most battles are won not in the limelight of the game
they're not won when the crowd starts cheering
when the clock starts ticking
not even when you cross that line

most battles are won somewhere between the hours of self-inflicted pain and agony and the hardest sacrifices.
they are won when I'm training my guts out rather then going out drinking with mates.
they are won while i'm doing extra reps rather then complaining about the pain
they are won when i refuse to be defeated
rather then rolling over and giving up
victory is not achieved on one day
victory is achieved at every single session
victory is working harder then your competitors
victory is believing harder then your competitors

victory is only given to those who work harder then others believe is possible.

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character."

If you want to see me,

you must be quick.

If you want to catch me,

you must be fast.

If you want to beat me,

you must be kidding!

Words are nothing without the actions and convictions to provide foundation.

watch your thoughts,

for they become words;;

watch you words,

for they become 

actions.

"all that we are is the result of what we have thought."

holding on

I HAVE TO.

Great effort comes from great attitude

my method for success is simple. i don't believe in trying to be better than anybody else i just believe in trying to be better than what i thought i could be.

And it may not happen over night, but persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.

Each man is the architect of his own fate, you cannot sit back and expect things to happen, you cant even show up for a race stressing about winning. we are responsible for the effort, not the outcome. Put the work in and you will win. you have to stand on that line and truly believe you have worked harder then the other 7 people.

and yeah, its hard.

and people will rubbish you every step of the way. but victory tastes sweet when taken from the mouths of wankers. because honest hearts produce honest actions. and i dont wanna hear 'try'.

Do or do not there is no try. either you do the hard work. or you do not.

Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become

Make it happen!

And all those days, those minutes and seconds of torture

the peace and freedom in those moments of pain

it all comes down to this.

you can sit on your ass and wish things to happen

you can pray and pray and will them to happen

or you can put your spikes on and make it happen.

If everybody's making fun of you and criticizing you,

then you know you're on the right track

Dont Let It Pass You By.

Its amazing what we, as people and as athletes are truly capable of.

Over the last year i have been told over and over and over again that i cannot do it.

That i cant run a B-qualifier.

That i cant PB by that much in one season.

That i just cant do it.

It's Impossible.

But i believe in myself, when no one else did, i believed so purely and worked so hard that massive impossible achievements became possible.

Looking back now, i remember i was asked by a certain coach, "why not aim higher?"

I scoffed at the thought.

Higher? Thats absurd, Im already aiming for something beyond anyones capabilities and expectations.

Im already aiming for the impossible.

And he wanted more.

I thought, 'how unrealistic is that?'

i even remember wondering if he was taking the piss.

But it wasnt until today that i realised.

An A-qualifier is very very possible.

and i began to realise, that someone like me,

with unwavering believe

with daring impossible dreams

i began to realise i hadnt set the bar high enough

i am no different to everyone else

and there was a limit to my own belief

i had resigned myself to only a B.

i had put walls up infront of me

and i had shot myself in the foot.

I like to believe that i know what im capable of,

but i, just like everyone else, have no idea whats within me.

maybe the truth is my capabilities are endless.

maybe i could conquer the world, if only i believed i could.

my friends ask me all the time: "Do you think you'll ever win an olympic medal"

i laugh and tell them, "im not talent, just hard work, and hard work will only get you so far"

but who's to say im not talented.

who's to say one day i wont win a medal.

who's to say what i can and cant do.

i'd like to think that I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith.

but i havent.

i am limited in my success because i was trying to be "realistic"

but again, my body knows only the boundaries of the mind.

not anymore.

"you have to think anyways,

so why not think big!"

Who are you to judge?

People often think that I'm not good enough.

Not fast enough.

Not strong enough.

Not talented enough.

Well ive got something to tell you. Who are you to judge me? You dont see how hard I train or how much weight i lift in the gyms. You dont see how much of my entire soul goes into this. You dont see my bad training days that often end in tears and you dont see my good days either. You have no idea about my training regime or how dedicated I am. You dont know me. Or how much I deserve this && who are you to tell me i dont?

You dont know how much i need this. You dont know my story or how ive worked for this every single day of my life. you have no idea what i'm capable of. I know whats within me, even if you cant see it;

yet.

I will show you how great i am.

All Talk

Some athletes are all talk.

Some talk about hard work.

Some talk about winning

And some talk about achieving greatness.

Some talk themselves up.

While some may talk others down.

There is so much talk going on in a sport that needs nothing but your feet.

The athletes with the biggest mouths happen to be the people with the smallest achievements. And it sad really, thinking there words will change something.

In a sport where mental strength is as strong as physical strength, i get there urge to try and infiltrate there minds, but we're not 12 anymore. && it'll take more then that to knock me down.

I'll let my feet do the talking.

It is easier to believe than to doubt.

Along with a strong belief in your own inner voice, you also need laser-like focus combined with unwavering determination.

But at first, any belief worth having must survive doubt.

This is how humans are, we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question.

I believe because it is impossible.

I believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.

I told you.

Its been a rough road for me over the past few weeks. Training has been tough, had a couple of disappointing meets. But i tried to keep the faith.

The funny thing with hurdles is that one day your race could be a mess. And the next, things fall into place and it works.

Last weekend was possibly the best weekend ive had in awhile. If you havent already gathered, i cop ALOT of shit from all these "wannabe" athletes. A couple of months ago i posted something in this very blog, it read:

People may doubt what you say

but they will believe what you do.

They have to. So let them doubt you.

Discourage you. Disrespect you.

Let them tell you that you cant do it.

Prove them wrong.

Last week, i proved them wrong.
My motivation has now doubled.

Dont ever doubt me ever again.

watch me sore.

All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them.

The stories of past courage can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each person must look into their own soul.

A person often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.

I'm not telling you it is going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.

Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right

Here we are again. The word impossible is thrown at me again and again and again. But I've come to realize why these demons of my dreams are trying to convince me that my goals are impossible. And I ask of you now, do you know the difference between impossible, and improbable.

Impossible, adjective; not possible; unable to be, exist, happen. unable to be done, performed, effected. incapable of being true, as a rumor. not to be done, endured, with any degree of reason or propriety. utterly impracticable. hopelessly unsuitable, difficult, or objectionable.

So impossible is what? Difficult, hard, an opinion that something can not be done. Nobody said it was going to be easy. If it were easy everyone would do it, but to define a task as impossible? You might as well not even get out of bed today because life is just to hard for you. Im a huge believer in that God will never give me more then i can handle. So i can handle this. It seems impossible to you because you dont see the countless hours of dogged determination on the training field. It seems impossible for you, because God knew you could never achieve such greatness. It always seems impossible until its done

Which leads me to think that we would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

What you're thinking is what you're becoming. It all leads back to whats going on up stairs in that self-loathing mind of yours. If your mind can believe something, and i mean truely BELIEVE it, then you can achieve anything. To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, then pretend you are. Believing your the best comes far before being the best.

"I said i was the greatest even before i knew i was." - Ali

People call it impossible. Say my dreams are a joke. Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all. And the truth is, I'm doing what you believe is impossible. Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools and it is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible. I act as if it were impossible to fail.

And one day i will fail, but my failures are my strength. Only a person who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even. I've failed millions of times in my life, and thats why i succeed.

So don't count the days, make the days count. Dont listen to a word they say. What keeps me going is goals. These impossible, improbable, unlikely, unbelievable goals. That, and proving you wrong.

Some times its fun to do the impossible, you should try it sometime.

Always Smart. Always Forward.

If you want something you've never had,

you have to do something you've never done.

If you keep doing what you're doing,

you'll keep getting what you're getting.

There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, 'Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.' Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box.

Fear is a reason for these dreams to stay in this little box. Nobody like to bare the souls and come up empty. No one likes losing, but the trick is; You start as a loser. If you do nothing about it, you stay a loser. The only way to become a winner is to shut the fuck up and train. Millions are training to win. Millions are doing more work then you. Millions are suffering and sacrificing more then you are. They are faster, smarter and more hard working then you are.

But at the end of the day,

YOU CANT CONTROL what everyone else does. You cant control their speed, their power, their belief. You cant control their race, the only thing you CAN control is YOU.

You control your training. Your Belief. Your race.

You cant control the time's they run.

You can only control YOUR TIMES.

It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, 'How good am I' That's where courage comes in.

Someone in the world is training when you're not. When you race them, they'll win. Unless your the one training.

Imagine what you could do if you knew you wouldnt fail.

Dont give up on you.

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.

The biggest challenge we will ever face in life is ourselves. What we believe about ourselves and how we perceive ourselves both stem from what we think about ourselves. The mind is a powerful tool. Like a computer, it is easily programmable, adapting and performing according to the specifications of the information received. For that reason, it is important to realize that if you don't control your mind somebody else will.

How many people have never achieved a goal, or a dream, or even stepped out to try because someone told them, "You can never do that! You're not smart enough! You're not talented enough!" That information was processed, then programmed into the "computer," and the thought patterns and actions adapted to coincide with what was accepted as fact or reality. One of the great paradoxes of life is that many of us believe things about ourselves that are not even true. It is important to realize that a lie is as powerful as the truth, if you can get someone to believe it.

Many people have held back in certain areas because of the things that they believe about themselves. They think thoughts like: "Well, I don’t know…." "I'd be embarrassed." "My mother may not like it." "My father may not like it." "They may not like what I have to say." "What if I fail?" Many dreams remain only dreams, never becoming reality, and die unborn because of the belief in the negative words of others or because of poor thinking that produces low self-esteem.

Take some time to examine the stories that you believe about yourself. Are there areas in which you have held back, or are there dreams and goals that you are not pursuing because of what others think or have said about you? Don't let others control your mind. Look at where you have come from, what you have attained, and what you have accomplished so far. Take those achievements and begin to reprogram your thinking. Take control of your mind and begin believing in yourself and seeing yourself as successful.

Where art thou o' confidence.

Like a burst of flames i am now full of doubt.

Doubt is a funny thing, one minute your unstoppable, the next there is a seed of doubt planted in your mind. A weed. If you let it continue to live in the corner of you mind and it will soon spread to grow into something much bigger. It will take your confidence, your believe and your goals. Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

In this life you need to be proactive. Nothing in life comes easy. Nothing is free or without great cost. Sacrifice. Hardship. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary! Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt. Now, i never though this would ever describe me but after years of people planting the seed of doubt in my head i guess i never addressed it and it grew. Its hard when very few truly believe in you. But it ends now. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.

Why does it matter what people say? But if you call a cat a dog, treat a cat like a dog for long enough, that cat will start believing its a dog. horrible metaphor i know but when people keep telling me over and over and over again that i can not do something, you start believing them. and thats a very slippery slope to be on. but as they say, if you’re going through hell, keep going.

People may doubt what you say

but they will believe what you do.

They have to. So let them doubt you.

Discourage you. Disrespect you.

Let them tell you that you cant do it.

Prove them wrong.

And when you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on. Because it is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude. Hard work spotlights the character of people.

Some turn up their sleeves.

Some turn up their noses,

and some don’t turn up at all.

So many of our dreams at first seems impossible,

then they seem improbable,

and then, when we summon the will,

they soon become inevitable

Tragic.

In life, there are many great tragedies. You could lose the love of your life. Lose you mother, brother, father, sister, everyone you care about. You could lose your home. Lose your legs, or arms. Your sight or sound. You could lose your mind or lose your kids. And the sad part is that a lot of these things are out of your control. Everybody dies. Accidents happen.

The real tragedy is when your lose yourself.

Lose hold your dreams.

The greatest tragedies are not written in a book. Or inflicted on you by fate. The greatest tragedy is when you look in the mirror and you are not everything you wanted to be. When you see her eyes and know she didn't do everything she could to be her best.

You might think I'm crazy for having big dreams. Or maybe I'm crazy because I vocalize these dreams. How many people say they will be there and never make it?

And i see your point.

But what you don't know is that by telling my dreams, i make them real. Achievable. I can do anything i put my mind to as long as i put my whole self into that task. I am a powerful, strong-willed determined person who will do everything within legal limits to achieve my dreams.

Again, how many people have said that and still not made it. You might be saying the same thing.

But I have worked for this. every single day of my life. I WILL NOT be known as a dreamer. But a DO-ER.

I have the courage and determination to push my body to its limits. I can push myself to train until i can no longer move, then get up and train some more.

Can You?

the power of belief.

i did it too.

i used to look at the superstars on TV. Film stars, rock stars, sports stars. idolise them to the point where what they achieved seemed nothing less then impossible. they were chosen by a high force of the universe to be special. successful. but none of these so-called stars, heroes even, got to where they are without failure.

hard work.

determination.

and for every one person that supported them, 100's doubted them.

Who thought it were possible for Michael Jordan to fly the way he did? For Lance Armstrong to dominate the world of cycling after surviving cancer, one, two, three times? Who thought it were possible for a black man of African decent with a muslim sounding name to become the President of the most powerful country in the world.

Don't sit there and tell me your a believer, because we all know you doubted them too.

But the real question here is, why? Why did you doubt the dreams of another man? Why did you think it impossible to achieve these great heights?

Maybe because it had never been done before?

Maybe because you could never conceive achieving such greatness?

Maybe because it stretches into the realm of what you are convinced is unachievable.

If we only dreamed to follow into the footsteps of others we would never progress. as a species or as an individual.

we are destined to rise above our forefathers and be the absolute best we can be.

Destined to rise above the crowd.

Others may call me crazy, others call me a dreamer. but i believe there is little that we can not achieve. we all hear the stories about the wife who lifts off the tractor that fell on her husband with her bare hands. and we all think, 'yeah right, i don't believe that'. but who are you to doubt such power. we are restricted in this life to our own set of beliefs. and that low set of beliefs keeps up from our true potential.

studies have shown that in a life threatening emergency the chemicals produced in our bodies can give us the power to run faster then Usian Bolt, jump higher then Michael Jordan, be stronger then Muhammad Ali.

now I'm not saying we can fly, as long as we truly believed it. I'm in no position to make that claim. but why cant we live up too and surpass these great victories. their legendary status. these seemingly impossible records.

records, after all, are made to be broken.

Believe.