Meet a Champion Who Gives New Meaning to Never Ever Ever Give Up

There are people in life who amaze you, and then there are people who are so far beyond amazing that there are no words to describe them.

Such a one is 17-year-old Kobey Pritchard from Indianola, Iowa who is a state-level competitive wrestler. He’s eying a future NCAA championship—and doing so with only one leg. Yes, you read that correctly, Kobey trains like a fiend to achieve with one leg what many athletes dream of with two. And that’s without the benefit of a prosthetic.

Kobey’s leg was amputated when he was six due to cancer. When he found the prosthesis uncomfortable, he switched to crutches. Which means he trains--sprints, lifts weights and works out--on crutches.

Why did I choose to introduce you to Kobey? Because he gives new meaning to “never ever ever give up!” I don’t care which goal you have in mind, most of us fall down, not on dreaming our dreams, but on keeping-on keeping-on when the going gets tough. Can you imagine the number of challenges, not just physical, but mental and emotional that Kobey has faced as he’s worked his way ever closer to his wrestling championship dreams? Yet none of them have deterred him from keeping-on.

So what’s the secret? How can you develop a Kobey-like “never give up” attitude?

1. Don’t listen to other people’s nay-saying.

Whenever you go for a significant goal, there are bound to be people who will say “You can’t do that, you’re too young/old/short/tall/lazy/etc. (fill in the blank)” or “What makes you think you can do it?” or “You’ve never managed anything like that before” or any number of other “You can’ts.” The one thing you can’t do – is listen to them!

2. Hitch your wagon to a star.

Whatever you dream of doing/being, someone else either has done it, possibly in another field, or has come darn close. Someone you can admire, be inspired by, and in a sense, pulled forward by. Look for such people – alive or long gone – to help you remember that whatever it is, you can do it!

3. There’s more than one way of doing things.

Kobey has had to develop techniques and skills that are different from the more traditional wrestling holds in order to win despite his missing leg. This is not a “one size fits all” world. There are as many ways of doing things as there are individuals on the planet. Have the courage to go outside the usual ways of approaching your goals whenever you feel stymied by the ways most people have adopted.

You truly can achieve whatever goal it is you have in mind, as long as your passion for that goal fuels you, and your absolute faith in your ability to somehow, some way, accomplish it is unwavering.

Do You Know Where Your Intent Is?

Most of us think of intent as a “kind of” “sort of” thing: you intend to go on vacation, but you really don’t do much about it. Or you intend to go to the market, but some other errand got in the way. Or you intend to ask your boss for a raise, but you got cold feet and chickened out.

Which is a waste of a valuable tool, for in truth, intent is a powerful, dynamic mechanism. It’s not just wishful thinking.  It’s a determination to act in a certain way.

Intent is so powerful, that it can alter the outcome of supposedly neutral scientific experiments.

For example, there’s a well-known effect in psychology called the “observer effect” or the “expectancy effect.” Simply stated, a researcher’s hope--their intent--for what an experiment may reveal impacts the outcome. So if a researcher expects (intends) the experiment to show improvement in an area, it more likely will show improvement, and if the researcher expects (intends), on the contrary, the experiment to show lack of improvement in an area, it more likely will show lack.

How that works is still a bit of a mystery, although it is most easily understood through the workings of energy. We are, after all, bundles of electronic energy constantly transmitting – in ways that are measureable--and thus impacting each other. But the “observer/expectancy effect” is why researchers came up with the double-blind method of conducting experiments, where neither the researcher nor the subjects in a clinical trial for a new drug, for example, know who’s getting the drug (the real thing), and who’s getting a placebo (like a sugar pill).

Which is why I pose the question: do you know where your intent is? Is your intent for a new job, a raise, a vacation, a car, in the land of “kind of” “sort of”? Or are you recognizing in full consciousness the immense power of intention and putting it to use for your goals and dreams?

1. How badly do you want it?

If intent is a determination to act a certain way, then the first thing to figure out is how badly do you want that thing you want? Because determination requires passion and perseverance, and there’s no way you’re going to have passion and perseverance if you don’t want something pretty darn badly. You know the difference. You can want as in “that would be nice,” or you can want as in “gotta have it, no matter what it takes.” It’s only the “gotta have it, no matter what it takes,” that can fuel a determination to act.

The “gotta have it” (or “be it” or “do it”) is what lies behind the achievements of all the world’s greats: the Michael Jordans, the Steve Jobs, the Bon Jovis, etc. Their 100% intent to succeed at their chosen fields was the foundation of their ability to get there. So too, can it be for you.

2. How conscious are you of your intention?

Are you absolutely positively determined to be/do/have whatever it is? Are you conscious of your intention 24/7/365? Is it in the forefront of your mind as you go about your day? Or do you let it slip into those nether regions of half-baked “yeah, well, maybe” that never come to pass. . .

Intent is only as powerful as it is conscious. Make yours conscious, and it will serve you well!

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