Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez

Running with the Bulls in Pamplona

We stood for hours in the plaza trying to stay warm in the chilly Pyrenees Mountain morning. About 3000 of us. People of all ages from all over the world drawn to Pamplona by the mystique of running with the bulls.

You could feel the tension rise as the time got closer to 8:00 AM, the time when six bulls and several steers would be released to run through the cobblestoned streets of Pamplona. The half mile course is only 15 to 20 feet wide. There is no place to escape and since bulls can run much faster than people, in time, everyone will be overtaken by the bulls.

The bull run only takes about 3-4 minutes. The most dangerous and exhilerating three minutes of your life.

There are always injuries. So many injuries that there are emergency medical crews and ambulances every 50 yards. Someone will be hurt today. Occasionally someone will lose their life. In 1995 a 22 year old American was gored to death less than 30 seconds after the beginning of the run. His first…

What drives people to risk their lives running with the bulls? Some say you feel most alive when you are nearest death. Others run for the challenge. Personally, I just think it’s fun, exciting, and exhilerating.

Before going to Pamplona I took the same approach I take with everything. I seeked knowledge from the experts. I read three books about Pamplona - several times. I contacted one of the authors - a man who’s been running for 30 years, to pick his brain. Then, I spent many hours watching videos of the bull run to study the paths different runners took as they ran.

At first, the videos just looked to me like a horde of people running for their lives. After watching the videos over and over again, I started to see well defined patterns. All of a sudden, the things I had read about in the books started to make sense. I realized that there is a right way and a wrong way to run with the bulls.

I did my homework and that made all the difference.

What did I learn from all my study? I learned a handful of insights that drastically reduced my risk and turned a potentially deadly adventure into a science. Into a strategic challenge.

 Just like in business and in life, you find two types of people in the bull run. There are the amateurs who show up, wing it, and often get hurt. And there are the professionals. The experts who armed with knowledge and skill rarely get hurt.

 95% of the people are amateurs. 5% are the pros. The experts. The winners. Just like in business. Just like in life.

What did I learn from my research? I learned simple things that made a huge difference in my Pamplona experience.

First and most importantly, make sure to run sober and watch out for the drunks. There were lots of them out there. The drunks are more dangerous and more unpredictable than the bulls. The drunks trip, fall and cause human pileups that you have to hurdle as you run down the street.

Secondly, if you fall, cover your head and stay down. The bulls will jump over you. If you get up, you become a big target and you could easily get hurt.

Thirdly, tie your sash in a slip knot. Everyone in Pamplona dresses the same way during the Fiesta. White shirt, white pants, red bandana around the neck, and a red sash around the waist. If you tie your sash in a double knot (like 95% of the amateurs did) and a bull’s horn hooks your sash, the bull will drag you along the streets with your head bouncing off the cobblestones the whole way. Not the best way to spend your time in Spain.

Like I said, simple stuff that can make a huge difference.

Finally, where do you run?

The half mile course has five sections. Most deaths have occurred at the beginning and at the end. Most injuries and gorings occur at a sharp right hand curve in the middle of the course. Stay away from those three areas unless you have been running for many years.

The whole time you are running you are deep in a narrow canyon made up of 10 story buildings on either side of the narrow streets. You are in the shade the whole time except right before you enter “Dead Man’s Curve” or “La Curva” as it is known in Pamplona. Right before “La Curva” you are blinded by the early morning sun. The bulls are blinded as well and they slip on the moist cobblestones and slam into the retaining wall at the far side of the curve. Many injuries occur here when the runners get pinned by the falling bulls.

The experts told us to begin the run about 50 yards past “La Curva” on the right side of the street. Why? Because the bulls tend to run on the left side of the street after passing “La Curva.” By starting the run from the right side, you have a chance to gradually approach the bulls as you run down the long straightaway past the curve.

The top runners position themselves in the middle of the street and try to run right in front of the bulls’ horns for as long as they can before they are overtaken. We were happy to run beside the bulls. Close but not too close.

There is a bull run every morning for the 8 days of the Fiesta. I was there three days. I watched the first day and ran the second and the third. I’m still a beginner at this. Like everything else, practice makes perfect. I think it will take at least 2-3 years of running all 8 days to learn the basics. And then a lifetime to master the basics.

So what does all of this have to so with success? Everything! Whenever you are about to try anything new, something that looks too hard and too risky to be worthwhile, do what high achievers everywhere do. Don’t try to figure it out on your own. You don’t know what you don’t know and what you don’t know can hurt you.

Rather, find the experts. Learn from the best. Then give yourself a couple of years to learn the basic skills by taking consistent and persistent action. By doing that, in time you will become the expert others turn to for advice. By pursuing excellence in everything you do you will make your life a masterpiece.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
Motivational Speakers
Motivational Speakers

Whether you play tennis or not, you might want to pick up a copy of “The Inner Game of Tennis.” It is filled with great tips anyone can use to be more productive.

Here’s a quote from Timothy Gallwey’s book:

“The player of the inner gamecomes to value the art of relaxed concentrationabove all other skills; he discovers a true basis for self-confidence; and he learns that the secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard.

He aims at the kind of spontaneous performance which occurs only when the mind is calm and seems at one with the body, which finds its own surprising ways to surpass its own limits again and again.”

Sounds like what my coach tells me after every luge run: “Ruben, you must relax. Be one with the sled.”

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

My new book “Becoming Unstoppable” is finally finished. It was just featured in FOX Business Channel in the Dave Ramsey show.

“Becoming Unstoppable” is regularly $19.95 but for a limited time you can get an autographed copy right here.

“Read this book, apply its
timeless principles,
and you’ll achieve more
than ever before.”

Howard Putnam
Former CEO Southwest Airlines

“This book is a must read.”

Don Green
Executive Director of the
Napoleon Hill Foundation

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Greg Reid and I in Ruthless Competition…

I’ve always been a good ping-pong player. But I wanted to take my game to the next level because I wanted to beat a friend of mine who beat me regularly - Greg Reid.

I decided to get some coaching from a lady that is in the Vietnamese National Ping-Pong team.

In the first 10 minutes she gave me two tips that made a huge difference in my game.

One of them was changing my stance by only 6 inches and the other was changing the position of the tip of my index finger by one inch!

Believe it or not, those two small changes made a huge difference in my game.

I’ll be taking lessons from this Coach for the next year. Imagine what a difference that will make! Greg’s going to have to get a coach or he will be toast! I know he will because he knows what it takes to be your best.

If a little coaching could make such a big difference in my ping-pong game, imagine what a difference it can make in your professional life.

You have no idea how good you can be!

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Average people avoid risk. Successful people learn to manage risk. Managing risk is not that hard. All you do is ask yourself three questions:

What’s the best thing that could happen if I go for it?

 

What’s the worst thing that could happen if I go for it?

What’s likely to happen if I go for it?

If you are most likely to succeed by taking action and if you can handle the worst thing that could happen, go for it. Because if that is the case, the risk is worth the reward.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

In the spirit of our new movie “Pass It On,” I’ve just written a book about what it really takes to succeed big in life and I’m giving away the eBook version to everyone who wants to take advantage of this information.

You can download your personal copy of “Becoming Unstoppable” by clicking here…

The print version of “Becoming Unstoppable” will be available this fall.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Who are your heroes? Who do you look up to? It’s important for you to have heroes because heroes personify what you could be. They personify your ideals. They embody your highest values.

If you tell me who your heroes are, I’ll know what your values are. People who don’t have heroes have not yet identified their highest ideals. As you grow older and your values change, your heroes will change as well.

Heroes inspire us to greatness. They remind us of the greatness that the human spirit is capable of. They draw us to that greatness.

Many of my heroes are people who overcame great odds to realize their dreams. People like; Wilma Rudolph, who overcame polio to become an Olympic Champion in track at the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics, General Patton, who moved his armies faster than anyone thought possible, Louis Pasteur, who’s belief in bacteria’s role in causing disease led him to invent pasteurization and to discover a cure for rabies.

Some of my other heroes are; Thomas Edison, who personified persistence in his search for the best filament in his light bulb, the Wright Brothers, who worked for years in the face of other people’s ridicule before their airplane finally flew, Henry Ford, who built a single block engine when even his own engineers said it couldn’t be done, Abraham Lincoln, who overcame depression, bankruptcy, and seemingly endless political defeats before he won the Presidency, and finally, Scott Hamilton, who overcame a childhood disease that kept him from growing to go on to become an Olympic figure skating champion. Â

These heroes constantly remind me that greatness is possible if we will only believe and act on our belief. Seeing Scott Hamilton win the Olympic Gold Medal inspired me to pursue my Olympic dream.

Make a list of your heroes. But don’t just admire them. Admire the qualities that made them great, work hard to emulate them, use their greatness to fuel your belief that great things are possible, and use them as a springboard to greatness in your own life.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Aristotle said that we become what we repeatedly do. Every time you face your fears, you become more courageous. Every time you refuse to quit, you become more perseverant. The more you persist in the face of adversity, the more you like and respect yourself.

One day, while still in grade school, I simply decided to quit quitting. And that’s a decision you can make this instant. Will you? It’s a decision that will change your life. If a hard-headed fifth grader can make that decision you surely can. Will you?

A few years went by. One day, as a sophomore in high school, this kid came up to me and said, “Ruben, your nickname should be Bulldog.”

I said, “Why?”

“Because bulldogs never quit. If a bulldog gets a hold of your leg, he’s not letting go,” the kid said.

“Is that right?” I said. I didn’t know that about bulldogs.

“Sure it’s right.”

I went to the library to check on this newly discovered fact about bulldogs. Being a pretty skeptical person, I always check the truth about matters. He was right. Bulldogs are known for tenacity. Bulldogs were actually bred to be tenacious; they were bred to fight bulls to the death in arenas like the ancient Coliseum. Their lower jaw is longer than their upper jaw so that when they bit a bull, they did not have to ever let go to breathe. The idea of being tenacious like a bulldog was very appealing to me!

From that day on, whenever I met somebody, I’d say, “Hi, my name is Ruben, but you can call me Bulldog!”

By doing that I was putting positive pressure on myself to not ever quit. Imagine how embarrassing it would be to be known as ‘Bulldog’ and be a quitter! A little pressure goes a long way to helping you stay on track.

Make a decision to be bulldog-tenacious and you’ll leave your competition in the dust.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

The first step in high achievement is believing that success is possible. When I was 10 and started dreaming of competing in the Olympics, I did not think it was a possible dream. After all, I was not a great athlete and was always the last kid picked to play sports in P.E. 
     
I needed to start believing in myself in order to get myself to take action. Lack of self-belief or lack of confidence, results in fear of failure, and that’s what keeps people from pursuing their dreams. After all, if you don’t believe you can achieve your dream, why even try?  Once you believe, you are ready to commit to taking action. And believe me, success requires taking MASSIVE ACTION – for a long time. Unless you commit, you’ll never make your dream come true.

There are a couple of things you can do to raise your self belief level. The books you read and the people you associate with will ultimately determine what you believe. Today we’ll talk about reading the right books.

My dad got me to read biographies. Dad said, “Ruben, why don’t you read some biographies – the stories of great people. If you read about the lives of people you look up to, people you admire, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t work in life, because success leaves clues.” Then he backed off. And let the books work their magic.

I started reading biographies and started loving them. I read tons of them. My favorites were the stories of people who had overcome great odds to realize their dreams, before long I realized that ordinary people could accomplish the extraordinary if they followed success principles. 

If you don’t like to read, tune in to the Biography Channel and before long you’ll start to believe too!

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

You were designed for greatness and you must believe in yourself if you want to reach your full potential.

If you believe something is possible, and have hope, then you will not quit. Hope sees the invisible. Hope accomplishes the impossible. Napoleon said that a leader’s most important job is to give hope to his troops – to show them that success is possible; Coach constantly reminds me that there is hope. If you have hope you will take action. And once you take action you’re on the path to success. As soon as you lose hope you quit.

People ask me how I keep my hope up. They ask me why I’m willing to train so hard for so long for the Olympics – especially knowing that the probability of medaling is so, so slim. When asked that, I feel just like mountain climbers must feel when they are asked, “Why do you climb mountains?” When someone asks you that, you don’t even want to bother answering, because they just don’t understand. They don’t get it. And so you end up saying something profound like, “Because it’s there.”

Why do it? To fulfill an urge, a powerful inner calling to take a journey that will show us what we are made of. Climbing the mountain or making the attempt for the Olympics is a challenge that allows us test ourselves so we can know ourselves better.

Why work so hard? Because doing the work buys us an opportunity, a chance, however small, to medal. Doing the roadwork, the pushups, the sit-ups and the insanely boring weightlifting, makes us stronger both physically and mentally. Because in life, as long as you don’t quit you still have a chance.

Stop making excuses and start believing in yourself, because you are bigger than your circumstances and because you were created to accomplish great things. You were. If you want something bad enough and you’re willing to go for it, dreams do come true.

No matter what your dream is, all it takes to succeed is guts and vision; the vision to know what you want, and the guts to go for it and to never quit. So go for it and make your life an adventure.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com