How to break the 4 minute mile!

Anything is possible, but first you must believe.

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person in the history of the world to break the 4 minute mile. This was a barrier that sports and medical professionals believed was impossible and had universally decided that the human body was incapable of achieving.

One man disagreed and visualised himself running a quarter mile in under a minute and repeating the experience 4 times to achieve the ultimate 4 minute mile.

This is an excerpt from the newspaper of the day:

"The race was carefully planned and Bannister was aided by two pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway.  Brasher took the lead as the first pacemaker, Bannister slotted in behind, with Chataway in third place.  When Brasher began to feel the strain, Bannister signalled for Chataway to take over.

Just over 200 yards from the finish, Bannister took the lead with a final burst of energy. He sprinted to the line in record time and fell exhausted into the arms of a friend."

Bannisterʼs words upon completion of this immense task:

“ No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed."

With the impossibility of the task removed, within the year of Bannisters first ever 4 minute mile, 35 more people broke the barrier, the first of them within a month of Bannisterʼs amazing feat.

What does this mean for us? Believe in what you do and start running ....

So, how do you break the 4 minute mile - to be honest I haven't done it myself yet - I haven't trained, however I do believe it can be done.

Step 1 - Believe

Step 2 - Visualise

Step 3 - Train

Step 4 - Do

As with anything that you want to achieve in life, see the goal, make a plan, and get moving.

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."  (Abe Gubegan, an Ethiopian author and journalist)

P is for ....

I was having a good read of a little article from Success Magazine this week and just wanted to share some of the positivity of it with you.

We are all striving to succeed in whatever we do and Success Mag did some research and managed to distill the following as the essential character traits of the most successful business people, athletes, politicians and celebrities of our time.

I've taken licence to paraphrase a little for brevity.

P is for People Centredness - that enables you to discover what people need and help them get it.
P is for Paradigm Breaking - the ability to present change as an improvement, not a burden.
P is for Prioritisation - the ability to carefully select what you say and what you do.
P is for Perfection - something we strive for in order to achieve our individual best.
P is for Partnership - enabling clear communication that can turn bad into good.
P is for Passion - not something you have, but something you are able to share.
P is for Persuasion - the ability to explain why an idea is great, not simply owning a great idea.
P is for Principled Action - which makes winning a whole life success in all areas, not just one.
And P is for the Power you have to create your life.

All pretty good stuff really!!