Ben Graham - Unemployed to Super Bowl In 8 Weeks!…

His NFL career had hit the lowest of lows. He was cut from the New York Jets, then re-signed, then cut again. Then he joined New Orleans before being drafted to the Arizona Cardinals. Now, he can climb the highest mountain! This is Ben Graham’s story….

Only 4 months ago his world was crashing down. Everything Ben Graham and his wife Katie had worked for over the past 3 years was gone. He was sacked by the New York Jets after a bad game. Where had it all gone wrong?

He was despondent but Katie said, “It’s OK. We’ll get another chance. We’ll turn it around.”

Then a strange thing happened. The New York Jets asked Ben back after his replacement was injured and he was over the moon. Expecting to stay for a long career, just as he had at Geelong, he was shocked to be sacked again after only two games, with no explanation and no goodbyes.

Two months later Ben was still unemployed but had re-discovered his love for his craft and his competitive spirit. At the slightest hint of a job opportunity he was motivated to go for a run, take a bag of balls to the park, or go to the gym for a workout.

When he was depressed and barely able to get out of bed, Katie would remind him why they were in the US. To play in the NFL! His confidence began to re-emerge. An NFL coach had once told Ben that most kickers and punters need to go through these ups and downs to prove how much they really want it and realise their potential.

Tryouts and calls from seven teams and still nothing. During this difficult period Ben learnt some valuable lessons. You find out who you are; you find out who your friends are; and you find out how strong your family is.

Katie longed for Ben to play with the Arizona Cardinals. She had circled Arizona on the map - it was closer to the west coast and therefore closer to home, Australia! Then a funny thing happened in November 2008. The phone rang and Katie said, “Please be the Arizona Cardinals.” And it was! “It’s fate, it’s meant to be,” said Katie.

Ben Graham has learnt that you have to pass failure on the way to success. And now here he is, from unemployed to preparing to play in Sunday’s Super Bowl in just eight weeks! And the first Aussie ever to do so….

If you believe in your ability and remain focused on that next opportunity, you’ll be ready for it when it comes. And don’t forget to ask for what you really want - see it, feel it, plan it. Just as Katie did.

This is a wonderful story in personal development and we wish Ben Graham every success on Sunday at the Super Bowl!

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.

Lance Armstrong - The Legend

One of the biggest comebacks in sporting history is being celebrated here in Adelaide with Lance Armstrong’s recent arrival. He’s here to take part in the Tour Down Under Pro-Tour which begins in just 3 days. Adelaide is abuzz!

He’s fit and he’s ready to race. His first training ride was in 41C degree heat! This will be the first public test of Armstrong’s fitness and his standing in the peloton as he embarks on a schedule that will include next month’s Amgen Tour of California, the Giro d’Italia in May and, finally, what Armstrong hopes will be a competitive attempt at an eighth Tour de France win in July.

The 37-year-old built his 1999-2005 Tour de France triumphs on an iron will, exceptional physiology, meticulous planning, a solid ego and a bit of a mean streak.

Lance Armstrong is not in Adelaide to make a fool of himself and he wants to do well in this race.

However he has also stressed that the main point of his comeback, as a cancer survivor himself, is to publicise the global fight against cancer.

His new high performance carbon fibre bike arrived in town yesterday and is an awesome machine. There are two sets of numbers painted on this amazing bike. The number 1274 represents the number of days since he was last on his bike as a pro-racer and the number 275 in memory of the 27.5 million people who have died from cancer in that time.

Armstrong might be 37, but he lacks nothing for motivation. His story is a truly remarkable one of courage, determination, focus, self-belief and guts.

Seven time Tour de France cycle champion Lance Armstrong says once he finishes his cycling comeback his sporting career will the turn full circle.

He has confirmed widely-held speculation that he’ll eventually compete in an Ironman triathlon.

Lance Armstrong was a top-class triathlete over shorter courses in the late 1980s when he was a teenager, before switching to cycling. The racing world is very thankful that he did!

Lance Armstrong is an inspiration. We’re excited and proud to have him in our city and wish him great success. Go Lance Armstrong!

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.

Think Positive

Think Positive and change your life forever, beginning today. Does that sound difficult? You bet it’s difficult - but not impossible. OK, who hasn’t made a New Year’s Resolution? And who hasn’t broken their New Year’s Resolution year after year? Why do you think that is?

Just saying that you’re going to lose weight, exercise more, eat the right foods or give up smoking won’t make it happen. If you want to change your life, it requires you to do more than just say you’re going to do it. OK, so where do you start?

Change begins when you begin to think positive, set goals and take small steps towards those goals. It’s really important to write down your goals. When you write them down, something magical happens. No one knows why, but the people who write down their goals have much greater success than those who don’t. It is a very powerful way to be kept accountable and is the first step if you want to change your life. Not just for a few days or months, but forever.

The Power of Positive Thinking

You’ve probably heard about the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction - and you may have scoffed at both. When you begin to think positive, just as when you write down your goals, you feel different. Stronger, more confident of reaching your goal this time. However you still need to take massive action and put in the effort for change to happen. That’s the part that many people who promote the law of attraction conveniently leave out! And that’s why so many people don’t get the results they were looking for and so they give up.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. That’s the secret if you want to change your life. Break down your goals into bite sized chunks and celebrate each time you make progress, no matter how small. And think positive and believe you will succeed.

The 7 Steps of Successful Goal Setting

There are 7 basic principles involved in setting your goals and achieving them:

1. Identify the goals you want to achieve and be specific.
2. Set your goals high enough so that you can be excited about them but not so high that they are unrealistic.
3. Write down your goals in detail with target dates and other specifics, eg how much weight you want to lose by a certain date.
4. Tell your family and friends, it will keep you accountable and focused.
5. Break each goal down into mini goals to be achieved daily, weekly and monthly.
6. Spend 10 minutes every day thinking positively about each goal and how you will feel when you have achieved it.
7. Reward yourself for every success, large or small.

So, if you’re trying to lose weight, quit smoking, exercise more, eat healthy or you’re looking for success in another area of your life, just follow this step-by-step plan and you will change your life.

And remember, if you fail at any stage don’t give up - not many people succeed the first time. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and support you. Positive people who will encourage you to think positive and stay positive.

It’s almost time once again to set those New Year’s Resolutions - this year you’ll be prepared with a plan of action and the tools to achieve success. Good luck and don’t forget to think positive!

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.

Have you heard of the book series “Chicken Soup for the Soul”?

Who am I kidding of course you have! Produced by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, to date over 100 million “Chicken Soup” books have been sold, putting them in the Guinness Book of Records for the most amount of books sold in a Non-Fiction series.

I’d like to share with you one of my favourite stories from “Chicken Soup for the Soul” and hope that you like it as much as I do. Remember to refer back to it when you need a little lift of inspiration. Here goes…

A high school senior, Monty, was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to become when he grew up.

He wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal that someday he would own a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000 sq foot house that would sit on his 200-acre dream ranch.

He put a great deal of heart and soul into the paper and the next day he handed in his paper to his teacher. Two days later, Monty got his paper back. On the front page there was a large red F with a note that read ‘See me after class.’ Monty was shocked and went to see the teacher after class and asked ‘Why did I get an F?’

The teacher responded, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from a poor family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and large stud fees. There is no way you could ever do it. Please go back and rewrite your paper with more a realistic goal. I will re-consider your grade’.

Monty went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look son, you have to make up your mind on this. I think it is a very important decision for you.’

After sitting with it for a week, Monty turned in the same paper and made no changes at all. He told his teacher, ‘You can keep the F and I will keep my dream’.

Monty still has that school paper now framed over his fireplace in his 4000 sq ft house in the middle of the 200-acre house ranch. A few years back, the same school teacher brought some kids to his ranch for a retreat. When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Monty, when I was your teacher, I was something of a dream-stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough guts not to give up yours.’

Don’t let anyone steal your dream. In your journey in finding your dream and achieving your goals, you will meet many people that will tell you it is not possible to achieve what you have set for yourself. Smile at them graciously and continue on. Find the right people to surround yourself with. You will soon become the next Monty.

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.

Inspirational Video

I love this video of Paul Potts on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ TV Show! You may have seen it before but it’s worth another look. It gives me goosebumps every time I see it. Millions of people have watched it, so it’s not just me!

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.

Lance Armstrong To Tour Down Under?

Tour Down Under has been flashing through the streets of Adelaide and surrounding countryside since 1999. It has just recently been given Pro Tour status - the first UCI Pro Tour event ever staged outside Europe - which means it now ranks on par with Tour de France and other great cycling races of the world. I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s a great thing for Australian sport, putting us on the world stage for those 5 days.

Tour Down Under has more than adequately filled the sporting gap left by the Formula 1 Grand Prix exit and has been an exciting addition to South Australia’s major event calendar. Almost 500,000 cycling fans are attracted to Tour Down Under every year and the race in January 2009 will see numbers explode if US cycling legend Lance Armstrong makes his return to cycling in Australia’s premier road race.

Richard and I have become armchair fans of cycling since Tour de France in July and we’re planning on watching at least one of the Tour Down Under stages live. Two of the race stages are quite close to where we live and we’ve talked about getting out there and watching the race for long enough - it’s now time to do it!

Even if Lance Armstrong doesn’t ride…

If you want to learn how to be movitated and stay focused, just listen to some of the wonderful stories right here in Own Your Life Club from top athletes and sportspeople, such as:

Lauren Burns - Olympic Taekwondo Gold Medallist
John Buchanan - Australian Cricket Coach
Shelley Taylor-Smith - World Marathon Swimming Champion
Torah Bright - Winter Olympian
Chelsea Georgeson - World Champion Surfer
Jesse Martin - Solo Round The World Sailor

These stories will inspire you to be a better person!

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.

Whatever It Takes—The Keys to Unlocking a Can-Do Attitude

By Dr. John C. Maxwell

“You may be tricked into believing that talents, titles, or resources draw the line between the doers and dreamers. However, if you spent a significant length of time with a group of leaders, the line splitting the achievers from the dreamers would become crystal clear.

What makes the difference? Attitude. Achievers have a can-do attitude that sets them apart from mere dreamers. Achievers are sold out to success—no matter the obstacles—and they are willing to put forth the effort and pay the price of success.

In my days observing leaders, I have identified four main groups.

Cop-outs

These people set no goals and make no decisions.

Holdouts

These people have beautiful dreams, but they are afraid to respond to challenges because they lack the self-confidence to overcome difficulties.

Dropouts

These individuals clearly define their goals, and, in the beginning, they work hard to make their dreams come true. However, when the going gets tough, they quit.

All-Outs

These are the stars. They want to shine out as an inspiration to others. Once all-outs have set their goals, they never quit. Even when the price gets high and the challenges mount, they’re dedicated. Their can-do attitudes carry them to greatness.

Here are 4 keys to cultivating a can-do attitude.

Key #1: Disown Your Helplessness

Can-do people aggressively pursue solutions, and, in the process, uncover creative solutions others never even try to find. Can-do leaders take responsibility for the future, whereas lesser leaders blame circumstances or other people when facing roadblocks. Rather than wallowing in helplessness, can-do leaders search diligently to overcome the obstacles in front of them.

Key #2: Take the Bull By the Horns.

Can-do people are fearless. They go straight to the source of their solution. Their very effort commands attention as they wrestle a problem to the ground with expediency. I have discovered that people with a can-do attitude have an aggressiveness about them. They take the bull by the horns. When they enter into the arena of action, they don’t wait, they initiate.

Key #3: Enter the No Whining Zone.

Can-do people abstain from complaining. They recognize its futility and guard their minds and mouths against indulging in this time-wasting activity. As George Washington Carver observed, “Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”

Key #4: Put On Another’s Pair of Shoes.

Can-do people empathize with others. They attempt to see any predicament from the other person’s perspective in order to make the best decisions. In my book Winning with People, one the 25 People Principles is the Exchange Principle, which says that instead of putting others in their place, we must put ourselves in their place.”

So, do you have a Can-Do attitude? Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!

If you’d like to access more material from John C Maxwell in Own Your Life Club click HERE.

Until next time, this is Julie Vale from Own Your Life Club.