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I am human. It is always best not to deny to yourself that you might occasionally suffer from a little bit of stinkin' thinkin' - so give it its moment, then boot it out! So don't beat yourself up about having a bad day - I have had loads of them and will have many more in the future. Take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back for being human after all, then get out there and get moving again. Oh, and I have a good trick for doing stuff, ..
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Bear Grylls |
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32e30a3
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Only the poor in spirit are really poor. He who has lost all, but retains his courage, cheerfulness, hope, virtue, and self-respect, is still rich.
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Bear Grylls |
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7c44241
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Expeditions into jungles or across deserts or raging oceans are never easy. However much we might romanticize the lives of explorers, when you are in the middle of an inflatable boat with 50-foot waves all around, you haven't slept for three days, or you have been struggling with an injury in silence for a week, it is the little things that count. Let me give you a couple of examples: once you get above 25,000 feet (7,500 metres) on a mount..
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Bear Grylls |
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Another time, while on patrol with a small four-man team from my SAS squadron, out in the deserts of North Africa, we were waiting for a delayed helicopter pick-up. A 48-hour delay when you are almost out of water, in the roasting desert, can be life-threatening. We were all severely dehydrated and getting weaker fast. Every hour we would sip another small capful from the one remaining water bottle we each carried. Rationed carefully, metho..
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Bear Grylls |
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7d69fad
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Let me give you one of my favorite examples of the difference between trying and endeavoring. When a new motorway was built, taking passing traffic away from Colonel Sanders' restaurant, his business crumbled. About to retire with just a paltry military pension, he was facing a bleak future. But the one thing he knew he had that was of value was a mighty fine chicken recipe. He didn't have the money to open a new restaurant, but he figured ..
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Bear Grylls |
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If you've got a friend who's always putting you down, or always telling you that your ideas are naff, or who takes the mick out of your taste in clothes, music or books, then I bet you go home after seeing that friend feeling less good about yourself. We've all had friends who turn up, open their mouths and spew out a torrent of negative junk about their lives. Now, if someone came round to your home and emptied an actual bag of trash all o..
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Bear Grylls |
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The less you see of your toxic friends and the more you see of your enthusiastic friends, the better you will feel about yourself, and the better you will become. So spend your days in the company of people who build you up and who see your mountain as achievable. It is why I pick team members on big expeditions so carefully. I don't pick people just for their skills - the world is full of skilful people. I pick those who have that rare co..
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Bear Grylls |
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ec41f0a
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Can you imagine how I felt after Chris had let me drink his last drops of water? Gratitude doesn't come close. One of the regiment's toughest, most hardened of soldiers was showing that he was looking out for me way beyond the call of duty. And once I had been shown how much he cared, I knew that, in return, I would never let him, or the regiment, down. That simple act of kindness, of caring, is always at the heart of great brotherhoods. Ca..
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Bear Grylls |
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0d9191a
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Trying often comes before failure. Endeavour more often leads to success. But they are just words, I hear you say. Why does it matter whether we say 'try' or 'endeavour'? It matters, believe me.
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Bear Grylls |
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c8895f2
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If people ask me today what I love about climbing mountains, the real answer isn't adrenaline or personal achievement. Mountains are all about experiencing a shared bond that is hard to find in normal life.
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Bear Grylls |
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2255c12
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Their main criticism of the kind of books and talks that motivate and inspire people is that the impact is often fleeting - that the effects of the book or talk don't last. My response is to say: of course it is fleeting, of course it is temporary. But so are the effects of washing your armpits - that's why you should wash them every day! Likewise with motivation - we have to have it every day. We have to fill ourselves up to overflowing wi..
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Bear Grylls |
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But what the heck does that mean?! You see, I think 'trying' isn't the only word you should jettison from your dictionary. Let's take the word 'problem' - that one instantly seems to me like a hassle and a pain. I replace it with 'challenge'. All of a sudden, something that seemed oppressive and negative becomes an obstacle course to be negotiated. Changing the words you use will help you change your attitude to the situation you're in and ..
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Bear Grylls |
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b93f2ac
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Changing the words you use will help you change your attitude to the situation you're in and the life you live. Do you hear that?
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Bear Grylls |
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Let me explain... Mountains - and all the natural struggles and obstacles they present - are also arenas to find out what we are made of. It just takes us to be willing to dig deep and push on hard enough and long enough to find that strength. But most people give up before they find it. This is why most people never reach the summit of their goals. They quit when the winds pick up. They let their heads dip when it gets hard. (There is a..
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Bear Grylls |
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b17f9c2
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This is why it's important that you find the rewards you seek from the work itself. I would be climbing mountains and throwing myself off cliffs even if I wasn't being paid to do it - because I can bet you that Mozart would have made music even if no one had listened. (In fact, he did, and for a large part of his life no one cared.) So often it takes actors or climbers or musicians decades to find 'success', but they eventually triumph be..
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Bear Grylls |
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5710677
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I have made the mistake all too often in the past of taking experts' advice as gold, as the only 'right' option. It has often been against my instinct, and it has all too frequently landed me in trouble. So-called experts might know their field, but they don't always know the whole picture of what's right. Especially for you. I know some very wealthy people who don't even live where they want to because their accountant told them they could..
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Bear Grylls |
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Listening carefully to this voice is how we distinguish ourselves from the rest of the crowd who so often barge through life, too busy or too proud even to acknowledge their intuition's existence.
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Bear Grylls |
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301f498
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Their main criticism of the kind of books and talks that motivate and inspire people is that the impact is often fleeting - that the effects of the book or talk don't last. My response is to say: of course it is fleeting, of course it is temporary. But so are the effects of washing your armpits - that's why you should wash them every day!
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Bear Grylls |
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I remember once in the Arctic, when we were attempting to cross the frozen North Atlantic in a small, open rigid inflatable boat (RIB), that I heard that voice very clearly. We had been caught out in a monster, sub-zero, gale-force 8 storm, 400 miles off the coast of Greenland - and we were struggling. We were reduced to a crawl as we battled up and down huge, freezing waves and crashing white water. It felt like only a matter of time befor..
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Bear Grylls |
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It isn't clouded by ego or others' opinions - those fickle things live in the conscious mind. Your instinct has a clearer purpose: to help you. Listen to it. Learn to recognize it. Acknowledge it when it speaks and have faith in it. Instinct is the nose of the mind. So trust it.
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You see, life is unpredictable, and as sure as eggs is eggs, it won't always swing your way. But when those storms come I have a clear and simple mantra: In other words: Nature has a way of rewarding that sort of attitude. Sometimes life tests us a little. Things we had banked on coming in just don't work out. People let you down, one disaster follows another. You know the phrase: it never rains but it pours. When those times come we have ..
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Bear Grylls |
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You see, we are all a bit like grapes: when you squeeze us, you see what we are made of. And I believe that most people are far stronger than they ever imagine. It is refined within us from thousands of years of having to survive as a species. It might be dusty and hidden away, but it is there somewhere inside you: So don't shy away from hard times, they are your chance to shine.
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Bear Grylls |
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Write this on your bathroom mirror:
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Bear Grylls |
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It's very tempting, when we experience a little bit of success, to think that our good fortune is down to our skill, our brilliance or our good nature. That might be a part of it, of course, but the truth is that every successful person has had great help and support from others. And the really successful person also has the humility to acknowledge that. When you clam too much credit for yourself, or you shout too loudly of your success, yo..
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Bear Grylls |
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ab8742a
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Take a look at one of the greatest inventors to have ever lived, Sir Isaac Newton. In a letter to his great rival Robert Hooke, he wrote that his work on the theory of gravity had only been possible because of the scholarship of those who had gone before him. 'If I have seen a little further,' he wrote, 'it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.' I instantly admire him even more for saying that. You see, all great men and women stand on..
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Bear Grylls |
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bbcf8c1
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Conversely, note how those who laugh at are the people we instinctively pull away from. People who laugh at others are really showing that they think they're better than the people they're making fun of. And if they laugh at them, then we naturally think that maybe next time they will be laughing at us - behind our backs. And no one likes that. The ability to laugh at yourself also shows to others that you adhere to one of the great teach..
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Bear Grylls |
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712ba91
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Psalm 121 says: Good person to have on side, I always figure. Now, some of you will say, hey, I don't need this Christian stuff. And I hear you. But it is easy to be cynical when all is going your way. Remember that. Robin Knox-Johnston, the round-the-world sailor, said: What that says to me is unless you know what it is like to be truly afraid and have no one around to help you, then don't preach to me your atheism. And, wow, it takes a..
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Bear Grylls |
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2dd1314
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Instead, finding a faith should help you to be freer, more full of life, more filled with joy, peace and love than you would ever imagine. And those qualities, in abundance, will only make you stronger and more capable of living a wild and adventurous life. And what is even cooler is that Jesus turns out to be so much more than just a guide or a pointer of the way. He is also a backbone, a companion and a friend. When I look at my own heroe..
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karen-russell
occurrence-00-422
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Bear Grylls |
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You just have to hang on in there through those dark hours - don't give up, let the mountain sustain you and empower you, and you will experience the mountain within you.
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Bear Grylls |
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Dwelling on mistakes, endlessly replaying scenes in your head, only makes them grow. So the next time you find yourself lying in bed at night, cursing your stupidity or foolishness, it's worth reminding yourself that, in all probability, the mistake isn't that big a deal to anyone else. Too often we can be our own hardest critic and worst enemy. Let it go and don't waste more energy on regrets than you need to. There's a very good reason wh..
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Bear Grylls |
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In fact, the will to win means nothing if you don't also have the will to train. The day of the race is the easy bit: all eyes are on you and the adrenalin is running high. the unglamorous times when it is raining at 5:30 a.m. and you don't want to get out of your warm bed to go for a run. I love the story of Daley Thompson, the decathlete who won gold at two Olympics. He used to say his favourite day of the year to train was Christmas Da..
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Bear Grylls |
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6a4c571
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I'm going to trust that if you are smart enough to build a successful life then you should be smart enough to understand that giving money is as much about the spirit as it is about the actual amounts. (And remember: one thing is for certain, giving money doesn't get us to Heaven. Heaven is a gift that was bought for us at a price greater than any of us can afford. But giving money away is a definite by-product of having received that gift!..
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Bear Grylls |
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Give to friends who do amazing jobs but who earn very little, give to charities that move you, give to those the world overlooks, give as your heart tells you - and learn to listen to it. And by all means live a great life yourself along the way - why not? You have worked hard for it, paid your taxes and you deserve it. The main thing to remember, though, is to keep giving lots of money away as well. If you do, then, in return, it will do m..
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Bear Grylls |
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Adventure is unpredictable, and you had better learn to be flexible and to swing with the punches, or you will get beaten - it's as simple as that. If the adventure is an exciting one, you can bet your bottom dollar you will get hit by the occasional punch in the face. Knowing that things will and do go wrong in the heat of battle is actually half the battle. It means that when it happens you are ready for it - you can react fast, stay nim..
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Bear Grylls |
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He needed to do ten days' worth of work in one. Early the next morning, before the sun came up, Mark was awake and downstairs, getting ready for his monster mission to get through his to-do list. He made a quick cup of tea, did a couple of stretches, then hit his desk with huge energy and total focus. He had to get through this and get to Fiji, and he had to do it That morning he worked like he had never worked before: he didn't dodge the ..
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just keep going. JKG. Winston Churchill said it in one of the darkest moments of World War Two, when the outlook was as bleak as it had ever been. On 10 May 1940, the British looked to be finished. They stood alone against the vicious and victorious Nazis. Two weeks after Churchill came to power, France was knocked out of the war, and 340,000 British troops had to scramble to escape over the beaches at Dunkirk. The Germans had absolute cont..
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Bear Grylls |
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So accept that fact. But don't despair, because the good news is that help is nearer at hand than you might imagine. You see, if I am going to enter a difficult jungle or uncharted mountain range, I always make sure I have a good guide. Life is the same. Go it alone, by all means, but you make the journey that much harder. Trust me. To give yourself the best shot of reaching your destination and achieving all you are meant to in your life, ..
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And who better to have as a guide than the person who made the path or the mountain in the first place!
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Bear Grylls |
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When we give up, we know our destiny. When we keep going, we earn the right to choose our fate.
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Bear Grylls |
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One of the books that has had the most influence on me is a little manual called by Scott Alexander. I know, it's a weird title, but give it a read. I read it first when I was 12 years old and I still read it once a year to this day. It teaches you in life to be like a rhino - to have a single purpose, to charge at obstacles and goals with total commitment and to develop a thick skin to deal with the slings and arrows that try to slow you..
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Bear Grylls |
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151c8db
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There are always crunch times on a mountain when you have to weigh up the odds for success against the risks of cold, bad weather or avalanche. But in essence the choice is simple - If you risk nothing, you gain nothing. The great climbers know that great summits don't come easy - they require huge, concerted, continuous effort. But mountains reward real effort. So does life and business. Everything that is worthwhile requires risk and eff..
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Bear Grylls |
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d4f9cf7
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Say "why not?" rather than "why?"
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Bear Grylls |
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The greater the effort, the better the reward. So learn to embrace hard work and great effort and risk. Without them, there can be no meaningful achievement.
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Bear Grylls |