Are you struggling to achieve your goals? Have you got a to-do list that’s been sat on your desk since January? Well if that all sounds a bit too familiar, maybe it’s time to take a leaf out of the world’s strongest man’s book.
Our recent chat with Eddie Hall aka ‘The Beast’ revealed some very interesting habits and the sheer determination and focussed attitude that it takes to follow through on your dreams and achieve your goals.
Standing at 6’3” and giving away the weight of an average sized man to some of his more naturally large competitors, Eddie Hall had some serious work to do if he was going to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming the strongest fella on the planet.
But that’s exactly the huge feat he accomplished this year. Here’s a breakdown of Eddie’s mental approach and what you need to do if you want to breakdown those barriers and achieve your goals. So put down the pen, chuck that list in the bin, stop procrastinating and do as the big man does.
SET GOALS
The most striking thing about Eddie is how open and blunt he is about what he wants to achieve, making what at times seem like outlandish claims, but the one common denominator that Eddie does in all aspects of his life is set goals.
For many of us, this might be as simple as planning to lose some weight, exercise more, even reading a book a week, for Eddie it was about making sure everybody knew.
“Ever since I was a child I’ve dreamt of being the World’s Strongest Man. I think it’s all about goal setting, the number one rule of goal setting is be public – tell a friend, tell a family member, tell your fans, put it on social media, you know, because that sets it in stone.”
Indeed ‘The Beast’ has become one of the most popular strongmen on the circuit and a bonafide celebrity known for being loud and brash,
“I’ve been very loud about them (goals), but then I’ve backed them all up because that’s my biggest fear, saying I’m going to do something and then not doing it.”
PROVE THEM WRONG
It’s also incredibly important not to get disheartened, but what’s the best way to cope with knock backs or people’s opinions, according to Eddie use it as motivation.
“When people say that something can’t be done, there’s no better feeling than proving someone wrong and when you’ve got so many people to prove wrong there’s so much glory in it.”
MAKE SACRIFICES
It’s so easy with many of us leading such hectic lives, to lose sight of what’s important. Always feeling like we’ve got a million things to do, but how far are any of us willing to go,
“When I was working a full-time job, seventy hours a week with security work as well and training twenty hours a week – I was doing a hundred hours a week at work and training, but I had to do it to get to where I was, I had to do it. I couldn’t have holidays because a week off would have taken me a month to get back where I was and then all the other athletes would overtake you.”
Caption: Eddie receiving painful physiotherapy at his home. Photographer: Rick Findler
BE DISCIPLINED
In fact it’s Eddie Hall’s mind set, the discipline and sheer determination that sets him apart from other athletes
“I was a National Champion swimmer when I was a kid. To be able to swim for twenty hours a week, to stare at the bottom of a swimming pool, you’ve got to be disciplined, but I used that discipline and moved it over to the strongman. From the second you wake up to the second you got to bed.
It involves setting alarms so you get up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning to eat. You don’t have to be a genetic freak to be the strongest man in the world, you’ve just got to be the hardest worker and that’s what I am.”
BE SELFISH
And if you’re really serious about getting that promotion, losing weight, taking part in next year’s marathon, achieving your dream life.
“You have to be a 100 per cent selfish, nothing else matters apart from yourself when you’re training to be number 1 in the world, you’ve got to be absolutely self absorbed, nothing else matters but what you’re doing. If you come second in World’s Strongest Man – nobody cares, it’s like that, you’ve got to be number 1, you’ve got to win for everything to be good.”
Eddie’s belief and mental strength enabled him to achieve the ultimate accolade. What next? As it stands he has no plans to defend his World’s Strongest Man title and has promised his wife he’ll walk away. First and foremost he proved a point to himself and in the process stuck two fingers up to all the doubters, and it all came from working harder than his rivals, pushing himself as far as he could.
We might not all have god given talent, but what we can control is how hard we’re willing to work, whether to go the extra mile, that commitment will level the playing field. That’s what Eddie Hall did and his lifelong dream came true.
For more inspiration and motivation buy a copy of Eddie’s brilliant book Strongman: My StoryHERE
