How Fast Can You Ride?
The problem with our life is not our problems. Our “problem” is how we view ourselves in that circumstance. We often limit ourselves by what we believe or imagine is achievable. Our mindset holds power, and we choose our mindset.
Napolean Hill : Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
If we don’t think that we can do something, then we won’t (can’t).
It’s as simple as that.
Life’s ups and downs are not determining our outcome. We do that in how we choose to experience life – our mindset.
Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset
One of my favorite authors is Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck. She wrote a groundbreaking book called Mindset, in which she discusses people who have a growth mindset and those who have a fixed mindset.
Dweck states that people often believe they have an aptitude for something or don’t. Those with a fixed mindset tend to think that genetics determine abilities.
They believe that intelligence and talents are inherited more than developed. As a result, people with a fixed mindset fear failure because failing makes them appear to themselves as incompetent or, worse, lacking in intelligence or talent. A fixed mindset severely limits our ability to learn or expand. If our limits are predetermined, why waste time “growing?”
In contrast, people with a growth mindset believe they can continually improve through learning, work, and practice. They are not discouraged by failure, and they examine errors so that they can learn from them. They believe BETTER is always possible regardless of how good they have become.
You Make the Choice
Mindsets are essential to our personality, and we can change them. Knowing and understanding more about the two mindsets allows us to start thinking and acting in new ways.
We often limit our expectations of ourselves because if we do, we can limit our disappointment.
If we expect too much, we are often disappointed. To avoid that, we lower our expectations. Yet, one of the keys to continual improvement is the willingness to risk disappointment.
We need to see disappointment not as a bad thing to avoid but as proof that we are aiming higher and striving to improve!
It is critical to adopt the GROWTH mindset….it changes everything for you.
How Fast Can You Ride?
How fast can you ride a bicycle? Whatever your answer is, it is likely wrong. You can ride a bike much FASTER than you think you can.
Let me show you how I know that to be true about you!
What is the current land record speed for riding a bike on flat terrain?
Maybe you know it, but most people don’t.
So, what would your guess be?
Sixty kilometers per hour? Perhaps even 80 kph?
The Fastest Speed Ever Recorded by A Human on a Bike
Perhaps you’re thinking about those Tour de France cyclists roaring along the flat stretches of the French countryside. Could they be doing 80 kph?
The fastest speed ever recorded on a bike might surprise you indeed.
Forty-five-year-old Denise Mueller-Korenek, from Holland, did it in September of 2018. She powered a speed on her bike, registering 296 kph, or 184 mph! (The rate at which a 747 airplane needs for take-off!)
When you hear that speed for the first time, 296 KPH, you probably think, HOW CAN THAT BE POSSIBLE?
Indeed, it’s a mistake.
No mistake, I can assure you.
Nothing in the average person’s experience with bikes suggests that anyone could ride one as fast as that.
The reason we are so surprised, or even stunned, by the answer, comes down to our attitude of what we THINK is possible in life.
How You Limit Your Speed to Success?
Okay, maybe you can cut yourself some slack about not knowing the world’s record bike speed.
But the real question here is about you; your potential, ability, and how far you can go toward your dreams?
Most likely, when guessing about the fastest ride, you feared being unrealistic.
We all have our reasons for selling ourselves short. Maybe you were criticized for dreaming big or missed your target in the past, and the memory still stings. Whatever the reason, our past experiences often become the parameters for our future aspirations and accomplishments.
We aim lower.
Then lower still.
And you will eventually decide on a speed you know you can achieve – and of course, it is wrong. You can go faster.
Henry Ford Got It Right
I will leave you with Henry Ford’s famous quote:
Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are correct.
