Mark Blackout that if I lived each moment as fully as I could, then the other things
would take care of themselves.
When I was able to really do that well, my world changed—stress
disappeared because you can’t be stressed if you’re really living in the
moment. When you are living in the moment, there is no such thing as
fear or worry because that is all in the future.
There is a second part to this lesson as well, though. While I was
waiting for my transplant, wondering how m h time I huc ad left, I spent a
lot of time thin king about the things I wanted to do in my life that I
hadn’t gotten around to yet. It made me realize that we can’t wait for a
magic d ay or a special time to start really living life. Too many p eople
live with a philosophy of, “someday I’m going to start living life.” The
problem with this philosophy is that we never know when our last
tomorrow will be and far too many people run out of tomorrows before
“someday” comes. So I encourage people to take advantage of every
moment and live it as best as they can.
- Go big! I challenge people as often as I can to shoot for big goals
and push their limits. This is a critical step to success because most of
us carry around limiting beliefs about ourselves and about life. We start
out life as a blank slate where anything is possibl e; but as life
progresses, we are told in a variety of ways that we ca n’t. Maybe a
teacher discourages us because of a poor grade or maybe a parent tries
to protect us from disappointment by encouraging us to have smaller
dreams. Whatever the form, limitations are placed on us so often that
so on we take over and begin to place them on ourselves. For most of us,
the biggest obstacle we ever face on our road to success is not the
th ings we have to overcome in the world, but rather the self-limiting
beliefs w e carry around in our heads.
I challenge people to shed those beliefs; I challenge their negative
th inking and remind them of what they are truly capable of doing.
Showing people a picture of myself post-transplant with all of the tubes
and wires involved, and then a picture of me crossing the finish l ine of
my first marathon, shows them a powerful example that anything is
possible. I try and show and tell people that they’re capable of a lot
more than they think they are; I think everybody is and if we push
th ose limits, I think we will surprise ourselves.