IF Only....

This week I have been thinking about what is 'Tough'? Is it being, strong? Winning? or trying to be strong and trying to win? I'm sure inside you know the answer yet all around us we see people looking or acting tough with no internal, real, content. Two of my heroes are Nelson Mandela and Ghandi: were they tough? absolutely! were they strong? No doubt about it! They had REAL strength based on 'feeling the fear and doing it anyway'


They did what was right for the right reasons and were prepared to to die for their beliefs. They weren't hyped as tough like UFC fighters, they didn't swagger and act macho full of shallow egotism, they were the real deal living their lives so others could live better ones. They sacrificed themselves and suffered for their beliefs and that's the kind of toughness I seek. Its no good looking tough on the outside if you have no iron core within you that's like combing your hair over a bald patch everyone can see through you.


How do you get toughness? You have to do the things that challenge and scare you, you have to face complete failure and keep going. You have to do what you believe is right in the face of everyone else saying its wrong and you have to do it for something that not just you benefits from. Rudyard Kipling put it better than I ever could so check out his famous poem below and then attack your challenges with true warrior spirit and remember the only failure is NEVER trying!


Best wishes and have a courageous day!


Tony Higo

IF you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;


If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:


If you can make one heap of all your winnings 
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;


If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son

For more information on how we build toughness click on the link http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=7