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ACHIEVE THE IMPOSSIBLE

How to Overcome Challenges and Gain Success in Life? Work and Sport

Professor Greg Whyte OBE

Scientific editor Anna Logvinskaya

Published with permission from Transworld Publishers, a division of The Random House Group Limited and Synopsis Literary Agency c/o THE SYNOPSIS NOA LLP

© Professor Greg Whyte, OBE, 2015

First published as Achieve the Impossible by Transworld Publishers

© Translation into Russian, publication in Russian, design. Mann, Ivanov and Ferber LLC, 2016

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Introduction

Whatever you do, I beg you, do not read this book. Return it to the store and ask for your money back. Burn it. Bury it. Or better yet, burn it and then bury it, just to be sure.

Ten years ago I was a chubby comedian, well known in the UK for dressing up on television and saying "I'm a Lady". And then I met Professor Greg White. For some strange reason he decided he could train me for the English Channel swim. “It’s only about 35 kilometers and will take 11 or 12 hours,” he said.

“Is the water warm?” – I asked.

“Hot, like a bath! Fifteen degrees!

I couldn’t refuse, because the swim was organized for charity (in addition, I would have been caught by the BBC cameras). And in the fall of 2005, my training began with Professor Greg White. I'm one of those people who never got my Boy Scout badge. However, in the summer of 2006, I swam the English Channel in record time and received a million pounds, half of which I gave to charity. As I dried myself off in Dover Harbour, I thought, “Thank God, I’ll never do that again!”

But it was not there. Greg White had other plans. Now I had to swim across the shark-infested Strait of Gibraltar, from Europe to Africa. And then cycle from John O'Groats in Scotland (the northernmost part of Great Britain) to Land's End (southwest of the United Kingdom). After all these adventures, I thought I had earned the right to sit on the sofa, watch telly and eat cake for the rest of my life. For security reasons, I changed my phone number, moved to another house, and the police even gave me a new ID.

And yet he found me. The professor came up with a new plan. I had to swim 225 kilometers along the Thames in just eight days. What a bastard!

Professor Greg White is a leading sports science expert and is behind every sporting achievement. He never received a penny for the weeks, months and even years of his work, but with me, comedian John Bishop, actress Davina McCall and others, he made millions of pounds for charity.

If he was able to inspire me to do the impossible, he will inspire you too.

David Walliams

When I was offered to cover 800 kilometers, I exclaimed: “Yes!” And only then I thought about it. I suffered an injury and relearned how to walk up the stairs. I worked and raised three children. And I started crying every day. I'm not exaggerating. I sincerely decided that I could die. How did I agree to this at my age?

And then I met Greg. I cried in meetings and almost all training sessions with him. It was my release from fear or tension. Greg told me that these feelings would change to confidence and I just had to trust him.

Looking back, I see how he helped me overcome obstacles every week. Gradually my confidence grew, and I no longer thought about death. I knew that the planned adventure would be the coolest in my life. And I was going to do it. Greg's wonderful and forgiving wife had to put up with my daily emails, stupid questions, or bragging about my workout accomplishments.

No words can express my feelings for Greg. Even when I think about him, I start to cry. And I will never forget how he took me to the last marathon.

He was my best mentor.

In 2012, when I agreed to take the athletic test, I was introduced to Professor Greg White. He was supposed to prepare me for this event. In fact, I had absolutely no idea how difficult this “hell week” would become, but I also underestimated Greg’s future influence on me. Without him, I could not have coped with the test: he was always there. But more importantly, without him, I wouldn't have known what I was capable of.

Greg was in charge of the preparation and was convinced that I would not give up. And when Greg believes in you, you will definitely find strength in yourself that you didn’t even know you had.

Few people have the power to make you better than you ever imagined. Greg has this rare gift, and we should all thank the professor for his willingness to share it.

Chapter first
Libra of success
At first everything seems impossible

Good things don't come easy - this mantra is repeated to everyone who wants to undergo serious trials. Imagine achieving a goal as a journey along the road: the starting point is setting a goal, the final point is achieving it. In this book I will describe the path to the goal. I suggest a direct path, but success cannot be achieved without hard work.

There is a direct relationship between effort and reward. The closer you are to achieving your goal, the harder the work and the harder it is to continue. This is similar to the law of diminishing returns, which is often limiting. However, the harder you work, the greater the reward. Don't let the fear of difficulties stop you from taking the first step and facing challenges.

So, hard work is a must to achieve your goal. But there are other factors that prevent you from achieving success quickly. They influence every step you take towards your goal: from desire to action. Yet the obstacles that Olympic athletes face are no different to your challenges when you want to lose weight, improve your health, increase your productivity, or swim the English Channel.

Factors that hinder success can be divided into four categories: body, mind, technology And environment. However, I am sure that everything is possible and problems can be solved.

In this chapter you will learn:

On the Law of Diminishing Returns;

About the mountain road to success;

About restrictions in sports;

About the four key factors impeding movement;

On the importance of physical ability, mind, technology and the environment;

About how James Wood swam the English Channel;

About obstacles to success;

About the scales of success.

In each chapter, I will give examples of extraordinary personal achievements that I have recorded over the years. In the first chapter I will talk about crossing the English Channel.

Law of Diminishing Returns

There is one simple rule: the better you become, the harder it is for you to improve. The relationship between skill improvement and effort is not linear, but rather the opposite: early progress is accompanied by commensurate rewards for hard work. This is the law of diminishing returns.

This law is observed in almost all areas of life. For example, consider losing weight. In the first few weeks, losing weight is easy, you just need to adjust your diet a little and exercise. But it becomes more and more difficult to lose weight. And you have to work hard. This leads to defeat for many people trying to get rid of excess weight or maintain an ideal shape for many years.

Law of Diminishing Returns: success achieved in a short time is short-lived. Consolidating what has been achieved requires much more effort.

When it becomes harder to reach your goal, you risk losing motivation. This is why most diets only last six to twelve weeks, and New Year's resolutions are forgotten by spring! Remember: you must continue to work hard.

Mountain road to success

Now you know about the law of diminishing returns, you can more easily plan your journey to success. Imagine that this road passes through the mountains, and its short flat part leads to the foot of the mountain. You will go a long way across the plain with minimal effort. And when you get to the bottom, you will have to work hard to continue the route. As you get closer to your goal, you will try even harder. But your achievements will be more modest than before. The goal will seem close, but the path to it is not yet complete. It is a common misconception to underestimate the size of the final few steps.

Mountain road to success. In the early stages, you walk towards success on a plain and achieve significant results with minimal effort. But further, at the foot of the mountain and on the way to the top, the speed decreases.

Instead of going in a straight line, you will probably have to go along a winding path, negotiating very sharp turns. This will slow down your progress towards your goal despite greater efforts. Before starting the journey, it is important to plan the route to assess the amount of work ahead. This will help you not to deviate from your goal in difficult moments. It is also important to remember that even the ideal plan needs to be modified depending on the circumstances.

Sports achivments

In each chapter, I present scientific evidence that supports some of the key ideas. I hope you won't mind stopping for a moment and taking a moment to look at them. I have been working in this field for the last 30 years. Perhaps it will be interesting for you too.

World records for 800m running

World records for 100m freestyle swimming

World records for 800m running and 100m freestyle swimming for men and women. Note the plateau in world record speeds: the differences between men and women; and that the greatest progress was noted in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

There is evidence that people push themselves to their limits in sports. Athletes continue to set world records, but progress is slowing. The time between records is lengthening, and some of them cannot be broken for decades. My colleagues and I have shown that world records in running and swimming have reached a plateau for both men and women (across all disciplines, men are 10% faster than women, largely due to physical differences). This suggests that we have reached our limits. Interestingly, new world records are not achieved linearly.

The greatest progress was observed in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. The reasons for the increase in achievements in those years are explained by a number of circumstances that reduced the limits of opportunity. These factors include the advent of sports science and sports medicine, improvements in training methods, and the advent of medications that improve the performance of athletes. All data characteristic of sports, with the exception of sports pharmacology, apply to any area of ​​life: from health to business.

By understanding and acknowledging the limits of human capabilities, we can make decisions and improve our abilities to achieve success. The main limitations are the body, mind, technology and environment.

Physical ability and success

Our physical capabilities affect all areas of life. Of course, in sports, success depends on physical preparation. But this relationship is not so obvious, for example, in business. However, it is clear that physical ability affects performance, academic success and weight loss. By keeping ourselves in good physical shape, we expand our capabilities in all areas of life.

You need to find a balance to develop your abilities, taking into account your weaknesses and strengths. Some physical features are genetically determined, such as our weight. We cannot influence him. But this does not mean that weight limits us, we must try to overcome this limitation. The vast majority of physical qualities can be changed, and therefore we are able to improve our condition and overcome difficulties.

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Like Michelangelo, I cut away everything unnecessary from myself in order to reveal the woman I want to see myself as. It was difficult to single out five points, but they are the very whales that, it seems to me, form my conscious personality.

Challenge 1. Try new things. Every day I receive many letters with suggestions, ideas, questions, advice, criticism, praise, anything that makes me think, make choices, make decisions, formulate my thoughts and deeds. These are all moments of choice. Previously, I often avoided turns and unusual actions; I automatically wanted to do as usual and refuse new ideas. But one day, with another year of my life, I gained a portion of wisdom to try new things, and never wanted to deny myself this pleasure. Development in the new. Knowledge in the new. Opportunities in the new. All the most interesting and exciting things are new.

"Never stop learning. Information is learned best when a person is surprised . Try to learn something new every day - this develops and trains your brain, creating new neural connections, which in turn will change and develop your ability to think consciously, which will help you simulate your own happy and fulfilling reality."

Joe Dispenza

To avoid waking up one day as an old man at 28, try new things!

Challenge 2. Go with fear. I was scared to drive. I was scared to move to Minsk. I was scared to say “Good morning” to the whole country for the first time on camera. I was afraid to leave the past in the past and decide to be who I wanted. I was scared every time I went somewhere I had never been before. But if I hadn’t done this, who and where would I be now?..

Don’t be afraid to be pushy, annoying, obnoxious, out of character, abnormal, in the end. Don’t be afraid to displease people, don’t be afraid to go your own way.

Challenge 3. Refuse flour and sweets. Believe me, you don't need this. Nobody needs this. Even your children don't need it. It seems possible, but it’s definitely not necessary. I gave up starchy foods when I was 16, and I gave up sweets four months ago. Without fanaticism, I eat everything if the case turns out that way. But this is not the case in my everyday life. On holidays, on set, during a hormonal surge, but not every day.

One day (it seems with the influx of another portion of wisdom), I suddenly thought that I had no right not to love my body, not to respect it, not to appreciate it, not to take care of it. And I decided to remove everything that prevents him from being in his best shape and in his best condition and well-being. What right do I have to destroy something that has been so perfectly designed for thousands of years?! It's stupid, isn't it?..

And now, based on a person’s selection of products in a supermarket, I judge his intelligence. Sorry. Of course, I try not to do this, not to judge, I forbid myself... But it does. Ready to introduce a new concept - intellectual food. This is the one that gives strength, energy, life and the desire to live and move, develop, fight and win.

Refined foods - white flour and sugar - are on the side of evil in this story.

Challenge 4. Sports every day. Yes, yes, and believe me, it won’t harm you. What does sport mean? This means movement, which is life. Fitness, cardio, running, swimming, abs and glutes with this guy at home:

Imagine that you are a robot and you do not have laziness, boredom, fatigue, reluctance... All this does not concern you - you are a robot and technically perform a series of exercises, most of which will take from 16 to 24 minutes. And don't tell me about the time, please.

In addition, fitness is the best cure for stress and troubles of any format and complexity. Do push-ups, pump up your abs, stretch your muscles, hang on the horizontal bar, dance, squat. A sad thought came to me, and I immediately sat down 10 times. Checked, the thought goes away! The more sad you are, the stronger your butt will be. And then you will like your butt and it will be somehow useless and stupid to be sad about the bad weather. The perfect formula. But seriously, we all know that sports make us happy. In some completely magical way, an hour in the gym changes the mood from “-” to “+”, and it always does! Wet and sad to go to the gym? That's what I'm telling you - practice at home. The time will come, I will be drawn to the gym.

Challenge 5. Follow your dream. No matter how delusional, impudent, unattainable she may be. You need to prepare yourself for this challenge with at least the previous four challenge points. Here you will need the endurance that sports gives, and proper nutrition, and courage, and the strength to look fears in the eye, and an interest in new things.

There is only one life, there is only one youth, there is only one chance. Weigh everything, do not make sudden movements, think through additional steps and possibilities, play it safe and jump into the sweet and passionate unknown, which will turn and change everything inside. Which will lead to where it should be. Which will allow you not to doubt yourself, respect yourself and choose the most valuable thing for yourself.

These were my challenges. Your task is to find yours and quit. Did you come up with it? Start tomorrow!

But first, prepare yourself a proper and new breakfast. What I love about eating healthy is how simple it is. The book from Herbalife is clear and delicious proof of this.

Aim higher

Try new things

Challenge yourself again and again

Every person needs to strive for something. Call it a challenge or a goal, but this is what makes us human. Taking on the challenge, we went from cavemen to flying to the stars.

By challenging yourself, you grow. Your life changes. The outlook on the world becomes positive. Achieving your goals isn't always easy, but that doesn't mean you have to give up. Instead, tell yourself, “I can do this. And I will try until I achieve victory."

For me there are two types of challenge. The first is to do the best I can at work and at home. The second is the search for adventure. I'm trying to combine both. I'm trying to embrace the immensity. I love looking for new things and new ideas.

I faced my first challenge in life when I was four or five years old and in the summer we went to Devon for a couple of weeks with two aunts and uncles. When we arrived, I immediately rushed to the beach and stared at the sea. I really wanted to swim, but I couldn’t. Aunt Joyce offered me ten shillings if I could learn to swim before the end of our trip. She was a wise woman and knew that such a bet would take me half a turn. I accepted her challenge with full confidence that I would win. Most of the time the sea was rough and the waves were high, but I tried my best. Day after day I floundered in the water, one foot touching the bottom. I turned blue from the cold, drank gallons of salt water - but was determined to win. Alas, I never learned to swim.

“Don’t be upset, Ricky,” Aunt Joyce said, calming me down. - We'll try next year.

I was devastated by the loss and was sure that by next year my aunt would have forgotten about our bet. When we went home by car, I kept looking out the window. If only I could learn to swim! I hated losing. The day was hot, and in the fifties the roads were very narrow. We were driving quite slowly, and suddenly I saw a river. We haven’t gotten home yet, which means the vacation isn’t over yet! I understood that this was my last chance to win.

Stop the car! - I screamed.

My parents knew about our bet. Usually they tried not to obey the demands of a five-year-old boy. But then my father, I think, realized how much it meant to me. He pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car.

Well, what's the matter? - he asked, turning to me.

Ricky wants to try again to win ten shillings, said Mum.

I jumped out of the car, quickly undressed and ran to the river. When I was already near the shore, I became a little scared. The river seemed deep, and the fast current covered the boulders sticking out of the water. Nearby there was muddy shallow water where cows settled down to drink. I decided that it would be easier for me to enter the river from there. Turning around, I saw that everyone was standing nearby, watching me.

Mom smiled and waved at me.

You can do it, Ricky! - she shouted.

Their enthusiastic support and Aunt Joyce's challenge gave me strength. I knew: now or never. I splashed through the mud and splashed into the water. As soon as I got into the river, I was immediately caught by the current. I went under water and began to choke. Then I surfaced and I was carried down the river. Somehow, somehow I managed to take a deep breath, relax and stay on the surface. I felt a sudden surge of confidence and knew I could do it. I leaned one foot on the stone and pushed off. And soon he swam. Clumsily, like a dog, he swam in a circle - but he won the bet! Through the sound of the water, I heard the whole family, standing on the shore, loudly cheering me on. When I finally crawled ashore, I was completely exhausted, but terribly proud of myself. I somehow crawled through the mud and thickets of nettles to Aunt Joyce. Smiling, she handed me ten shillings.

You're doing great, Ricky! - she said.

“I knew you could do it,” my mother said, handing me a dry towel.

I knew it too and I wasn’t going to give up until I proved it.

At school I was not good at reading. Lessons became a pain due to my dyslexia. The very thought of defeat was disgusting to me, but no matter how hard I fought, reading and writing were given to me with great difficulty. It may seem strange, but it was precisely because of this that I began to dream of becoming a reporter - a job where I have to read and write constantly. When I found out that my school had announced a competition for the best essay, I immediately took part in it. I don’t know who was most shocked by my victory. I was a student who was constantly punished for failing in language and literature. But it was this student who won the essay competition. I was delighted. When I told my mother about my success, she was not at all surprised:

I knew you could win, Ricky.

My mother is one of those people for whom the word “impossible” does not exist. She is convinced that if a person really gets down to business, then nothing is impossible for him.

My success inspired me, and although I was not an outstanding student, from that moment on things at school went uphill. I learned to remember difficult words and had much less problems with spelling. This proves once again: you can achieve anything - but you have to make an effort. I did not stop there and set new goals for myself. Having won an essay competition, he moved on to create the Student magazine. I wanted to prove that a boy who was constantly punished for his inability to read and write properly could do it.

As I grew older, I took on increasingly serious challenges in the adult world. He lived at maximum speed and longed for adventure. Danger beckoned me. I have already set a record by flying across the Atlantic for the first time in a hot air balloon with Per. On New Year's Eve 1990, he and I decided to cross the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the United States. It was a much more dangerous adventure - eight thousand miles over the ocean. No one has ever done this before.

I spent Christmas on a small island off the coast of Japan, surrounded by family and friends. The landscape was charming and peaceful - it seemed that time had stopped, a soft and light fog reigned around. The river carried its waters between the rocks and along the banks overgrown with willows and bamboo. I watched fishermen catch fish using trained cormorants. The life of these people seemed so calm. Are they happy? Or do they have the same hopes and fears that we all have? Maybe their ancient traditions told them how to come to terms with the passage of time - something that I never managed to do? I wonder what they would say about my constant thirst for movement? I knew only one thing: the challenge that life threw at me again and again forced me to move on.

Joan didn't want to see me embark on another dangerous journey, and the kids had to go to school - so I sent the family to London, and then headed with my parents to the airport, where we would catch a flight to the hot air balloon site. On the large television screens in the waiting room, I saw helicopters lifting a body from the sea. Even without hearing the text, I already knew that this was our opponent, the Japanese Fumio Niwa. He set off early in the morning in strong winds to get ahead of us, but the shell of his hot air balloon broke and he crashed into the icy sea. Due to a strong storm, they could not save him in time, and he died of hypothermia. It was a shock - after all, just recently I was happily chatting with him.

This tragedy shocked me. But I promised to take part in the flight. No matter what dangers we faced, I was not going to give up and I was sure that Joan would understand me.

Our plan was to cross the ocean, riding one of the jet streams that circle the Earth at an altitude of nine to ten and a half thousand meters. They rush with the power of the river during the flood. The lower you go, the weaker the wind. Our problem was the height of the giant hot air balloon - more than ninety meters from the top edge of the shell to the capsule. When we get into the jet stream, the top and bottom of the ball will begin to move at different speeds, and then anything can happen.

We put on parachutes and fastened ourselves to life rafts so that in case of an emergency we would not lose precious time. Then the burners were started. We rose and rose, and then the top of the shell of the ball entered the lower boundary of the jet stream. It felt like we had hit a glass ceiling. We increased the fuel supply to the burners, trying to climb higher, but the wind was so strong that it still drove us down. We added more fuel and finally broke through. The upper part of the shell immediately rushed forward, caught by a powerful jet. She flew at a speed of two hundred kilometers per hour. The capsule continued to move at a speed of forty kilometers per hour. It seemed like a thousand horses were dragging us in different directions. It was too high to jump with a parachute, and we were afraid that the balloon would break in two and the heavy capsule would crash into the ocean.

But at the last moment she, too, broke through the “glass ceiling”, and the hot air balloon straightened up.

I was amazed by the fury and power of the jet stream and the fact that we broke through the barrier - and survived. I was overcome by a feeling of wild and frightening delight - we were alone in this entire huge space. Reality seemed absolutely ephemeral and no more tangible than the air, which literally was our only support.

We flew at wild speed - much faster than we could have imagined. Seven hours later it was time to dump the first empty fuel tank. It seemed to us that it would be safer to do this by leaving the jet stream - we probably didn’t know anything, because everything was new to us. We turned off the burners and began to descend into a calmer area. The capsule immediately began to slow down, but the hot air balloon itself still rushed forward. Using a video camera mounted on the bottom of the capsule, we clearly saw the ominous gray ocean churning with waves seven and a half kilometers below us. I wondered if we were destined to end our flight there in the water.

Per pressed the empty tank release button, and the capsule immediately tilted sharply. I fell on Per, and all the things in the cabin slid towards us. We were horrified to discover that not only an empty tank had fallen off one side, but also two full ones. Each one weighed a ton. The roll became even stronger, the balance was disrupted. In addition, we now had too little fuel to adjust our flight altitude and find the wind in the desired direction. We realized that we would no longer be able to reach the States. Having immediately lightened by three tons, the hot air balloon sharply soared upward. We hit the jet stream so fast that we shot through the glass ceiling and continued to rise. Per vented some of the air from the shell, but we still flew higher and higher.

We were warned that the glass dome of the capsule would explode at an altitude of thirteen kilometers, and our eyes and lungs would be torn out of our bodies by vacuum. At an altitude of twelve thousand three hundred meters we entered the unknown. As if hypnotized, they looked at the altimeter needle, which had risen to the frightening level of twelve thousand seven hundred and fifty meters. We had no idea what would happen next. Now we were at an altitude at which not only not a single hot air balloon, but also most aircraft had ever flown. Finally the air in the shell cooled down and we began to fall. We again watched the altimeter needle creep - this time in the opposite direction. We really didn’t want to burn precious fuel, but in order to stop the fall, we had to do it. We couldn't land in the ocean because there was no one there to save us.

We could last another thirty hours with almost no fuel. But in order to reach the ground, we needed to fly faster than is generally possible in a hot air balloon. It was necessary to constantly be exactly in the center of the jet stream - and this seemed impossible.

The last straw was the loss of radio contact. We had been in the air for many hours and Per was exhausted. He lay down and immediately fell into a deep sleep. I was left to my own devices. I don’t believe in God, but that day it seemed to me that some kind of guardian angel was helping us. We started to speed up. I was sure it was a dream. We covered one hundred and thirty kilometers per hour, then three hundred, three hundred and forty, and finally four hundred kilometers per hour! It was a miracle.

I felt stretched to the limit and as if drugged, but since Per was sleeping, I had to keep my watch. When I saw strange flashing lights on the surface of the glass dome, I thought I was seeing spirits. Finally it dawned on me: these were burning lumps of frozen fuel flying past the capsule. It was minus seventy outside. If such a flaming boulder hits the dome, it will immediately explode.

Per! - I yelled. - Wake up! We're on fire!

Per woke up immediately. He immediately understood what needed to be done.

Raise the balloon to a level of twelve kilometers, there is almost no oxygen there,” he said. - The fire will stop.

We rose, and the flaming fuel continued to fly down. We passed our previous maximum of 12,750 meters - and continued to climb. At an altitude of 12,900, I was sure that the capsule would explode, and I could already imagine how the vacuum would rip out my eyes and lungs, turning them into bloody jelly, like in a horror movie. To my great relief, the fire went out and we began to descend again. But the precious fuel was used up. Suddenly the radio started playing. A voice said: “War has begun in the Persian Gulf. The Americans are bombing Baghdad." It seemed strange, as if reality itself had been torn in two: we were on the border with space, and a war had begun on Earth. Our ground crew radioed that the jet stream we were in was changing direction and turning back toward Japan. We needed to immediately descend into another jet stream, which was heading towards the Arctic, but at a much slower speed. In order to reach the ground, we could not fly slower than three hundred kilometers per hour - twice as fast as anyone else had gone before. We dropped to five and a half thousand meters and entered a slow jet stream moving from the south. Just when we thought we would have to prepare to jump into the ocean, ground control informed us that we had entered the jet stream in the direction we needed. In a narrow strip at an altitude of nine thousand meters, we rushed for hours in a tilted capsule at a fantastic speed of three hundred and thirty kilometers per hour. We finally landed in a snowstorm on a frozen lake in the very north of Canada, a desolate place two hundred times the size of Britain.

We unscrewed the hatch cover and climbed out. We hugged and danced a jig in the snow. The silvery shell of our hot air balloon fell onto the tops of the pine trees, and was torn to shreds by the wind. Suddenly we realized: the capsule would not explode, but it was minus sixty outside. If we don't get inside, we'll probably get frostbite. We crawled into the capsule and I made contact with air services.

We have arrived. Arrived. Alive and healthy.

We landed on some lake surrounded by trees.

This is a frozen lake,” the Canadian who spoke was calm and taciturn. - Don't fail. The only problem is that there are approximately eight hundred thousand lakes in this area, and even more trees.

We had to sit in the capsule for eight hours. Per froze his foot, and I froze my finger. We huddled close to each other, half asleep, destroyed all our food supplies, trying to save even a sliver of warmth, and a blizzard raged around our capsule. We landed five hundred kilometers from the nearest habitation and two hundred and fifty kilometers from the nearest road.

Eventually we heard the dull sound of helicopter blades. The noise got louder and louder, and then the helicopter circled and landed next to us.

The flight to Yellowknife took four hours. We landed on a tiny airfield. Bent over, we ran across the snow-covered field to the hangar. The whirlwind almost knocked us off our feet when we opened the door and tumbled inside.

There was Will Whitehorn, corporate director of the Virgin Group, his mother, his father, Per's wife Helen and some other people from Yellowknife. At first I didn't recognize anyone at all: they were all wearing strange, bloated suits with bright red jackets and heated pants. When we appeared on the threshold, everyone greeted us joyfully.

Have a cold beer! - Will yelled. - That's all we have!

Per and I opened the bottles and sprayed foam all around.

You did it! - Mom said.

But this is the last time, said the father.

What are you talking about? - Per said jokingly. - Next time we will fly around the world. If the fuel tanks hadn't blown off, we would have been over England by now!

I laughed. But I already knew that I could not refuse this challenge. A couple of years later we actually made such an attempt.

Just before flying across the Pacific, my daughter Holly sent me a fax from London. She wrote: “I hope you don’t have to land on the water and have an accident. I wish you a successful landing on land."

A perfect metaphor for my entire life. I'm lucky. So far, almost all of my landings have been successful. I believe the writer and mountaineer James Ullman summed up the problem perfectly when he said: “Challenge is the cause and driving force of all human endeavor. If there is an ocean, we will cross it. If there is a disease, we will cure it. If there is injustice, we will correct it. If there is a record, we will break it. And if there is a peak, we will conquer it.”

I completely agree with him and believe that we should always challenge ourselves.

R. Branson

I'm the same person as everyone else. I have my fears, doubts, victories and defeats. I have days when I’m not in the mood and I want to give up everything, give up and give up... BUT! I challenge myself every day!

When my mood begins to dictate conditions to me, a defense mechanism turns on inside me, which sends information to my brain: " Andrey, you are on the right track! Today you don’t want anything - that means you need to do 2 times more".

I understand this intellectually, but the desire to do anything DOES NOT APPEAR. Therefore, I use the third point from - DISCIPLINE.

If I don't do what I planned today, I will delay achieving my main goal by another day. Jim Rohn once said: If you continue to do today what you did yesterday, then tomorrow you will be where you were today.

There is no need to push yourself, be sure to set aside days for yourself when you will rest. For example, I spend Saturday with my family and attend church meetings on Sunday. It is important for me to keep all areas of life in balance.

How to challenge yourself?

1. Ask the right questions.

You need to ask the question: " Whom I want to become? What do I want to achieve?"Write your answer down on paper.

After you answer this question, ask the next one: "Why am I doing all this for?" The answer to this question will help you see your true motives and values, and will also increase your motivation for action and interest in the result.

2. There is no turning back!

I want to tell you one story.

Having crossed the English Channel with his army, Caesar landed in Britain. Then he ordered the ships to be burned. He lined up his soldiers on a high bank so that they could see with their own eyes how the flames consumed the remains of the ships on which they had recently sailed. Thus, Caesar prevented the possible escape of the army and made it clear to the soldiers that they would be able to return home only if they won. Undoubtedly, the eloquent spectacle of the burning ships increased the strength of the soldiers tenfold. And now, without any words, they perfectly understood that the bridges had been burned, that they must only go forward. And that they absolutely need to win. Which is what they did.

34 days ago I started morning jogging, making a public promise that if I don’t run, I’ll eat a bowl of dog food and record it on video. Thus, I cut myself off from the idea of ​​lounging in bed. Dozens of people follow my results. instagram. This motivates me very much)) I burned all my bridges and challenged myself.

Only by understanding what you really want and cutting off your escape routes can you realize your dream.

The other day I spoke on television in the “Morning Coffee” section... I once had a phobia of public speaking. I was afraid of the microphone, and even more so of speaking in public. My heart began to pound furiously, various failed scenarios popped into my head, my throat became dry, my stomach began to ache, and so on.

Today, I have experience in public speaking. The fears have not gone away but I learned to manage my inner state. Any speaker feels discomfort before and in the first minutes of speaking. Then experience and good preparation help.

Therefore, if you are afraid of something, know that everyone is afraid))) Some less, some more. The main thing is to take the first step. Everyone starts with him.

You can watch the RECORDING OF THE BROADCAST using this link.

Make a decision and challenge yourself!

The Olympian and renowned sports medicine and science expert talks about how to achieve impossible goals - in sports, business and life.

Greg White, an Olympian and European and World Championships medalist, learned from an early age that the biggest obstacles in life are people saying, “No, you can’t do it.”

But in fact, each of us can achieve what others consider impossible. Success is not a fluke, but the result of proper vision, planning and preparation. Professor White in his book shares methods and knowledge that turn ordinary people into elite athletes - and can help you too. Vivid examples and stories, expert recommendations, visual diagrams and diagrams show how to apply them:

• In life - from fighting excess weight to reducing anxiety;
• In business - through maximizing the potential of your team;
• And in sports - from 10-kilometer races to extreme endurance competitions.

Don't take no for an answer. This book will help you make the impossible possible.

From the introduction

David Walliams:

Whatever you do, I beg you, do not read this book. Return it to the store and ask for your money back. Burn it. Bury it. Maybe it’s even better to burn it and then bury it, just to be sure.

Ten years ago I was a chubby-cheeked comedian, well known for dressing up on television, who constantly said, "Hello, I'm a lady." And then I met Professor Greg White. For some strange reason he decided he could train me for the English Channel swim. “It’s only about 35 kilometers and will take eleven or twelve hours,” he said. “Is the water warm?” I asked. “It’s hot, like in a bathtub!” he answered with a smile, “fifteen degrees!” Between the BBC cameras and the charity, I realized I couldn't refuse.

In the fall of 2005, Professor Greg White began training me. And I am one of those who could never get a Boy Scout badge, this is something almost impossible for me. However, in the summer of 2006 I swam the English Channel in record time and received a million pounds, half of which I gave to charity. As I scrubbed off the grease in Dover Harbor I thought, “Thank God, I’ll never do that again!”

Who is this book for?

For anyone who sets overambitious goals and wants to have an action plan to achieve them.