More gold has been mined from the thoughts of man than has ever been taken from the earth – Napoleon Hill

Then he goes on to to say

When you take the time to learn how to change your thinking and become a better thinker, you are investing in yourself. Gold mines tap out. Stock markets crash. Real estate investments can go sour. But a human mind with the ability to think well is like a diamond mine that never runs out.  It’s priceless. – John Maxwell

If this is truly the case why would we neglect to make this kind investment in our thinking skills? The reason is simple. Most people have not been exposed to the process of improving their thinking.  As I work through Maxwell’s recipe for becoming a great thinker, I will share the highlights.

My goal was simple – complete the 1 mile loop around my neighborhood in at least 10 minutes.  Needless to say, I am not a fast runner by any stretch of the imagination.  My 6’4″ , 255lb frame stomps the concrete sidewalk like a Wookie running from Stormtroopers.  I have always offered my favorite excuse when teased about my lack of speed, ” I am built for torque, not speed”.

Well, regardless of my 1 mile time, I was out there and trying to get a shot of endorphines and  improve my time.  As I chugged  up that first hill I willed myself to ignore the complaints of my legs and lungs. My first experiment with trying to will myself up that hill. My strategy was simple. Focus on the top of the hill, remind myself that I would get a stretch of flat to recover and then all would be good.  The result?  I got to the top of the hill and began to hope that my legs would stop aching and my lungs would cease to burn.  Within about 5o yards I got a reprieve from the pain of that last hill. However, my mind began to focus on the what-ifs of the next hill.

Even though it fussed with pain, the body seemed to be delivering on the requests of my mind. But, the mind began an assault of doubt.  ”Can we make it up the next hill?”  ”Will the legs give up if I ask them to continue on?”  ”Can the lungs and heart continue to pump at the same pace it did before?”  It became a battle of the mind.  I felt almost schizophrenic.  Moments before it was leading the body to victory, the next it was second guessing the ability to finish.

One moment my mind drifted to thoughts of a friend who had just finished Marine Corp Boot Camp.  I imagined the glory he must have felt moving from a 13 minute mile recruit to a 7 minute mile marine.  At that moment, my mind’s personality made a call to arms. “We can do this! Nothing can stand in our way!”  ”Go claim your glory!”

But, another personality of the mind presented it self moments later when we entered the final stretch of the run, which was uphill.  Doubtful language began to bounce around. “I dont know about this.” “This might not be worth it” “Remind me again of the purpose for this pain.”  ”Let’s just stop here and walk back” “We have nothing to prove.”  A battle of two modes of thought were at raging within my head.  I found myself terribly conflicted.

The point of these musings is not to paint my run as some epic battle between good and evil.  My goal is to share a realization that presented it self after the run.  That realization is that your body is, more often than not, capable of delivering more than you think it can.  However, it takes control of  the attitudes of the mind to let your body deliver to its potential.  This is one of the fertile fields where discipline is sown, grown, and harvested.  My struggle today was to maintain a discipline over my attitude during the run. 

I was reminded today that if I can achieve discipline through attitude in one aspect of my life, then I would have a better chance of achieving discipline in other areas.  The same application of controlling my attitude or thoughts towards any task would help me overcome the pain associated with the work to grow in that area.  Specifically, if I could build discipline in health then I could build discipline in matters head and heart also.  But, attitude would be the deciding factor. Would it be fertilizer or poison to the discipline that I was wanting to grow?