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I call them the dream-stealers. Beware: they are more dangerous to mankind than you might ever imagine. In life, we will never be short of people who want to knock our confidence or mock our ambitions. There are lots of reasons why people might want to rain on your parade: perhaps they're a little jealous that you want more out of life than they might hope for, or they're worried your success will make them feel inferior. It might be that t..
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Bear Grylls |
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fd99579
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When you stand at the bottom of a mountain, you can rarely see a clear route to the top. It is too far away and the path too twisty and hidden behind obstacles. There's a quote from Martin Luther King that I love: It is good advice. When you are setting out on a long and difficult journey towards your goal, you will not be able to foresee every obstacle or anticipate every lucky break. But what you will find is that with every step you gai..
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Bear Grylls |
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18f2b9c
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You see, if you quit, you lose. But so long as you stick it out, you're still in with a chance. As Harrison Ford once said: 'Them that stick it out are them that win.
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Bear Grylls |
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fd450ca
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Every time you try and do something new, or something difficult, or unusual, you are absolutely going to get doors closed in your face, friends mocking you and phones slammed down on you. Rejection and disappointment is going to come at you from all angles. One way or another, you need to find a way to cope with that failure. I do it by seeing failure as a stepping stone on the path to where I want to go. I remember hearing the story of a ..
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Bear Grylls |
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I will never forget the day I finally passed SAS selection. At the end of the long, grueling process of elimination, where 140 recruits had steadily been whittled down to only four of us, I finally found myself preparing to get 'badged.' Yet it was the most low-key event you could ever imagine. No fanfare, no bugler, no parade. Just the four of us that remained, standing in a small, nondescript outbuilding on the edge of the Hereford traini..
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Bear Grylls |
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e23a6a2
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The place to start this life journey is with finding your dream. Dreams are powerful. They are among those precious few intangibles that have inspired men and women to get up, go to hell and back, and change the world. And I'm not talking about the sort of fantasy dreams that can't physically happen - I am talking about the sort of dream that will inspire you, one that you are really prepared to sweat for, in order to make it become your re..
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Bear Grylls |
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4134ab7
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This quote from T.E. Lawrence means a lot to me: Our job is to be the dangerous type. The one who dreams by day and acts to make those dreams come alive and actually happen. So take some time to get this right. Go for a long walk. Think big. Think about what really makes you smile. Ask yourself what you would do if you didn't need the money. Ask yourself what really excites you. Ask what would inspire you to keep going long after most peop..
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Bear Grylls |
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801a62b
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So many people I have met over the years walk around carrying a heap of emotional hang-ups that weigh them down. Maybe it's the burden of parental expectations that makes them pick a job based on what they felt they 'should' do rather than would 'love' to do. Or maybe it is a deep-rooted fear about the future, or an anxiety about what people might think of them if they choose a more unusual or less 'celebrated' or money-generating professio..
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Bear Grylls |
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b908359
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A good packer is a tough packer. So be shrewd and be robust: if it isn't going to help you, leave it behind, throw it out. Stay light. We change our beliefs and attitudes inch by inch in the small, everyday things. When you find yourself thinking about someone or something in the same old negative way, just stop yourself. Job done. Smile. Move on. Do this enough times and you will change. For the better; for the stronger. The Scouts' motto ..
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Bear Grylls |
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93616fc
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Success almost always follows great attitude. The two attract each other.
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Bear Grylls |
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a740081
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It's not rocket science: the rewards go to the dogged.
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Bear Grylls |
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Fail your way to success.
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Bear Grylls |
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Luckily those simple values meant much more to him than my school reports - which weren't always glowing!
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Bear Grylls |
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3827cab
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But just as I was about to burst into tears, my dad would then start to applaud me. Applaud the fall? But why? Dad wanted me to understand that I could only become a horseman if I had fallen off a horse a few times - that we only become good at something when we do it enough. Life is much the same. It's a vital lesson for almost any path we choose to take in life: whatever you want to do, the chances are that if it is worth doing it will be..
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Bear Grylls |
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73eb77b
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A few years ago, I led an expedition to return to Mount Everest, the mountain I had climbed aged 23, a mountain where I had risked everything and survived - just. I had always held a secret dream to return and attempt to fly over the mountain in a small one-man paramotor - like a paraglider, only with a backpack engine strapped to your body. At the time, the highest altitude that one had been flown was around 17,000 feet (5,180 metres). But..
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Bear Grylls |
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9d10cfa
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It is just the way of the world: to get to the successes, you have got to get out there and commit to fail a few times first. The key is not in the failures themselves, but in your ability to keep going. As Winston Churchill said: 'Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.' And it's been my experience that the real difference between successful and unsuccessful people is simply the dogged ability t..
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Bear Grylls |
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d4afb1b
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Well, obviously the PS1,000,000 one is 10,000 times faster than the PS100 one. Right? That's clearly ridiculous. Is it even ten times faster? No way. Twice as fast? Unlikely. At best, the difference is only ever going to be a few seconds. There is often just a nose between first and fourth place in a horse race. And it is the same in life. Champions and 'might-have-beens' aren't all that different: we all have one brain, one set of heaving ..
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Bear Grylls |
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3722aaa
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Legend has it that when he once gave a speech at Harrow School, he simply stood up and said, 'Never give in, never, never, never. Never give in.' He knew those simple words make such a difference. Whatever your walk in life, the ability to dig in and not quit when it gets tough will not only set you apart, it will set you up for a more exciting, more fulfilled and more prosperous life. That dogged resolve, that never-say-die attitude, takes..
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Bear Grylls |
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But why was Churchill telling them that those bleak, uncertain, life-threatening and freedom-challenging days were also the best days of their lives? He knew that it's when times are tough, when the conditions are at their worst, that we learn what we are truly capable of. There are few greater feelings than finding out you can achieve more, and endure more, than you had previously imagined, and it's only when we are tested that we realize ..
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Bear Grylls |
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0c26180
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There are few greater feelings than finding out you can achieve more, and endure more, than you had previously imagined, and it's only when we are tested that we realize just how brightly we can shine.
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Bear Grylls |
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9442d3f
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People are often quick to label others a 'failure'. There are many people who find it all too easy to point out loud and clear when others fall short of their dreams. But only little people belittle other people. Look at whom President Theodore Roosevelt so smartly gave the real credit to in life:
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Bear Grylls |
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0064825
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Cowards criticize mainly because it makes them feel better about their own lack of courage to try anything daring themselves. So the best (though often the hardest) thing to do is to ignore their criticism. Or, even better, use it as fuel to your fire. We all face criticism and we all have to live with our 'failures', and other people's opinions of those 'failures', but try not to take them personally. Consider them as signposts that you ar..
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Bear Grylls |
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7fea8b1
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As a kid, this was usually a pretty simple equation - she would only buy me a new toy if I selected an old one to give to the charity shop. (Quite annoying, I seem to remember!) But as I got older I realized that giving to get is actually one of the universe's hidden rules. You want someone to help you? Guess what: if you've helped them in the past, they are far more likely to come to your rescue. You want to get a bumper crop from your veg..
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Bear Grylls |
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2e64069
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To get, first you have to give. Even in extreme physical or survival situations, maybe you and your hiking buddy are so thirsty you can hardly walk straight. Go on - let them sip first. Give them the greater share. When you do this sort of thing, you will also somehow get stronger. It is as though the mental boost always outweighs the physical drain. It is how we are made. Often I've been so scared that I have lain awake all night, terrifi..
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Bear Grylls |
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And in order to get, we first have to give.
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Bear Grylls |
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I was lucky - unbelievably lucky - to have reached that elusive summit, which also allowed me to reply to that summit question with a 'yes'. My best buddy Mick found the question much harder, as a 'no' didn't tell even part of his incredible story. He might not have made it to the very top of Everest, but he was as near as damn it. For three months we had climbed alongside each other, day and night. Mick had been involved in some real heroi..
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Bear Grylls |
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092ae38
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Consider the billionaire who flies into the South Pole for an hour to 'experience' it, compared to the man who has toiled, sweated and struggled across hundreds and hundreds of miles of ice, dragging a humble sledge. You see, it is the journey that makes the man.
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Bear Grylls |