Archive for the ‘Success Tips’ Category

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Base Your Plan on Your Strengths

Monday, February 12th, 2007

When your “why” is big enough, the “how” will take care of itself. When I decided to train for the Olympics, I was 21 years old and did not even know what sport I would compete in. But it didn’t matter. I believed in myself, and I was ready to find a way. I was ready to start taking action.

I went to the library to take a look at the list of Olympic sports. After looking at the list of summer sports, such as; the discus, the high jump, and the marathon, I realized that, “You have to be some kind of a super-athlete to do any of these things – there’s no way!” After all, most summer sports require sudden bursts of speed and power – neither of which I had.

Looking at the Winter Olympic sports, it occurred to me that, “I’m about to put together a plan for the next four years. It might make sense to base the plan on my strengths.”

My strength wasn’t athletic ability. My strength was perseverance, tenacity, stick-to-iveness. I wasn’t a quitter.

Therefore, the challenge was to find a sport so tough, a sport so dangerous, a sport that resulted in so many broken bones, that there would be a lot of quitters. Only I wouldn’t quit!

I chose the luge. Hurtling down an icy chute ay 90 MPH.

My audiences always laugh when I tell this story but when you think about it, the process I followed to reach my dream was very sound and very logical. It’s the same process you must follow to reach your dream.

Start with the end in mind, and find a way there that utilizes your strengths.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Posted in Achievement, Motivational Speaker, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

Bulldog Tenacity

Monday, February 12th, 2007

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

Posted in Attitude, Life Skills, Motivational Speaker, Peak Performance, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

The Sweet Taste of Success

Monday, February 12th, 2007

The story of every great achiever is always the same. They had a dream, went through a struggle, and finally experienced a victory.

Most high achievers were not born great. At one point, these extraordinary people were ordinary people just like you and me. It was the struggle that made them great. The struggle forced them to dig down deep inside themselves. And only when they dug deep inside themselves did they find their gifts.

The one quality every high achiever has in common is perseverance. Perseverance gives people the staying power to not quit when the going got tough. Perseverance gives you a chance to learn the skills you’ll need to succeed.
    
Perseverance always pays off in the long run. By refusing to quit, one of two things always happens: you’ll either figure out a way to make your dream a reality through sheer trial-and-error, or else, you’ll meet someone who’ll show you the ropes; someone who’ll  help you out; someone who’ll  become your mentor.

However, neither of these things will have a chance of occurring unless you make a decision to hang on and persevere no matter what.

Great people have two types of courage. They have the courage to get started; to take a leap of faith; to take action when they have no guarantees of success. Once they are on their way, they develop the courage to endure. The courage to not quit. The courage to persevere. Perseverance is the key.

Make a decision that quitting is not an option and you’ll taste the sweet taste of success.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Posted in Achievement, Motivational Speaker, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

How to Raise Your Self Belief Level

Monday, February 12th, 2007

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

Posted in Achievement, Attitude, Motivational Speaker, Peak Performance, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

Hope Accomplishes the Impossible

Monday, February 12th, 2007

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

Posted in Achievement, Attitude, Life Skills, Motivational Speaker, Overcoming Challenges, Peak Performance, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

Build a Support Team

Monday, February 12th, 2007

Find a coach or mentor who has fruit on the trees. Someone who has already done what you want to do. My coach is a four-time Olympian and  a three-time World Champion in the luge. I trust him and follow his instructions. 

The first thing I do after stepping off my sled at the end of a luge run is to pick up a walkie talkie ant talk to coach. No matter how bad the run was, in 30 seconds coach refocuses me.

In thirty seconds, Coach gets my focus off of my obstacles and on to my objective – the Olympics. After all, the luge is just the vehicle: the Olympics is the dream. Many times the road to your dreams is a rough one. When it is, you need all the help and encouragement you can get. If it had not been for the walkie-talkie – which allowed me to connect with Coach, I never would have made it to the Olympics. Taking advantage of the walkie-talkie kept me from quitting.

I’ve got news for you. You will have bad days. You will have bad weeks. You will have bad months. Once in a while you’ll even have a bad year. I have. You will have times when nothing you do seems to work out; times when you will be so discouraged you will want to quit.

The next time you’re in the middle of one of life’s storms, you’re discouraged, and you’re starting to doubt yourself, don’t go out and try to figure it out for yourself. The worst time to make a decision is when things are not going your way.

When things are not going your way, pick up the walkie-talkie. Talk to your husband, your wife, your best friend, your coach, your mentor or your boss. Talk to someone who cares for you; someone who will get you back on the sled; someone who will get you back on track; someone who won’t let you quit, because if you quit, you’ll regret it all your life. Guaranteed.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Posted in Achievement, Life Skills, Motivational Speaker, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

Take Some Risks

Monday, February 12th, 2007

What’s the luge feel like? It’s crazy. Eighty to ninety miles per hour on a sled that’s just a piece of fiberglass on a couple of steel runners.   

All the way down the track, you are right on the ragged edge of control - right on the edge of disaster. Remember when you were a kid, and you leaned back on a chair balancing on its back legs and felt the point where balance is lost and you were about to fall back? That’s exactly what the luge feels like! Like an out of balance chair moving 90 miles per hour!

You are managing risk the entire way down the luge run. Do you dare to take a faster, more risky line down the track? You can actually ‘cut-corners’ down the luge track, but doing so increases the chance of slamming into a wall and crashing. Do you dare put your head back for a few seconds and race blindly to be more aerodynamic?  Tucking your head back to assume the shape of a bullet will make the sled go faster, but when you do, you won’t see where you are going. Do you dare round your steel runners to give up traction and gain speed?

That’s what the top guys in the luge circuit do. They actually ride on sleds that have virtually no traction, and they race blindly (using only their peripheral vision) the whole way down. That’s what it takes to win Olympic Gold. It’s risky business to dare to become a world class luger.

Successful people don’t avoid risk. They embrace and manage risk to have the opportunity to win more. On the circuit, the top competitors are the ones who are so mentally tough that they are willing to take the biggest risks. To win big you have to be willing to risk big. When somebody crashes on the luge, nobody laughs. They respect you for pushing the envelope. They respect you for going for it.

It’s no different in business and in life. You have to be willing to commit to your goals and dreams if you want to taste the sweet taste of success. So don’t dilly dally around. Take some risks, Go for the Gold and make your life a masterpiece!

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Posted in Achievement, Attitude, Life Skills, Motivational Speaker, Overcoming Challenges, Peak Performance, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

Lessons from my Dad…

Monday, February 12th, 2007

My Dad always said to me, “If you read about the lives of people you admire, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t work in life, because success leaves clues.”

That was some of the best advice I’ve ever had. Over the years I’ve read hundreds of biographies, always looking for clues that would help me achieve my dreams and ambitions. Along the way I learned that successful people think differently. They have conditioned their minds to always focus on the possibilities instead of the obstacles. Successful people think big and then they make very wise choices. Because when it comes right down to it, success is a choice.

In order to consistently make the choices that lead to success, winners use two types of courage – the courage to act and the courage to endure – to never quit regardless of the circumstances. Understanding that they are bigger than their circumstances gives them the courage to succeed.

You can learn to think and act like successful people do. Once you start thinking big, you’ll start succeeding big, and that’s what I want to help you do with this book.

As you read these articles, I’ll be hitting you with success principles from all different directions. Sometimes I’ll repeat the timeless principles of success in order to help condition your subconscious mind to buy into these ideas and to begin acting on them.

If all you do is read these articles, you’ll be entertained with great Olympic stories. However, if you consistently and persistently apply the principles in this book, before long you’ll be able to write your own success story.

When you read my story you’ll realize that I’m just an ordinary person with an extraordinary dream. Once you see that, it will be that much easier for you to begin the pursuit of your dream.

Once you start winning battles on the way to your dream do me a favor. Shoot me an email and share your victories with me. Your victories will fuel my victories.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Posted in Achievement, Attitude, Life Skills, Motivational Speaker, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

Success Magazine Features Ruben’s Articles in “Coach’s Corner”

Saturday, January 20th, 2007

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Success Magazine - America’s Oldest Magazine About High Achievement

Starting today, you can log into the “Motivate” page of Success Magazine and go to the “Coach’s Corner” section to read some short articles about what it REALLY takes to “Go for the Gold” in business and in life.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

 

Posted in Achievement, Life Skills, Motivational Speaker, Peak Performance, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

How to Become Laser-Focused on Your Goals…

Sunday, December 17th, 2006

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The walls of my office are covered with pictures of my goals… 

High Achievers Never Lose Sight of their Goals!

It’s important to keep reminders of your goals in front of you all the time. Because if you don’t, life has a funny way of getting in the way of your goals. Don’t kid yourself, unless you are looking at your goals on a daily basis, your goals and dreams are probably just pipe-dreams.

I don’t take any chances. The walls of my office are completely covered with Olympic memorabilia:  posters, awards, medals, and pictures of the luge tracks.  All of them are reminders of my dream and mind-builders towards my goal.

By doing this, my mind is constantly bombarded with my dream, competing in the Winter Olympic Games. No matter where I look, I’m continually reminded of where I am headed, where I want to go. If I daydream, I daydream about the Olympics. So it’s easier for me to do the things I need to be doing to get to the Olympics. And before long, I’m in the Olympics.

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The wall in front of my desk is covered with pictures of my goals…

Most people won’t take the time to re-decorate their home with reminders of their goals and dreams…

Heck, most people won’t even take the time to write their goals down on a daily basis (the least you should do to stay focused).

That’s why I’m so excited about a great new tool that automatically keeps all of my goals in front of me every single day…

A system that effortlessly trains your subconscious mind to help you reach your dreams and aspirations…

Click here to learn more about  The Digital Vision Board.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Posted in Achievement, Goal Setting, Life Skills, Motivation, Motivational Speaker, Peak Performance, Planning, Purpose, Success, Success Principles, Success Tips | No Comments »

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