The Holy Grail!

Prior to the summer of 1954, urban legend has it that scientists and other experts stated, that a running a mile in under four minutes was impossible. It had been said that this was track and field’s most famous barrier, the holy grail.

Watch the barrier fall by clicking on this link:  

On May 6, 1954 at Oxford’s Iffley Road Track, in England, a 25 year old named Roger Bannister broke through track and field’s most famous barrier. He had done the impossible!

What Was His Motivation?

At the age of 23 Roger was invited to the 1952 Olympics. Ironically, although he had set a new best time record for England in the 1,500 meter race, he still came in fourth place and was out of the medals.

As a medical student he was limited to the amount of time he could train initially, due to his rigorous academic demands. After some soul searching after the Olympics, he set as his goal to be the first person to break the four minute mile.

Creative Visualization:

As part of his training, he utilized creative visualization, as most elite athletes do. He began to see himself breaking the barrier over and over again.

This reminds me of what the Master says Mark 11:22 – 24 in the Bible:

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Here are four points I see:

1. He began to exercise his faith. While others saw the four mile mark as a barrier, Roger began to see in his imagination himself breaking through the barrier.
2. In his imagination he was saying in essence to the mountainous barrier that it was a non-issue, demanding that it go cast itself into the sea (not literally, but figuratively).
3. It got to the point where he truly believed without a doubt that he could do it, and that he would be the first one.
4. He had conditioned his body and mind for the expected outcome and it was his!

Intensive Physical Training:

Now he did not just sit there staring at his navel, just wishing for this barrier to fall. No, not only was he intentional in his creative visualization, he busted his hiney in rigorous training too.

His training was modernistic with individualized mixture of interval training, with elements of block periodization, fell running, and anaerobic elements of training, etc. He threw himself into this wholeheartedly.

Are Your Goals Worth It?

Originally I was going to mention the fact that he had hit the genetic lottery at birth. However, as I thought on this. Could it be that with the proper state of mind, following through with what the Master states, we have the potential to go from victory to victory? Why should we establish limiting beliefs?

What impossible barriers are you facing? What is it that you really need to have happen in your life? This story and others like it that I have heard show that adhering to these principles will get results. As we exercise our faith to believe and not doubt, we also need to do the hard intensive work busting our hiney’s in the process. Are your goals worth it?