The can-do credo

The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength, not lack of knowledge, but rather lack of will — Vince Lombardi

Everything can be taken from a man, but one thing: the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way — Viktor Frankl, Nazi holocaust survivor

Roger Bannister is unlikely to be a familiar name to the young generation. Yet his story is a powerful testimony to the influence of attitudes and beliefs on what we experience in life.

When Bannister was a medical student at Oxford University in 1954, the entire sports world believed it was humanly impossible to run a mile in faster than four minutes. More than 50 medical journals featured articles supporting this ‘fact’. But Bannister didn’t buy their argument. He refused to limit his own potential. Mind over matter prevailed, and he became what he believed. On May 6, 1954, Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile in human history. In the 18 months following his historic run, the sub-four-minute mile was achieved by more than 45 other distance runners.

How did that happen? It is difficult to believe that all athletes suddenly improved their performance in that brief period of time. So, had the human species suddenly evolved into a higher organism, capable of running with greater speed and endurance?

I don’t think so! The only plausible explanation for the post-Bannister rush of sub-four-minute milers is that  four minutes had been a mental rather than physical barrier. Suddenly a large number of athletes began believing that because the four-minute barrier had been broken once, it could be broken again. They no longer considered it beyond reach. They responded by redoubling their efforts to match, or even better Bannister’s success.

Roger Bannister’s story had a clear message for me: personal power is related to our mindsets. Such stories, especially that of basketball star Michael Jordan, who was cut from the high school team, demonstrate that when “I can” triumphs over “I can’t”, it can lead to the fulfillment of the most impossible dreams.

I was always the smallest and skinniest kid in the gym, playing basketball or on the football/baseball field. I often recall the day when I turned out for seventh grade football in a very competitive junior high program in Compton, California. My coach, Ed Moore, ribs me even today about our first encounter, and how he responded to my brash desire to play with the comment, “I like my hot dogs with lots of mustard.”

Ed was suggesting that my role on his team would be that of errand boy, who would be expected to keep him well-fed. But I had other ideas. I became a first-stringer on that team and on every team through high school and college. To be honest, I have always struggled with considerable self-doubt in many areas of life. But to my bewilderment — when it came to sports — it never crossed my mind that I couldn’t achieve. I just somehow believed I could. I had the belief, the attitude — yes, the mindset of the ‘can-do’ credo.

Years of thinking and reflection led me to develop the ‘can-do credo’, to unlock the extraordinary potential of children and adults. It is that belief which allows us — children, adolescents and adults — to focus on what we can do instead of what we can’t. It propels us to use our abilities and ‘can-do’ attitude to overcome the challenges in sports, in the classroom, in our relationships, at work, to attain our dreams, whatever they may be.

Attitude is a vital part of everyone’s mindset. it’s the way we look at things mentally. It reflects how we communicate our moods to others, and how we choose to focus on the outside world. Much like using a camera, we can focus or set our minds on whatever we wish; we can see situations either positively or negatively, as opportunities or potential threats. It’s our choice; we take the picture of life we want to take.

In 1987, Hulda Crooks climbed Japan’s highest mountain, Mount Fuji. It’s more than 12,000 ft high. The incredible aspect of the feat was that she was 91 years old at the time! Hulda’s nickname was Grandma Whitney, because at 89 she became the oldest person to climb Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the United States. Crooks did her training by climbing steps of tall buildings to stay in shape. Her can-do attitude helped her to summit 97 mountains after she was 65 years old!

A positive attitude in life is the key to success. It helps us overcome our mistakes, and the difficult situations and problems of the past and move to the possibilities of the future. On the other hand a negative attitude is like using a magnifying glass to your disadvantage. You have the option to view the small print of good news through the glass and feel better. You also have the option to magnify bad news and plunge into a slough of despondency. The choice is yours whether you want “I can” to triumph over “I can’t”, to fulfill seemingly impossible dreams.

(Dr. George Selleck is a San Francisco-based advisor to SportzVillage, Bangalore)