Never Ever Ever EVER Give up!

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In the Rugby League World Cup semi final played over the weekend between the New Zealand Kiwi’s and England, the Kiwi’s Shaun Johnson scored a try after the full time hooter to draw level. He then kicked the conversion to seal the victory.

Then 24 hrs later, the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team seeking to be the first professional team to have the perfect season did exactly the same thing against Ireland.  With time up on the clock and down by 5 points, Ryan Crotty scored a try in the corner to draw level and then Aaron Cruden slotted the side line conversion (he got 2 goes at it) to once again snatch a win.

So what’s the moral of the story?

Both of these two sporting stories clearly epitomise the title of this post, “NEVER EVER EVER EVER GIVE UP.”  What do you think would’ve happened if these two teams had’ve said to themselves, “We can’t win this.”

We will never know because I’m not a mind reader, but I bet you none of the players in either of these teams were saying that sort of thing in their head.

Having the mental fortitude or mental toughness to persevere at something when, to the outsider, all seems lost is a really strong characteristic of successful people.  In his best selling book, “Good To Great”, Jim Collins identified that all of the CEO’s of the companies that were successful were so, because they “built enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”  They possessed what he called, “Level 5 Leadership”.  He went on to say that they possessed a dogged determination to never ever give up.

There are many life applications to this exact same motto.  People don’t fail to achieve their health and fitness goal, “THEY GIVE UP”.  Time and time again I’ve watched clients start their health and fitness journey, but never finish it.  Like the picture clearly shows, when you quit, you may be only centimetres away from what you’re seeking to achieve.

And those same people that gave up were the exact same people who didn’t really know “WHY” they were on their journey in the first place.  Yeah they wanted to lose weight but none could tell me why.

Over the weekend my son and I went for a cruise on my motorbike to cap off what had been a “BOYS ONLY WEEKEND”  and life is a bit like cruising the highway on your motor bike.  With the wind in your face on a fine and sunny day, it’s not really the destination that matters, what really counts is the people you’re with, the people you visit along the way, the sights that you take in while cruising, the great coffee you have at the beach cafe.  They are the things that really matter.

People often ask me why I continue to train really hard and stick to a fairly strict eating regime when I no longer compete at the elite level and my response is always the same. The game I play is life.  I am in it to win it.  I do so FOR MY FAMILY.  I show the same dogged determination to stick to my plans that I’ve set for myself as those same CEO’s of those successful companies in Jim’s book Good to Great and I strive to show the same dogged determination as both the All Blacks and the Kiwi’s did last weekend.  IT’S NEVER OVER UNTIL YOU SAY IT IS!

And to prove that the All Blacks had an unwavering belief that they could overcome the odds and win that game click on the image below to watch a 5 min video of their post match reaction.  In 5 mins the word, “belief” was said 8 times.

Pat Rae

ABOUT: Pat Rae is a personal trainer, lifestyle coach, massage therapist, motivational speaker, author and presenter.  He is the owner of a boutique PT studio in Brisbane  and an online health and wellness program both of which have been established to help people live healthier, happier and more energetic life through exercise, eating whole real foods and stressing less.  See more at http://www.prpt.com.au & http://www.patrae.com