I was flicking through my Facebook feed and came across a story I wouldn’t normally click on, but something intrigued me about it. The title was “Meet The World’s Oldest Female Bodybuilder”, which you could easily dismiss as click bait.
I took the bait, and watched the incredible story of Ernestine Shepherd, who at 77 is the world oldest female body builder.
She started working out with her sister, who said “we should get into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest female body builders”. A year later, sadly her sister died and Ernestine fell into a depression.
Then, in the video, she said something that really resonated with me:
“I made up my mind that I was going to fulfil the dream my sister wanted”.
She made up her mind. She decided to set a goal, and do what it took to achieve it. She gets up at 2:30 every morning, eats a mountain of egg whites, and then runs and goes to the gym.
While we may not all want to be a body builder, what we can take from Ernestine’s extraordinary story is that if we set our mind to something we can achieve it. But we have to first set our mind to it.
Moving from unknown to recognised expert requires that same approach. Just wishing you had more clients, more media coverage or could share your message with more people doesn’t work. You have to set goals and work towards achieving them.
I think the first place to start is with a sense of gratitude for the present and the future, and a joyful expectancy of the things you hope for.
Then ask yourself the question: “What would I dare to do if I knew I could not fail?”
You don’t have to share this with anyone, but writing these dreams down crystallizes them and gives them more force.
Now set precise goals, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you’ll know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
While we have people around us that support us and believe in our dreams, it’s our responsibility to create the life we want. We are ultimately responsible for our own joy and happiness, and to then share it.
So what are you going to make your mind up about today?