if you want something work for it
Now that the olympics is over, i can finally stop obsessing with michael phelps. NOT!
Ok, I know that some people think my mind has finally snapped, with the constant "michael phelps is the best", "oh did you see michael phelps do this do that?" etc etc etc... The other day, my supervisor introduced me to a new post-doctoral fellow in our collaborator's lab. He said "hi i'm alex, I got my PhD from UMich" and so I jumped and said "oh my god did you know michael phelps when you were there? did you see him? did you say hi? is he nice????"... and then alex said "I said University of VIRGINIA, not MICHIGAN", then I realized I must have heard what I wanted to hear so I said sorry.... (see? i'm a pretty sorted guy ok?)
My point is, Michael Phelps is really someone we all need to learn from. I really think that too many times we've been told by other people "oh don't even try this it's impossible" or "you're better off staying with what you have" etc.. But it's precisely this kind of self-limiting thoughts that also give rise to self-fulfiling prophecies. If you think you can't do it, of course you won't be able to achieve it. Great people truly understand the need to dream and to aim for the stars. And even if you don't get there, I don't think it makes you any less. We all heard about the dutch guy who had some diseaase and went on to win the gold medal in cycling (or something else, i forget), but who remembered the american guy from tennessee who didn't qualify for the finals in swimming, and went home to combat the cancer he already knew he had? To me, he's a winner already. I think it's really the fighting spirit in olympics that makes a difference. I don't care how many people china send to dance and frolick for the opening ceremony, how tall yao ming is (ok, that much taller than I am!), how cute matthew mitcham is (oh wait a second i do), but I do care how hard we try for something we really believe in.
Of course, I have a confession to make. All the olympics-watching led to a total lack of training for the army half marathon 2 days ago, so ummm... yeah... will try harder the next time! (it's ok to find excuses sometimes)
Ok, I know that some people think my mind has finally snapped, with the constant "michael phelps is the best", "oh did you see michael phelps do this do that?" etc etc etc... The other day, my supervisor introduced me to a new post-doctoral fellow in our collaborator's lab. He said "hi i'm alex, I got my PhD from UMich" and so I jumped and said "oh my god did you know michael phelps when you were there? did you see him? did you say hi? is he nice????"... and then alex said "I said University of VIRGINIA, not MICHIGAN", then I realized I must have heard what I wanted to hear so I said sorry.... (see? i'm a pretty sorted guy ok?)
My point is, Michael Phelps is really someone we all need to learn from. I really think that too many times we've been told by other people "oh don't even try this it's impossible" or "you're better off staying with what you have" etc.. But it's precisely this kind of self-limiting thoughts that also give rise to self-fulfiling prophecies. If you think you can't do it, of course you won't be able to achieve it. Great people truly understand the need to dream and to aim for the stars. And even if you don't get there, I don't think it makes you any less. We all heard about the dutch guy who had some diseaase and went on to win the gold medal in cycling (or something else, i forget), but who remembered the american guy from tennessee who didn't qualify for the finals in swimming, and went home to combat the cancer he already knew he had? To me, he's a winner already. I think it's really the fighting spirit in olympics that makes a difference. I don't care how many people china send to dance and frolick for the opening ceremony, how tall yao ming is (ok, that much taller than I am!), how cute matthew mitcham is (oh wait a second i do), but I do care how hard we try for something we really believe in.
Of course, I have a confession to make. All the olympics-watching led to a total lack of training for the army half marathon 2 days ago, so ummm... yeah... will try harder the next time! (it's ok to find excuses sometimes)