"Of all the drugs in the world, chess must be the most permanently pleasurable."
"In chess, just as in life, today's bliss may be tomorrow's poison."
- Assaic
How RTX Corp. Crushed Its Q1 Earnings Report
2 hours ago
King of the Birds, Lord of the Skies
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, old time is still a flying;
and this same rose that you see today, tomorrow will be dying.
CarpeDiem: Seize the Day!
- Dead Poets Society
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
When You Think You Can, You Can!
Oops...was it a typo? No.
Did I read it right? Yes.
It is interesting how a small little play of word can have so vast a difference in meaning. You are probably more familiar with the original quotation by motivational guru & speaker, Denis Waitly, "If You Think You Can, You Can". Well, that make good sense and sound, of course.
But wait. Don't you agree that the "If" at the beginning of the sentence sounds too "iffy"? It is almost conditional as if it's not likely to happen. So, when I change the "If" to "When", I wanted to add in some kind of turbo effect. For I strongly believe & am convicted that when you think you can, you will unleash the power of positive thinking in your life.
Negativity will begin to recede into the shadows. Now that's interesting, isn't it? What you may not consciously consider as possible may turn out to be do-able after all! History are filled with such examples. I will share 2 here.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (hope I got his name spell right) once commented on the effect of a confident attitude on performance. He referred to the 500 pound barrier in the clean-and-jerk event in weight lifting, which is equivalent to running the long one mile in under 4 minute.
Now, the guy was Valery Alexis, the world record holder at 499 pounds. He came to lift, and was told that the bar was at 499 pounds. Approaching with confidence, he lifted it. Later, the judges checked and found that it was actually several pounds heavier! Alexis had broken the barrier!! Now, interestingly, within a short time, 6 others went over 500 pounds. And Alexis himself did 520! Soon, the record went to 564!!
The other was the famous 4 minute mile run. For years, the 4-minute mile was considered not merely unreachable but, according to physiologists of the time, dangerous to the health of any athlete who attempted to reach it. For Roger Bannister, it was vindication.
When he crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, he broke through a psychological barrier as well. John Landy, considered one of the great milers of that era, never had gotten closer than within 1.5 seconds of the 4-minute barrier before. Within 46 days of Bannister's breakthrough, Landy surpassed the record with a 3:57.9 in Finland.
Bannister and Landy raced later in the year in the "Mile of the Century" at Vancouver, a run off to decide who was the faster miler. Bannister won in 3:58.8 to Landy's 3:59.6, the first time two men in one race had broken 4 minutes. By the end of 1957, 16 runners had logged sub-4-minute miles.
When you think you can, you can. But if you think you cannot, even your body will not co-operate with you. Trust me on that. Somehow, somewhere, the reserves are not marshalled to give that extra boost. For the battle is fought & won first in the mind. The sad thing is too many people don't even bother to try becasue they don't think they can. So no effort is made, unfortunately confirming the self-fulfilling prophecy. You see, you can't win unless you first take part.
For now, I took part in the coming Standard Chartered Marathon Run come Dec 2. I will be doing the half-marathon event this year. I did the 10 km last year & got addicted! Once this is achieved, I will do the full marathon next year! Then the mini Iron-man the next, and then the Iron-man. But first, I will have to prepare for the 20km ahead.
See you at the finishing line!
Did I read it right? Yes.
It is interesting how a small little play of word can have so vast a difference in meaning. You are probably more familiar with the original quotation by motivational guru & speaker, Denis Waitly, "If You Think You Can, You Can". Well, that make good sense and sound, of course.
But wait. Don't you agree that the "If" at the beginning of the sentence sounds too "iffy"? It is almost conditional as if it's not likely to happen. So, when I change the "If" to "When", I wanted to add in some kind of turbo effect. For I strongly believe & am convicted that when you think you can, you will unleash the power of positive thinking in your life.
Negativity will begin to recede into the shadows. Now that's interesting, isn't it? What you may not consciously consider as possible may turn out to be do-able after all! History are filled with such examples. I will share 2 here.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (hope I got his name spell right) once commented on the effect of a confident attitude on performance. He referred to the 500 pound barrier in the clean-and-jerk event in weight lifting, which is equivalent to running the long one mile in under 4 minute.
Now, the guy was Valery Alexis, the world record holder at 499 pounds. He came to lift, and was told that the bar was at 499 pounds. Approaching with confidence, he lifted it. Later, the judges checked and found that it was actually several pounds heavier! Alexis had broken the barrier!! Now, interestingly, within a short time, 6 others went over 500 pounds. And Alexis himself did 520! Soon, the record went to 564!!
The other was the famous 4 minute mile run. For years, the 4-minute mile was considered not merely unreachable but, according to physiologists of the time, dangerous to the health of any athlete who attempted to reach it. For Roger Bannister, it was vindication.
When he crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, he broke through a psychological barrier as well. John Landy, considered one of the great milers of that era, never had gotten closer than within 1.5 seconds of the 4-minute barrier before. Within 46 days of Bannister's breakthrough, Landy surpassed the record with a 3:57.9 in Finland.
Bannister and Landy raced later in the year in the "Mile of the Century" at Vancouver, a run off to decide who was the faster miler. Bannister won in 3:58.8 to Landy's 3:59.6, the first time two men in one race had broken 4 minutes. By the end of 1957, 16 runners had logged sub-4-minute miles.
When you think you can, you can. But if you think you cannot, even your body will not co-operate with you. Trust me on that. Somehow, somewhere, the reserves are not marshalled to give that extra boost. For the battle is fought & won first in the mind. The sad thing is too many people don't even bother to try becasue they don't think they can. So no effort is made, unfortunately confirming the self-fulfilling prophecy. You see, you can't win unless you first take part.
For now, I took part in the coming Standard Chartered Marathon Run come Dec 2. I will be doing the half-marathon event this year. I did the 10 km last year & got addicted! Once this is achieved, I will do the full marathon next year! Then the mini Iron-man the next, and then the Iron-man. But first, I will have to prepare for the 20km ahead.
See you at the finishing line!
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