Diana Nyad Swims From Cuba To Florida At Age 64 - Three Lessons I Learned...

bydmrutgos

430 followers

Updated 11 years ago

OK so here I am, at age 39 feeling sorry for myself and this grandma swims one hundred plus miles from Cuba to Flordia... Ouch that hit home really quickly. What does she have that I don't have that drives her to accomplish what others may consider as crazy or even impossible?

I put together a quick list of three characteristics that after researching Diana Nyad's life and accomplishments that appear to standout to me. I'm sure there are much more but these these are important for all of us to cultivate if we want to achieve the unimaginable!

1. If at first you don't succeed...

Yes the proverbial "try, try again" rings loud and clear in Diana Nyad's life. For more than thirty years she has desired to make this epic swim from Cuba to Florida and tried a few times with failure being her reward. Only, at what some would consider the downhill part of her life, she surprises everyone with an accomplishment that someone more than half her age couldn't accomplish.

I believe this is a key characteristic in all successful people. We've heard it before that success is not a one time event but a series of events that accumulate after daily actions are applied. Yes there are failures and more failures then successes however what you do with the failure is what's important and if you take the correct action then you have just turned that failure into success.

What this says to me is that I need to analyze my many, many and I mean many failures but not to dwell on them and use them instead as stepping stones to success in the future.

2. Mental Strength

Lack of oxygen, dehydration, jelly fish stings, possibility of a shark attack, non of these real and tangible dangers had swayed Dyan Nyad from the task at hand. Amazing! She is obviously physically strong as well but her mental strength is the foundation to accomplishing unbelievable things.

There are so many obstacles in our desire to create a successful life where we have more time freedom to spend our precious moments with the ones we love and living life on our own terms and not from paycheck to paycheck. We live only once and if we allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear then we become trapped in our own lives. Prisoners to our fears and the fears of others who say we should get a better job or go back to school and start a new career. They are projecting their fears on us and if we listen to these dream stealers we will never accomplish anything of worth in our lives. We need to cultivate mental strength that can accomplish great things.

3. Help Others

When Dyan Nyad was asked What her motivation was, she replied "Because I'd like to prove to the other 60-year-olds that it is never too late to start your dreams."

In order to accomplish great things in life we need to not be selfish. There are so many people in this world that need to be shacken out of their slumber and motivated to accomplish great things in their lives. So many people think they are too old, too young, too slow, not smart enough, etc that they do not see their God given potential! Every day we have the opportunity not to just better ourselves but to also help others improve their lives as well. By helping others we are helping ourselves!

Let's discuss this... what other characteristics come to mind from the Dyan Nyad's example that every successful person needs to cultivate in order to achieve greatness? Leave your comments below...