Set No Limits #1919

In our last couple +1s (here and here), we started exploring wisdom from one of Europe’s top peak performance coaches: Bill Beswick and his great book Changing Your Story.

Today we’re going to continue that exploration.

Let’s get straight to work.

We’re going to chat about some wisdom from Lesson #4: “Set No Limits — Believe in Yourself.”

Bill tells us about a young athlete he was coaching who was struggling with his performance.

He says: “Identifying what was blocking Harry from success, we agreed to a four-step program to stretch his self-imposed limits. First of all, Harry wrote out a history of his achievements to this point in his life. As Harry listed off the countless wins in his young career, it was very clear there was no evidence to support his doubts and fears that he was not good enough to take on his opponent.”

He continues: “Secondly, we worked together on what I call a ‘picture of perfection.’ This is a vision of the very best that could happen, assuming all goes well. Harry saw himself in the center of the picture, playing strong and assertive tennis, winning a major tournament, collecting the trophy and celebrating with his coach and family. This vision excited Harry and reignited his passion.”

And: “Next, I encouraged Harry to find a ‘belief partner,’ a family member or close friend who constantly urges you onwards and upwards to better things. Harry picked his mother, who was with him at every tournament and was there as his number-one cheerleader whenever the self-doubt and negative self-talk crept in.”

Then: “Finally, Harry’s fourth action was to build achievement momentum by always asking ‘What’s next?’ I told him and his mother about Adam Peaty, the champion swimmer. Minutes after Adam had won his first European title he was interviewed at the poolside. Asked what he was thinking, Adam replied, ‘What’s next?’ Later in his career, after he had won Olympic gold for the 100-meter breaststroke in 57.1 seconds, Adam immediately announced that next would be Project 56—his aim to be the first swimmer ever to swim the 100 meter breaststroke in 56 seconds. Adam achieved this two years later, demonstrating the power of a ‘What’s next?’ mentality.”

There’s a LOT of wisdom in there we can unpack.

Let’s start with the first step in Bill’s process of helping his athletes go to the next level in their performance.

What did he START with?

The same thing Dr. Nate Zinsser starts with in his great book The Confident Mind—which ALSO happens to be the first thing WE start with when we train our trainers to run their own Heroic workshops.

We need to START by celebrating all of our PRIOR successes.

David Goggins calls it his “Cookie Jar.” We call them “Hero Bars.”

Whatever YOU want to call it, you’d be wise to KNOW you can succeed in hitting your next big goal and one of the most powerful ways to build that confidence is to start by taking an inventory of all your PAST successes.

With that in mind...

Pause for a moment and think of THREE of the things you’re MOST PROUD OF. Think about a ffew times in your life when you were at your ABSOLUTE BEST. Feast on those Hero Bars.

Next...

Create a “picture of perfection.”

Create a “vision of the very best that could happen, assuming all goes well.” This is the first step in WOOP. We need to START with a vision of everything going GREAT. This is also the essence of Sonja Lyubomirsky’s “Best Selves Diary” in which she tells us to fast-forward 1-3-5+ years and imagine everything in your life being AWESOME.

If you feel so inspired, do it now.

Imagine that BIG GOAL you REALLY (!) want to hit. See yourself showing up as your absolute best. You work hard. Everything comes together. Feel the power of you achieving that which you aspire to achieve.

Then...

Think about who will be your “belief partner.”

When I read the story of the young tennis player and his mom, I thought of being the dad to a young chess player who aspires for greatness. I’m typing this with a big smile and some tears in my eyes thinking about how much I LOVE being there for my big guy.

For whom will YOU be a belief partner?

And who will be YOURS on your Heroic quest(s)?!

Finally...

We have “What’s next?”

The great British swimmer Adam Peaty wrote the foreword to the book. I created the Philosopher’s Note on this book in July 2024. At the time, the Paris Olympics were in full effect. In fact, just the day before, Adam came within two one-hundredths of a second of becoming the first person since Michael Phelps to win a gold medal in three consecutive Olympics. His story is incredibly inspiring—in AND out of the pool.

And...

When I read about “What’s next?” I IMMEDIATELY thought of some wisdom from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book Be Useful.

He tells us: “There’s a story about Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Mount Everest. When he came back down to base camp, he was met by reporters who asked him what the view was like at the top of the world. He said it was incredible, because while he was up there he saw another mountain in the Himalayan range that he hadn’t climbed yet, and he was already thinking about the route he would take to summit that peak next. When you reach the mountaintop, it gives you a brand new perspective on the rest of the world, on the rest of your life. You see new challenges that were out of sight before, and you see old challenges in new ways. With this huge victory now under your belt, they all become conquerable.”

And…

That’s Today’s +1.

What’s next for YOU?

Get clear.

Go crush it.

TODAY.

P.S. Speaking of Michael Phelps, his book is called No Limits. He tells us: “If you put a limit on anything, you put a limit on how far you can go. I don’t think anything is too high. If you think about doing the unthinkable, you can. The sky is the limit. Anything is possible. I deliberately set very high goals for myself; I work very hard to get there.”