How to set Achievable GOALS and Crush Your LIVE List

How I survived the Austin Texas Tough Mudder 2012 and What That Means for YOUR Business

 

Do YOU have a Live List? 

A Live List is like a Bucket List –  But it is more of a Mind Set of how you want to live your life.

Me – last year I saw a lady who did an event called the Tough Mudder.

It is over 10+ miles of mud, fire,  freezing cold water, and electric shocks.

So I set a Goal of completing a Tough Mudder before I hit the ripe old age of 49.  A way to prove that I wasn’t getting older and becoming a couch potato.

And this weekend – I Did it!

It was Cold, the Electric Shock HURT, the 12 Miles Jog – they added 2 miles cause it was in Texas, was Very Demanding.

All the elements of a great Live List right?

The very first time the Electric Shock hit my leg I seriously thought someone had kicked me.  HARD!!!  Then they did it again.  And again. And Again.

The night before a cold front had moved in – and throughout the race I saw people being taken away on the back of a cart – wrapped in a Solar Blanket.

The next to last Challenge I pulled a Hamstring that had me limping like Crazy – darn near doubled over in pain.  With the WORST and most Painful Obstacle still to come.

I mean I was almost home – done – and BAM, ANOTHER Crushing Blow right?

Kind of like Life I think.

Well – the ONLY way I was able to achieve this Goal was to fight through it – so here is what I did and here is what YOU can do to Crush YOUR Goals.

1.  Get Support and Buy In From your friends

I had a Marine, a MMA fighter, a bunch of Class A Type Personality Fire Fighters get my butt into shape.  And they all liked to see me in pain cause they knew it was going to be tough out there.   Just like Life.  Don’t believe me ask Rocky Balboa.

2.  Get your family to help  

My wife is use to me going after crazy dreams – but she and my kids helped me stay the course.  She sent me to the Gyms – cooked the right meals.  And let me know when I was getting off the diet with the wrong foods.

3.  Start your Goal Setting Early and go after it!

There is no way I would have gone 12 miles that day without starting 3 months earlier.  I set the Goal and did little steps to get to the end.  Little Goals that when I achieved them I celebrated the victory and moved to the next Goal.

4.  Celebrate Little Victories

All too often we talk non-stop about the negative things that happened to us.  All The Time.

During the 12 mile run What I found to work is set little goals – like – Hit the next sign that I see.  Get to the next group of spectators cause their Cheering us motivated me.

5.  Follow a Proven Leader or Method that Works

When I would get to one of obstacles I would watch the people ahead of me.  I would see a few people not make it and make a mental note of what they did that caused that.

I would also note what the successful people did – and Copy their Proven Strategies.

6.  Know Your Limitations and be OK with them

I will be honest – there were 2 Challenges that kicked my rear.  One was trying to do the Monkey Bars that went Up and then Down.  I knew that I stood a great chance of tearing my shoulder up if I tried it.  So I passed on that Challenge.

The next was when I took a running start to Climb the Everest Wall and promptly pulled the crud out of my Hamstring.  I was limping like crazy but for some reason I went ahead and and continued to try to go up that wall.  And fell right on my keister.

At that point I was done – couldn’t try again without risking possible permanent damage.  And, again, I was OK with that cause the toughest Challenge was still coming up, and I was already severely handicapped.

7.  Take your friends with you

Let me be clear – Justin Serres, a fire fighter at my department – kept me going.  Much like Travis Steele did when we ran the 9-11 Hero’s run in Full Bunker Gear in the Texas Heat.

There were so many times I thought – I did “Enough” and he would say something or push us the right button that kept me putting one foot in front of the other.

If he had not run the race with me I am not sure I would have finished it.   Teamwork is KEY.  When everyone is pushing in the same Direction it makes it so much easier to Crush Your GOALS..

8.  Don’t be afraid to ask for Help

The Tough Mudder is not about your best times, or being the strongest – it is about facing Challenges and going after them.  And Team Work   You HAVE to have the help of others to do a lot of the Challenges.  You Must have help or you won’t get through them.  And most of the time it came from people you didn’t even know BUT all it took was asking for a little help.  

So what are YOUR Goals?

If your life could be anything you wanted it to be, what would it be right now?

Where would you live?

What would your house be like?

Who would your friends be?

How would you spend your time, if you could do anything you wanted?

What would you eat? Wear? Listen to?

Would you work? If so, what would you do? If not, what would you do?

What do you want to learn? To know? To be?

Where would you like to vacation? What would you do?

What else would be a part of your perfect life?

List it all Down! – then go for it!