that little line making the whole thing sound like you’re helping me out here, that’s ballsy…”
OK. I know. Not the most auspicious of beginnings, but here’s where lesser men would have tucked tail and walked away. I was just getting started.
So for the next two weeks here is how it went for my poor sergeant:
Every morning, after every lunch, last thing in the afternoon, I would “show up” and see what was going on at the office. After a few days of my becoming a regular at his office, he began to relent. I knew I was winning the first time he said he’d put me on the standby list, if anyone couldn’t go due to injury, sickness or whatever, I would be top of the back-up list.
Believe me, that was a victory. The war wasn’t won yet, but I’d certainly let the enemy know he was in for a tough uphill battle. Time to up the ante…
Now I started making tea runs for him, whether he needed a cuppa or not. Or runs to the Naffy, (the on base military shop selling T-shirts, coke, candy bars and other assorted merchandise the boys might need).
I let folks think I was in real trouble and having to do some running around to make it all OK again with the sergeant. Of course eventually he’d had enough, more than enough. He saw me coming and I could see the color drain from his face.
I always smiled, I always managed to make him laugh, but I was also driving him crazy. After two weeks he’d reached his limit.
“Vaughan, if you don’t quit bugging me the only place you’ll be getting deployed to is Arbroath!” Arbroath is a town in Scotland where no one wants to be, not even the Scots who live there… Everything was on the line now. Should I continue or accept defeat?
I rolled the dice. “But, sergeant, this would stop today if you’d give me a shot and put me on that deployment. Do you know how much paperwork is going to be involved with actually re-assigning me to 45 Commando? Sending me to a whole new unit? (Believe me it’s worth mentioning that if there’s one thing warriors hate, its paperwork – and this guy was a soldiers, soldier). I hit a nerve.
What I was saying in not so many words was, this will not stop. I will do this until you re-assign me to another unit, or put me on the list for Kenya. And I said it without actually saying it. I would never overtly threaten a senior rank, especially not his guy, I liked him!
I saw the doubt in his eyes. It was time to seal the deal.
“I’ll not bother you with anything again, ever, if you’ll do me a solid and put me on the list.”
“FINE! Now leave me the hell alone…” He tried to sound angry, but he was already chuckling as he began walking away. He added this as he left,
“If anyone else had worked as hard as you for this I’d have hung myself a week ago… Hell, if the whole Commando Brigade was as stubborn as you I could rule the freaking world…..” I believed him.
Three weeks later the personnel list for Kenya was posted, and would you Christmas Eve it, my name was on the list. Guess what I heard for the next few weeks,
“Vaughan’s so freaking lucky. How the hell did he get on the list?”
“Some blokes have all the luck. It’s just not fair.”
Typically these sorts of comments came from those that had quit trying before it ever began.
Success of any sort isn’t about luck. Luck is something that happens to us. But this line of reasoning means you are at the whim of chance. Something, or someone, has the power to rule your life.
It also means that when bad things happen, when “bad luck” strikes, your mindset is all wrong. You take on the attitude that of course something bad has happened, you knew your luck couldn’t last forever. Right?
Horsepucky!
If you don’t believe in luck, then whatever happens isn’t about the wind changing and your good/bad fortune suddenly slapping you in the face. It’s just what happens. Life happens. There is no good or bad, there are just things.
How you choose to look at them is all a mindset. Saying, “it’s just bad luck” gives the power for your life over to an age old superstition.
If you are stuck on the side of a mountain, lost after a long hike and it suddenly starts to rain, guess what? Mother Nature isn’t kicking sand in your face. She’s just doing what she does, watering the plants. You just happen to be standing in the garden when she does.
When you succeed at something and everyone around you is saying, oh you’re so lucky, nothing like that ever happens to me… Guess what? It wasn’t luck, it was work. It was putting yourself out there and taking calculated chances. It was at least having the balls to try. - follow this link to find out more about creating your own luck.
 You won’t always get the outcome you desire. So what? You’ll still have more than you did before embarking on the journey, even if it’s more experience…
The biggest regrets you’ll ever have in life will be the ones where you didn’t even get in the game in the first place. You didn’t even try.
Life is not a spectator sport.
And it won’t play out the way you want it to if you don’t at least start taking charge of its direction. TAKE ACTION!
Stop using “Bad luck” as an excuse for why you didn’t even try! Make your own luck by working hard and being in the right place, at the right time, for the right reasons, and watch what happens.
The situation I mentioned earlier about being stuck on the side of a mountain when the rain begins, well I’m betting half of you said, “What the hell would I be doing on the side of a mountain?”
I have news for you. You’re already on the side of a mountain. That’s where life is played out. Those that succeed and make the biggest contribution to their own happiness are the ones that can say, “Well, I won’t be thirsty tonight” the second it starts to pour.
They didn’t start saying things like, “Isn’t this typical. My bad luck just keeps getting worse and now here comes the rain”…. It might not be what you asked for. It might be a different result than the one you were trying for.
But at least you are trying!
Keep trying and it’s only a matter of time before your luck changes! Hahaha!!
Cheers, Terry
Posted in Keynote Speaking, inspired, teambuilding
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Tagged beautiful women, changing you out look on life, changing your luck, changing your outlook, charlotte speakers, commando, community team building, community teambuilding, countdown to flash mob, dance, do you feel lucky, energetic, engaging speaker, enthusiasm, example of public speaker, exciting speakers, flash mob dance, funny speakers, get lucky, happy at work, High Intensity, High Intensity Teambuilding, hot women, im not an aussie, Keynote speaker, keynote speakers nc, motivational speakers, Oprah, Public speaker, public speaking, sick of the bad luck, T-mobile, Terry Vaughan, Terry Vaughn, ways to make yourself happy, youtube.com/tcvaughan34
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