Never Settle For Less

Something dramatic happened to me on Thursday January 4, 2007.  I got beat down by a 60 year old, retired, short, and very well dressed man.  Yes its true.  All 209 lbs of my muscle bound humanity was dominated by an old man who probably couldn’t bench press 180 lbs with 3 people helping him.

So you’re probably asking yourself what was I doing fighting with an old man.  You’ve probably gone so far as to laughing at the the whole thing.  If you’re an old man then you’re probably patting yourself on the chest with old man pride (shame on you).  Let me explain myself.
I’ll have to admit I’ve been a little misleading up to this point.  There was no fight with a 60 year old man.  I’m plenty of things but I’m not disrespectful enough to place my hands on the elderly.

No, there was no physical confrontation.  This one was mental.  The 60 year old man that took me down to the canvas is my mentor.  He’s one of the few people that my personality changes around.  Normally I’m outgoing, gregarious, and opinionated.  When I’m around him it’s the complete opposite.  I always leave our meetings kicking myself and wondering what happened.
On Thursday he called me out on several things.  He disregarded all my proposed topics, poked fun at my speaking technique, demanded that I speak to a challenging crowd sometime in the next millennium, and challenged me to start playing the game or give the equipment to someone who would use it.  I think he enjoyed walking on my face.  After he was done he handed me a stack of reference materials and rushed off into the night.
Needless to say I wasn’t very thrilled with the whole thing.  Oddly enough, I wasn’t angry at him.  He hadn’t pointed out anything that I wasn’t already aware of.  It’s ok when you tell yourself you suck.  The blow is a LOT harder when someone else fills you in on that little secret.  It stings even more when they do it with a smile.

I was very upset about the whole thing until I sat back and reflected.  In 45 minutes he gave me a dose of what the real world tastes like.  He gave me a little remainder that before pleasure there is often pain. I hated it then but I can appreciate it.  That 45 minute conversation put a lot of things into perspective.  My energy is being refocused and I’m getting ready to take some major strides in planning and execution.  All because a 60 year old man kicked me around a bookstore.

Not everything in the world feels warm and fluffy.  Sometimes we need someone to say ” excuse me for interrupting but I was watching you and you’re not very good at that“.  It may not be what we want to hear, but if you open your ears you won’t hear criticism.  Instead you’ll hear a challenge.  Don’t take it personal, use it as a learning experience, and improve yourself.  I know I will.  I’m already tired of getting beat up by old men.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Training, Motivation, Personal Development, Change, Beliefs, Competition, Public Speaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.