Table of Contents
The Unbelievable Success Story of Wilma Rudolf
There was a black girl in America, Wilma. She was in class six and had polio. She had to walk with a crutch. It was a School sports day. All her batch mates were participating, and she was sitting outside the ground, watching them and crying.
When the start pistol was shot, she stood up, threw her clutch, and started running. People started mocking her. She was limping towards the end halfway through when everyone ended.
She started crying in pain after completing the race. Her sports teacher told her, “Get up. You can do it.” Wilma was surprised “but sir, I can’t even walk.”
“Olympic champions don’t run with legs but courage. I will train you”. Told her sir.
Training started, and she would cry in pain, and her coach will massage her.
She stood fourth, then school champion, then district, and finally got selected for Olympic in the 100mtr race.
“I trained you, but you have not given me anything.” Told the coach when she came dancing to give the news to the coach.
” Please tell sir what you want; I will pay,” she replied.
“I want an Olympic gold medal.”
In the main race, she crossed the end line and ended first.
But, It was her second Olympic, 1960, Where she won three gold medals. The iconic sportsperson Wilma Rudolf.
You don’t win because you have the ability; you win due to conviction and courage.
Wilma Rudolf overcame childhood gold medalist to go to onto win an Olympic gold medal by using Commitment, Courage and Competance
What is Commitment
Commitment is a promise of an outcome. Therefore commitment is setting your mind to focus on a definite outcome and work towards that outcome. Often to achieve anything in life, we have to give up many things, including comfort. Most often or not, people judge us, mock us, and discourage us for anything that is not common. For instance, if you commit that you will be taking someone to dinner this weekend, that is a promise, and if you work to plan and work your life to meet your promise, that is a commitment.
However, when we are talking about commitment here, we are talking about long-term commitment, which might span from a year to a decade, or at times more. You set a goal first. Then you convince yourself that this goal is important to achieve. If the goal is for a larger social benefit, then your brain gets convinced better. When you set such a goal, you are also briefing your brain about all the possible challenges, and it knows that life will not be easy and smooth. The first brain gets convinced about the goal, and then you commit to the goal. It means that you will set your energy, time, emotions, and other resources in life to work toward achieving this goal.
- Commitment is allocating resources viz time, money, energy, and emotions for actions and work needed to reach a goal.
- A goal is defined as the desired outcome that is qualitative and quantitative and always has a timeline to achieve. For example, a player setting a goal, “I will become district champion by the end of this year.” or an entrepreneur setting a goal that “we will become a profitable company over the next year.” The goal is a time-bound milestone, and the promise describes someone the goal and commitment are convincing and preparing oneself to allocate resources towards achieving the goal.”
- The goal can be either long-term or short-term.
- A promise can be made to self or someone.
- Commitment is a command to the self to work towards meeting the goal.
- One can commit to a goal without making any promises also.
- For the brain to commit to a goal, it must first be convinced that the goal is important.
- Easier goals do not need a commitment, and we can easily achieve them(for example, taking someone to dinner).
- Goals that seem difficult to reach at this moment need a commitment.
- Because we commit to a goal that seems impossible at this moment, there will be several challenges and roadblocks that we will face. Commitment is not only a command to ourselves about our resource allocations toward the actions and activities that will eventually take us to cross the goal but also accepting to take all the pains that we would have to endure in this journey and willingness to face challenges and solve them on our course.
What is meant by fear?
We now know that commitment is a command to ourselves “do all the works that are needed to achieve the goal in the set timeline.” A commitment is accepting the challenges of the journey, accepting to endure the pain of the journey, as well as being disciplined about walking in this journey till we reach the destination. We already know that a goal is a future milestone that seems difficult to achieve now.
Initially, the goal appears inspiring and motivating, but as we start walking towards our goal, we face several challenges and roadblocks. Because if achieving the goal was easy, then you did not have to commit to the goal in the first place; you would have anyways reached there. For instance, “tomorrow at 9 AM, I shall have my breakfast.” is not a goal but rather an action of the near future. You won’t have to face many challenges or solve many problems to do that. But for an entrepreneur to take a company to a profitable company in the current economic situation is going to be hard and needs commitment.
Why does the brain create fear when working towards a committed goal? What is fear?
However, as we start facing the roadblocks, our brain asks, “what if I fail to reach the target and the goal?” It is your brain’s responsibility to ensure your well-being. And therefore raising this question is obvious. Now brain starts evaluating all the possible failure situations. Will people in my life leave me if I do not achieve the goal? Will society look down upon me if I do not achieve the goal? Can I stand up again if I do not achieve the goal? Can I continue to get food and other security even if I fail to meet the target? What if I am left with no money after failing to reach the target? What if I die trying to reach the target?
This is called fear. Fear is a phenomenon of your subconscious brain which can be considered as “False evidence appearing true.”
Often people think that fear is the one that holds them back. However, fear plays an important role in preparing yourself for the worst. Once you understand the fear, you have to also accept the potentially unfavorable outcome, which is not reaching the goal.
What is an acceptable goal for the brain?
- If your goal is too big and the timeline you choose is short(that is, achieving too much in a short time), then your fear is more.
- If you set a rather simple goal, but you set a long timeline, then also fear is more because then the brain thinks, “is it even worth achieving such a small goal over such a long period?”
- If you set no goals, then fear is more because your brain thinks, “what is my purpose of living anyways?”
- If you constantly change goals in your life, then also fear becomes more because the brain gets confused.
- If you set a goal but no timeline, then your brain gets afraid because it thinks, “how long will you have to work this hard?”
A thumb rule of goal is to select a goal that has more than a 70% success rate. Then the next goal must be selected with a 50% average success rate. Then next goal must be selected that has a 30% success rate. Then the next goal must be selected with a 10% success rate. Then the next goal must be where there is less than a 5% success rate. The next goal has to be the one with only a 1% success rate. Then the next goal has to be the one where the success rate is less than 0.1%, and the next 0.01%, then the next 0.001%, and so on.
For example:
Forty-seven million adolescents enroll for class X, but 80% pass the matric exam and complete schooling. So if you are 14 years old, your target will be to be amongst this 32 million youth who pass matric. Of them, only 10 million join higher secondary, out of which only 95% pass. That means about 95 lakh Indian youth complete higher secondary. About 6.5 million or 65 lakh Indians graduate. However, India has only 24,000 Ph.D. holders in all. So, only 0.0017% of Indians are phD
So if a 14-year-old sets a goal of completing the Ph.D. by the age of 28, then in all likelihood, it is an achievable goal. Because you will see many people already have completed their Ph.D., your brain will be less afraid. But if you are born into a poor family, you might not have seen many poor students completing their Ph.D. So, the brain doesn’t have many examples, and therefore it will create fear.
If a 14-year-old decides that they will complete a Ph.D. by the age of 22, then the fear will be extreme as probably no one would complete a Ph.D. in that time. However, it is still achievable. If that youth commits to science and creates an enormous impact on society with his scientific contribution, then one or the other university will offer an honorary Ph.D. So, getting a Ph.D. by 22 is near impossible, but not impossible, rather plausible.
How is fear correlated to the goal?
Because the brain looks for examples and evidence while accepting to commit to the goal, not having enough evidence becomes evidence itself. The brain can only commit to a possible goal. Therefore say you are setting a goal to win a nobel prize in the next ten years; the brain gets afraid as it sees no such evidence of anyone getting the Nobel prize by the age of 24. However, the fear will be much lesser if you set a goal of achieving a noble prize before you become 50 years old.
Therefore, we can define fear by the following formula.
(The members can only see this mathematical formula).
For example, there are only 2500 billionaires in the world now. The number of billionaires below the age of 30 is less than 20. There might be no one in your circle. So if you set a goal to become a billionaire in the next three years, your fear will be infinite, and you will not succeed. If you set a goal that you will start waving your hands daily and start flying in 2 years, then the fear in your brain will be infinite, as the brain knows this is impossible.
Therefore, fear is an essential component of psychology that protects you from chasing impossible, unrealistic, and unachievable goals. However, even if there is even a single example, your fear is finite.
What is Courage?
Courage is the ability of your brain to face fear and commit to a difficult goal amidst high fear. The bigger the fear, the higher courage you need to overcome that fear daily. Fear is disbelief, whereas courage is belief. Fear is friction; courage is fuel.
Therefore, courage can be defined mathematically as:
Once we understand the formula of courage, we can get more courage. Because courage is a fuel, a currency, we have to earn it. Like any other currency, we need to start smaller and keep accumulating more.
Strategy to increase courage
- Write down all the fearful questions your subconscious brain is asking(for example: What will people say? Can I live if I fail? Will people I care go away from my life if I fail? Will my parents be angry if I fail?)
- Now take one small step of all these different questions. This is called experimentation.
- Because courage depends upon evidence, becoming successful with a small experiment will give you evidence.
- If you fail in experiments, you will now have real data and insights into what might lead to the failures. So, you will try again, but differently.
- Because courage is a currency, it is all about “at this moment.”
- Once you decide to experiment, you have to take the steps right now. If you delay, your fear will stop you from taking even the steps for the experiment.
Example first-step experiments of courage
- Now you keep trying the first step till you get a favorable outcome.
- Now you have transformed your fear of the subconscious mind into the threat of real life.
- Once you transform your fear into a threat, the brain has no way other than to handle the current situation. So, it develops courage.
- Once you succeed in the first step and have first-level courage, take the next step. The next step timeline must be shorter, and the goal must be a little harder.
Now you must understand that unlike what the motivational gurus preach, courage needs at least a year or two to build. Fear is immediate; courage is not immediate. It is like a currency that has to be earned over some time. However, the steps to increase courage needs to be taken immediately. Otherwise, fear will stop you even from the first step.
The bottom rule is you must not commit to a larger goal till you have at least ten courage currencies. It means that you will not commit to your goals before you have taken the first ten steps. This will substantially reduce your fear(because the brain now knows that you are not going for something impossible)
Also note that because courage is a currency, you must write down the experiments, steps, and results and process everything. This documentation of the goal and how your experiments have resulted in different outcomes will provide insights into your brain.
Therefore, courage is also a function of the total number of efforts made toward the first step, the next step, and the next.
What is meant by the Cause (“Meaning of Goal,”) and why is it important for courage?
Unlike fear, which needs no investment, acquiring courage needs you to take steps. Any steps you take in life need an investment of time, energy, feelings, and effort. Whenever we invest energy and feelings, our brain wants a return. Because resources are limited, and there is no such thing as selflessness. Oxygen is infinite, and we don’t have to earn Oxygen. Therefore we can let anyone breathe selflessly on our premises. However, drinking water is not infinite. We can offer a glass of water selflessly to one thirsty person, but we can not selflessly provide daily drinking water to 10,000 people, as this will require real effort, energy, and emotions.
Therefore brain asks a simple question “Ok, I can do this, but why would I do this in the first place? What will I get in return?” A clear explanation to the brain about the investment vs. benefit for a step, and after that, the goal is called the “Meaning of Goal.” Without a clear meaning to your goal, and that means having a positive outcome, irrespective of the amount of courage you acquire, the brain doesn’t commit to the goal. Therefore a cause can be defined as a believable reason for the brain to commit to a goal.
For example, if you tell your brain that “if I arrange for drinking water for 10,000 people, they will thank me,” it is an extremely bad deal for the brain because it doesn’t have to work so hard for just a thank you. However, if you say that if 10,000 people can trust me with their drinking water, then they may be ready to pay some amount to me in the future, and there may be 10 lakh after some time. I can become a water businessman and can earn money while solving a big social problem.
Now the second deal is lucrative to the brain, as the brain knows that this can fetch you success and money with which you will be happy and offer more pleasure to the brain.
- The bigger the benefit, the stronger the cause.
- The more people get benefitted from our goal, the bigger the cause becomes.
- Without the benefit that the current cause offers, people’s lives will be more threatened, then if the goal is achieved, the cause becomes more powerful.
- If the cause will have a positive impact long after we die, it becomes far stronger.
- If the benefit is incremental, then the cause becomes stronger.
Examples of Good Cause and Bad Cause
| Goal | Strong Cause | Weak Cause |
| Doing own business | I will give employment to 10 youths. | I will be my own boss. |
| Doing PhD | I can take this country to the research map of the world and establish a research culture. | I will become a professor and get 7th pay commission salary. |
| Becoming an Engineer | I can create new machines to solve water problems. | I will get a good job. |
| Becoming a doctor | I will see an illness-free society that will keep me healthy too. | I will earn a lot of money, and my profession will be safe even in an economic slowdown. |
| Walking away from home to live with Lover | I am a seller. My partner is a creator. Together we can give employment to hundreds of people and change the lives of hundreds for decades to come. | I will be able to live my life with the person I love. |
| Going away from partner | I am not able to contribute to the current relationship. I will go away to do my business to take care of 10 families. | He doesn’t respect me, and I don’t have peace in the relationship. I will go away to have more peace. |
| Having a baby | I will grow up a child who will become a world leader and help society get more employment in the future. | Every girl has a child. I must have too. In that way, I will be a mother, and people will not judge me as a girl who has not become a mother. |
| Working hard on job | My company needs to be the best company in the world because it solves the problem better than others. I will do whatever it takes to take the company to a global number 1 position. I don’t care about promotion. | If I work harder, I will get better promotion. |
What is Motivation?
The strength of the cause is called motivation. Motivation helps the brain to regulate energy to acquire courage. So higher the motivation, the higher your chances of having the energy to overcome your fear.
The following simple mathematical formulae can define motivation.
One of the core components of fear is fear of hurting others and causing pain to others. If you consider the pain others may be suffering, you do not take the step, and your motivation will be stronger. In the same way, fear often arises from the possible losses your failure may have to you and others. You increase motivation by evaluating the benefits to you and others when you succeed.
You may not be accurate all the time in evaluating the benefit and pains, but still noting them down, even to a vague degree, helps you to face your fear with reality, which then translates into motivation to take the first step, and that first step then provides you the courage.
What is competence? Why do you need the competence to overcome the fear of failure?
Alright, so goal, courage, fear, cause, and motivations are all mental and psychological components. Your first step was the only physical and real-world action you have taken to take a step toward your goal. However, just because you have taken the first step and succeeded in that and have courage doesn’t mean you will reach the eventual goal.
This is because the second step will be harder than the first, the third will be way too harder than the second, and the fourth will be excruciatingly hard.
As your journey gets harder, your fear becomes real and amplifies. Your courage decreases, and slowly, you start giving up. This is where your competence comes into play.
Competence is your real ability to overcome the real challenges in your journey. Any challenge that stands in between our journey till our goal is stressful. Therefore competence is your ability to handle and overcome stress.
The better you get at your work, the more competence you develop. The more you practice, the better you get. So the more skills you acquire to overcome challenges, the more you practice those skills and your competence increases.
How to increase competence?
- Identify the skills you need to have to solve your current challenges.
- Do a thorough study about the challenges and the skills.
- Learn the skills at the basic level.
- Practice the skills daily.
- Increase your practice time until it is no longer possible to increase it.
- Make the practice harder by each day.
- Reach a saturation level.
- Practice your skills for six months without a single day’s gap for the next six months.
- As you get better at the skills, keep applying them in the real world to solve problems.
- However, irrespective of the time you spend applying the skills in the real world, you have to allocate daily time to read about the challenges and the skills and also have to have daily practice.
- Measure your improvement in the skills as well as in solving problems.
- Once you can repeatedly solve a problem of the current level with your skills, you are competent at the current level.
Your Assignment Step 1: (Writing down and analysis)
Write in the comment bellow
- Analyze the life event of Wilma and write down the analysis in the following structure
a) What was Wilma’s pain?
b) If Wilma succeeded, what would be her benefit?
c) What were Wilma’s fears?
d) What was Wilma’s motivation?
e) What was Wilma’s cause?
f) What was Wilma’s first step?
g) How has Wilma improved her competence?
h) How Wilma gathered courage?
i) What were the benefits of the others due to Wilma’s success?
j) What was Wilma’s goal?
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Your Step 2: Measure Your Fear of Failure
Your Step 3: Write down your Strategy
i) Your goal and timeline.
ii) Based on fear of failure test, all the fears.
iii) What are the first steps you must take in all your fears?
iv) What skills do you need for all the first steps?
v) What is your final goal?
vi) What is the cause of the goal?
vii) Who will be benefitted you if you achieve your goal?
viii) What will be the losses and pains of the people if you do not achieve your goals?
ix) What will be your losses if you do not achieve the goals?
x) What are the outcomes of each step you have written down that would mark the step a success?
xi) Do you commit to making the necessary changes if you fail in the steps to try till you succeed in your first step?
Conclusion
At this moment, your fear of failure is a number(your test score). After you succeed in the first steps, your courage score will be the number of steps you have taken. You need to come back again and take your fear of failure test. You will observe that your fear of failure score has decreased by more than 10%. So when you see that, you will know that you are 10% successful.
However, the best outcome of your taking this step towards solving your fear of failure is that never in your life will you ever be held back by fear of failure. You will not regret not trying and will not repent for your lost opportunities. You will not remain part of the 90% crowd who never takes this first step due to their fear of failure.
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