Each year there is a 600-kilometre foot race hosted in Australia from Sydney to Melbourne. As you would naturally assume, it’s a long and very grueling race spanning over five days.

A guy named Cliff Young arrived to the race back in 1988 to compete.

Needless to say all the other runners though it was joke when they saw this 61 year old farmer show up to compete for a 5 day foot race wearing overalls, t-shirt, baseball cap and galoshes over his work boots.

Now keep in mind we are talking about a hectic and very long race where the majority of competitors range from 18 to 25 years of age. Not to mention this race is serious enough to have a company like Nike sponsoring the event.

All the competitors line up to start and off they go. Suddenly people are crying out to get that old man out of the competition before he kills himself. But the 61-year-old farmer trundled along with what is now famous as being the ‘Cliff Young Shuffle’.

Now as night begins to fall, all the other runners retire to sleep for 6 hours.

Well, because all Cliff knew about the race was through what he had read in the paper hence why he decided to compete, he simply had no idea that the race was broken up into 18 hours running and 6 hours sleeping. So that night while the other competitors slept, Cliff kept running.

Each night he got closer and closer to the pack.

By the last night he had passed them altogether and into the last day of racing he was completely way out in front.

Cliff at 61 years of age won the Sydney to Melbourne in 1988 and became a national hero.

He simply put no preconceptions on his ability to run the race. In other words he simply had no limitations in his mind. Perhaps if he knew about the rest stops each night things may have been different, but the core fact of the matter is he changed a belief and created a whole paradigm shift, all because he simply did not have any limitations in his mind.

As a result nobody sleeps in that race anymore. In order to win you have to run all night as Cliff did. Funnily enough a lot of the runners, including many who have won the race, use the Cliff Young Shuffle because it less stressful and more aerodynamic.

There is an excellent lesson here we can all benefit from…

Perhaps a lot of us are putting limitations on our business, health and lifestyle that need not be there. We are constantly being controlled by what we have been told, heard and read.

It’s critical in the planning process of our business venture that we establish what we want to achieve to avoid getting bogged down with limitations presented to us through exterior forces.

We need to rely on our own ability to think and create in our own minds what we want and can make happen.

If we think we can, then we can. If we think we cannot, then we cannot.

It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

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Carl Kuerschner is a property developer and Internet
business owner who lives with his wife and son in
Australia.
A passionate musician, avid contributor to the wellness
industry and mentor to everyday people looking to achieve
extraordinary results in all areas of their lives.
HomeMoney.com.au www.HomeMoney.com.au

There is more to listening than meets the eye, or rather, the ear. Listening is not merely hearing what the other person says, but also comprises understanding what that person says on a deeper level and reacting adequately to it. Many communication failures, hurt feelings and misunderstandings result from the inability to listen properly. Our relationships and dealings with other people will become much more fruitful and fulfilling if we study and learn the art of listening. For listening is an art unto itself. There are several things to bear in mind in order to become a good listener.

1. Never interrupt. It is considered rude and ill-mannered to butt in while the other person is still speaking. Let him finish what he has to say and then make your remark. Your patience and good manners will be appreciated.

2. Really listen to what is said, rather than just hearing it. There is a great difference between hearing and listening. In hearing the information goes in one ear and often comes out the other. In listening we allow the words to sink in deeper. In our mind’s eye we try to picture what the other person is telling us. Listening therefore demands concentration and undivided attention. Listening takes some effort, whereas hearing does not.

3. Do not judge. Try to keep an open mind towards what is being said and keep personal judgements to yourself. Acceptance and tolerance of others’ opinions are not only laudable virtues, but also help the other person feel comfortable and relaxed and give him the chance to speak his mind freely, without being afraid of what you will think of him.

4. Try to understand on a deeper level. Apart from just receiving the information, story or opinion listening is also all about trying to understand what the other person is trying to communicate emotionally. Perhaps he or she wants to let go of some steam or needs your support or encouragement. Often people are just looking for a sympathetic ear. The true listener will gladly offer it.

5. Silence speaks louder than words. This is the secret of secrets to fruitful listening. The best listeners are those who listen in silence. Often our mind or ego thinks we have to react with words, but this is not true. Although sometimes words are necessary, often by remaining silent we create the best circumstances for the other speaker to say what he wants to say. Our silence helps the other person by giving him the peace and confidence to tell his story in its most complete way.

Finally, by learning how to listen to others we automatically learn how to listen to ourselves as well. If we practise meditation and dive deep within, we discover an inner voice filled with wisdom which can guide and lead us in our outer life. As spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy explains, “the inner voice is at once man’s untiring guide and his true friend. If a man goes deep within, the inner voice will tell him what to do. How can we choose the inner voice? To choose the inner voice, we have to meditate early in the morning.”

Abhinabha is a student of

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4, NKJV).

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, . . . He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, . . . to comfort all who mourn, . . .to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:1-3, NKJV). If we had none other, this one Bible reference would suffice to tell us that we have a loving God who will light our way through the darkest night.

1. God will give us beauty for ashes, radiance after the ashes of the volcanic eruptions that overwhelm our lives. It’s well known that the land is renewed after fire blackens fields and forests. Beauty indeed appears after the ashes. Crumbling lava and volcanic ash make the most fertile soil. So God grants us enrichment after we are consumed by a fire that we fear will destroy us. “He lifts [us] from the dust—yes, from a pile of ashes” (1 Sam. 2:8, TLB).

2. God will give us the oil of joy for mourning. Jesus often went to the Mount of Olives to pray. I’ve thought about Jesus’ agony that night being the oil pressed out, to become our oil of joy. The garden experience that night was horrendous: “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears . . .” (Heb. 5:7, NKJV). We need not be ashamed of our tears—Jesus wept several times.

3. God will give us the garment of praise for our spirit of heaviness. We are to wrap ourselves in praise. It is will, not feeling. The feeling comes after we have obeyed and praised, in spite of! Jesus’ “garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom” (John 19:23, NIV). In His time people indicated great sorrow by tearing their clothes, but His particular garb was left whole. Is this our garment of praise, praise that Jesus comforts and saves us? Come, let us wrap Jesus’ seamless garment around us!

Read again the wonderful promise in Isaiah 61:1-3. Write it down and memorize it. He will turn your sorrow into joy!

About two years back, I trained a martial art called Wing Chun. It is concept based instead of traditional martial arts, which are usually technique based. For hand to hand combat, it has only three basic forms. Each movement can be used in actual combat, and Wing Chun stresses economy of motion and the most direct way of dismantling your opponent, the quickest way possible.

Because one of the philosophies about Wing Chun is that when you fight, you fight to win, no matter what it takes. Whether you use Wing Chun concepts or not, as long as you win or escape safely. Now just as a disclaimer, I am NOT a professional fighter or claim to be the top authority in Wing Chun, but I think the philosophy is great in for our self improvement.

In Wing Chun, if all it takes is 2 or 3 punches to knock down your opponent and strip his will to continue the fight; then that is all it takes, the 2 or 3 punches to end it. If you know thousands of different forms found in traditional kung fu and you get into a fight, trust me, you will not need to perform a thousands actions and postures to beat your opponent.

Anyway, this is very much like your success to life. When you take the most direct path to whatever you are trying to achieve, you usually arrive at your destination more quickly. The most direct path I am talking about is to take physical action that will get you closer to your goals.

You can do all the positive thinking, meditations, prayers, visualizations, and all that stuff. And that is great to keep you motivated and everything, but it definitely not a direct way of accomplishing your goals. And if you make that the bulk of your daily activities, sitting their and thinking about success instead of actually doing it, you are actually denying yourself of achieving your goals.

If you want to turn on your computer, what is the most direct way of doing it? Do you sit there and meditate for God or the universal source or whatever to turn it on? Of course not, you stick out your index finger and apply some pressure to the ON button of your computer and miraculously, your computer is turned on! You catch my drift?

In Wing Chun we take the quickest, most direct and effective way possible to dismantle your opponent. And you should do the same when striving to achieve your goals. Keep practicing the meditations and visualizations, I think they are great. But if want to truly succeed, are you waiting for it to happen, or are your making it happen right now, with real action?

Alan Quan used to be a miserable employee in hopes of climbing the corporate ladder. He quickly wised up to that BS and fired his boss. Today he is an Internet Coaching Empire coach specializing in helping people build their own successful internet business. Visit his website at