Dear Reader, John Wood here with day four of my tribute to sports champions and the lessons we, as writers, can learn from them. Today I want to talk about a man who began wrestling in the eighth grade. As a freshman in high school, his wrestling record was five wins and eight losses. He was ranked last in the city of Mesa, Arizona. So he trained some more. A lot more. In his junior and senior years at Mesa High School, his record was 96-0. He became a two-time Arizona State Champion and a high school National Champion. During his senior year at Arizona State University, his wrestling record was 36-0. He won the 2011 NCAA National Title for wrestling in the 125-pound weight class. Remarkable accomplishments … and even more so, when you consider Anthony Robles was born with only one leg. Judy, his mother, says that when Anthony first started wrestling, people would say things like, poor thing … hes trying … hes at a disadvantage; hes only got one leg. After he started winning, their tune changed. People said he was winning because having only one leg was now suddenly an advantage. He had all this upper body strength, and people simply couldnt get low enough. But Judy says thats not the case at all … He just figured out how to beat them, she says. Anthony doesnt consider himself as having a disability. Theres no such thing as a disability, he says. We all have different barriers, different obstacles we have to go through. But, really, I dont see any disabilities. Here are four ways to overcome any obstacles that might be keeping you from achieving your goals: Focus on what serves you best. In his ESPY Award acceptance speech, Anthony said his mother taught him to never let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. A powerful phrase borrowed from NCAA basketball coach John Wooden. How does it apply to the writers life? Never get bogged down by things that are beyond your control. You cant control the economy, the competition, the marketplace, etc. — but you can control how you let things like that affect you. Put a plan together. Dont just let an obstacle loom all around you and slow down your progress. Put a plan together to defeat it. For example, if the bullets youre writing are lackluster and ordinary, study information on how to turn your bullets into dazzling selling machines. (You can find many free articles on the AWAI website.) Take one step at a time. Sometimes everything you have to do can seem so overwhelming. So be sure to break up what you need to do into workable chunks and then focus on one chunk at a time. Always look on the bright side of life. The day he was born, when Anthonys grandparents saw his missing limb, they started to cry. That was not the reaction of his 16-year-old mother Judy. To me, he was perfect, she says. Focus on what lifts you up. Not what brings you down. What are some of the barriers that stood in the way of your writing success? And how have you overcome them? Share your comments here. To your success, John Wood Freelance Copywriter and AWAI Member
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:27:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015