“Thank you for always believing and supporting me. Even when I didn’t.”
I received that in a text message Thursday from my youngest son after he got his EMT license. He’s led one of those lives in which every time he was making progress, he sabotaged his success. But this time he stuck with the coursework and passed all his exams. I sent him a GIF of a rocket ship blasting off and said, “This is your career, buddy.” And he replied, “I feel it.”

 One day earlier, Adam Scully Power spoke to my Vistage group of business leaders. Adam told us how he, at the age of 40, changed the course of his life. It started when he asked a superb triathlon athlete for some advice about a competition and the man encouraged him. Said he could compete in a triathlon if he trained. He said he was training for one right now and told Adam “You should do it with me.”

Thus began a remarkable journey. It transformed Adam from an out-of-shape and overweight investment professional into one of the world’s fittest humans. Read his website if you want to know more about his journey.

But this blog entry isn’t about turning any of you into an Iron Man or Iron Woman. Truth is, 99 out of 100 of us won’t do that. But we can commit to improve. And those are the lessons Adam shared that I want to share with you.

It takes these things:

1. The affirmational nudge. People sometimes see something in you that you can’t see. That’s because we become the stories we tell ourselves. “I’m not smart enough.” “I’ll never be able to finish this certification.” “I’ll probably screw this up too. I always do.” If you are fortunate, someone close to you will see your potential and encourage you. Perhaps like Adam’s friend, they will even volunteer to go along on the journey with you.
2. The willingness to act. Mindset changes everything. Most of us can do more than we think we can. When you start to act, it changes your perspective on what is possible for yourself. You start making some progress and over time that goal does not seem as hard.
3. Tell yourself the success story. Adam asked, if you could stand before this group one year from now what is the story you would want to tell about your journey in the past year?Imagine what that would feel like. Tell yourself that story.
4. Ask “What would it take?” Ask yourself in third person, what would it take for (your name) to learn Italian (as one of my members set as his goal).
5. Ask “What could go right?” This is the way you visualize your success.
6. Who could you ask for help? Most often we cannot reach our dream by ourselves. We need help. Ask who could help you along your way.
7. Ask someone else, “What would you do if you were in my shoes?” We know that most people want to help you. And we know that if you ask the right people, they will be willing to share their experiences and offer held.

I am 66 and I am not going to compete in any triathlons. You probably won’t either. But like me, you have goals to improve your life. To better yourself. I hope his advice helps you as it helped me.