An Interview With Race Across America Endurance Athlete And Executive Coach Jim Rees

Today I am pleased to share with you some motivational thoughts and ideas from a good friend of mine Jim Rees. Jim is an endurance athlete who has achieved some amazing feats including the Race Across America endurance race in both 2005 and 2007. Jim is also a triathlete, executive coach and keynote speaker.

Whether you’re a salesperson, a business owner, an entrepreneur or a manager / director, there is something in this interview for everyone…

Jim, thanks for taking the time out to talk with me. I know one of your core messages is about doing the “can-can” not the “can’t can’t”. What is that all about then?
 
Probably one of the most important quotes throughout history comes from Henry Ford "If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you’re probably right" This in essence, means that if you think you can’t  do something or achieve a certain goal, there’s a really good chance you’ll give up fairly quickly when things don’t go your way. If you think you can on the other hand, you’ll tend to not let little knock backs get in your way of achieving your goals.
 
That sounds interesting, can you give me an example of someone moving from “can’t can’t” to “can can” and how they benefited?
 
It’s fairly simple really, the first step is ensuring that you are Aware of your thinking patterns and what you end up saying to yourself when you are faced with an obstacle. If you are the sort of person who usually jumps to thinking they can’t do something, to bridge that way of thinking they need to use a very powerful 3 letter word after can’t which is "YET". This leaves the door open in terms of possibility.

Another thing for them to think about is the references that they are using to reinforce their current thinking. Most people have got examples of when they’ve been successful throughout their lives. They should be thinking about all of their previous successes and not about when things have gone horribily wrong for them. I hope that makes sense!
 
So your message is really about the unlimited potential of every human being. I know you’ve had some remarkable sporting achievements in the triathlon and the Race Across America, gruelling stuff. There must have been times that you wanted to give up. How did you keep going?
 
I’ve never wanted to give up! I’ve always wanted to prove to people that it’s all about our mindset,. I see myself as a normal guy with all of the normal challenges that we all face, I have kids and a business and mortgage just like most other people. I’m not an elite athlete. I’m just someone who believes in myself to a very deep level.

The thing that drives me and inspires me is other athletes who push themselves well beyond what most people think is possible. For example, the oldest male Ironman to finish Hawaii is 80 years young! The oldest lady is 76 years young and there are loads of other inspirational athletes out there with 1 arm or 1 legs who race Ironman and other gruelling events around the world, even people in wheel chairs who compete.
 
So what you’re saying then is that anyone can learn to achieve great things then. What’s the first step?
 
Commitment is about choice, anything is possible when you are focused and you are chosing to do something. Take someone who wants to lose weight, once they’ve made a decision, they are already moving towards a goal. Commitment for me is about being authentic and you know when you are being authentic as you can’t lie to yourself. You might be able to fool others but when you look in the mirror, you know your truth.
 
So if anyone can achieve great things Jim, why do you think that so many people never tap into their personal potential?
 
We’ve all been conditioned from an early age. Most children at the age of 5 have a high self confidence and self esteem, by the time they reach 18 their confidence has been knocked out of them!!  Things like:- Look before you leap, It’s to good to be true, You’re stupid, You’re clumsy, You can’t run, You can’t sing etc etc All these sayings knock our confidence and our greatness is surpressed. That’s why I believe that we all have greatness inside of us. It’s not gone anywhere, it just needs to be polished up a bit and people need to re-connect to their greatness.
 
What is this costing them?
 
It basically means that people aren’t stepping up and playing a bigger game in their own lives, they limit what is possible for themselves in loads of ways.
 
What are your top 3 tips for helping people to achieve more from their lives?
 
Use the ABC of Success not the ABC of Failure!
 
Can you tell us a little about that and how it works?
 
The A = Awareness which is the first step we all need to take. Awareness is huge and most people are acting out of awareness about the impact they have of others in every interaction. People’s awareness needs to be raised so that they are conscious of the finger print they are leaving in every conversation, every hand shake, every glancing look they give people.

The pace of life has increased dramatically in the last 20 years or so which means we are all under pressure to make decisions quicker, respond quicker etc, This in turn means we miss things which leads to us getting caught on the treadmill of life and being BUSY!!  Most people are sleep walking through their lives and an increased awareness is a big step in the right direction.
 
B= Beliefs this is about being aware of where did these beliefs come from and check whether these beliefs are helping you achieve your goals in life or whether they are hindering you from moving forward. Our beliefs drive everything we do, so if you want to change anything or get a different result, you’ll need to take a good long look at your beliefs and question whethre they are serving you properly or not.
 
C= Commitment, this is where most people trip up!!  Most people give up to easily, if they come up against a blocker they seem to either just give up too quickly or the change their goal. Anything worth having, is not always going to come easily, it usually requires determination, drive etc….
 
How can someone use this to get more of what they want out of life?
 
By asking better questions for themselves and being better prepared. Due to the pace of most people’s lives, they’re not prepared to try different options when they don’t get the results they are looking for. If we were able to look at life as learning from when we are born until we die, then we would be open to every experience as a learning opportunity. This approach would force us to ask better questions when life throws curve balls at us.
 
What is the most important personal development lesson that you ever learnt?
 
To stay in my businees and look in the mirror. Most people have been deeply conditioned to judge others, this allows us to focus on why some else is to blame for something not going right or a job not done properly. The biggest opportunity for learning is when we ask the question, What have I done to create this situation and take 100% personal responsibility for everything in our lives, that includes our weight, our quality of relationships, our bank account and ultimately any diseases we may have attracted into our body!!
 
Is there anything else that you’d like to add that would benefit our readers?
 
I believe in reading a lot, the sort of books that nourish your soul and stretch your thinking, most of these are on the self-help shelf in most books shops. On top of that, I also believe that keeping a journal of your thoughts and focusing your thinking on 3 questions in your journal :-

What has worked well?  What have I learnt from this?  What will I change as a result of this?

Jim, you said that you read a lot. What are the best 3 personal development books that you have ever read?
 
Awareness by De Mello (UK),  (On Amazon US).
Loving What Is by Byron Katie (UK), (On Amazon US).
There is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Wayne Dyer (UK),  (On Amazon US).

There are loads and loads of others as well but you’ve asked for 3!!  That was tough!!

Thanks Jim for taking the time out to talk with me. I am sure that will have helped to inspire and motivate people to think big and take action in their lives.

Jim Rees is the author of Increase Your Mind Power: Improve Your Mental Fitness & Maximize Your Potential (UK), (On Amazon US).