The super-hero within

In the last post I invited you to create some space to reconnect with your magical thinking. Did you do it? If so, did you dream as if anything was possible? What did you believe in? What became possible? Just take a moment to look at the image in this article.

The t-shirt belongs to my 4 year old daughter and what it illustrates so perfectly, is that children dream big and they believe in all that they can dream. So how far did you go with your zero limits? What did you create for yourself and your life? Walt Disney once said, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it!’ But what does he know?! Well, he knew what all children know when they get access to the second mindset -They get MIGHTY!

By Mighty I mean ‘super-hero’ Mighty. It’s no coincidence that children around the age of 5-8 years really get into super-heroes of all sorts and start wearing the clothes/costumes to match.  Super-heroes though come in many guises and don’t necessarily all wear capes or masks. As we all know in these extraordinary times, there are many super-heroes selflessly dealing with the corona virus pandemic for example. They won’t stop until it’s defeated.

And just like those super-heroes, you also can be unstoppable. When you were 7 years old, one day you may have wanted to be a Doctor or a Nurse, the next a fire-fighter or a pilot. Some of you with creative flair might have wanted to be a ballet dancer, pop singer or movie star.

You didn’t know or care how you were going to achieve it, you simply had the belief that if that’s what you wanted, there was no reason why you couldn’t. Why is that? Because you held the 3 beliefs that underpin the Mighty mindset:

• I can
• I’m invincible
• I’m unstoppable

You really were, in every aspect of your life. If you were riding your bike and you fell off it, you just got back on. If you didn’t have what you needed you simply made it out of a cardboard box, or a stick. If you wanted something you persisted until you got it!! If you didn’t, you created it in your imagination.

Inside you right now that super-hero, 7 year old still exists. You know, that invincible, unstoppable one! Now, when I talk about the super-hero, I’m talking about the super-hero within. If you consider almost every comic book super-hero that (n)ever existed, they are essentially ordinary people who become extraordinary when they put their costume on. Whether it’s Captain Marvel or Spiderman, the Black Widow or the Black Panther, they all get Mighty when they are transformed by their costume. Most of us don’t have access to a skin-tight, lycra, super suit, but what we do have access to is our Mighty mindset.

So what did you want to be when you were 7 years old? What was the thing you were going to do or be that no one could stop you from achieving?

Here’s the thing, what you wanted to be when you were 7 might not be so relevant now. The important point here is how you felt at the time, not whether or not you achieved it. So. do you remember how it felt to believe in something so absolutely and profoundly that it informed your every action? Right now for my 4 year old it’s everything Frozen (everything) dresses, dolls, movies, bikes, shoes, singing the songs, everything! She literally wakes up and says, ‘can I put my Elsa dress on’, and as she’s going to sleep she calls out for her Elsa doll. If you have kids, do you experience them in their mighty mindset and wish you could access some of that invincible quality yourself? What one thing would you pursue or make happen if you were able to access your Mighty mindset again and believe that you were invincible and unstoppable? 

I’ve wanted to take up the sport of snowboarding for over 10 years. At the age of 40 I finally got my first opportunity. I got Mighty. I had a few lessons at the local snow centre and I was certified as ‘mountain ready’. When I got to the mountain top itself however, I realised that I wasn’t mountain ready at all! One of our fellow experienced snowboarders said, ‘what you need to do is go down here as fast as you can in a straight line.’ My first thought was, ‘I didn’t have that lesson. I had the controlled turns and slow and steady lessons’. The next thing I remember I was lying on the snow face down having crashed spectacularly and landed on my ribs, which really hurt. Winded, bruised, and embarrassed my options I decided were as follows.

1. Get off my board and quit – after all it’s too dangerous and I’ll never get good at it anyway.
2. Go slowly for the rest of my holiday just in case I fall again.
3. Pretend it never happened but inside know that this was the end of my snowboarding career.

But let’s go back to that time when you were a kid and you fell off your bike. You didn’t quit did you? You didn’t decide riding a bike wasn’t for you. You got back on and went again, and how many times did you do that until you mastered it?

The point is, to achieve your version of extraordinary will require practice, will involve falling and failing. There will be set-backs and even the occasional bruised ego (or rib). With each of these though, you will get better, stronger, more skilled and you will be more able to master your super-power. I’m now four years into my snowboarding career, older than ever, but getting better with each and every trip, even jumping on my last one.

So, what will enable your extraordinary to become possible? Putting on a lycra super-suit or accessing your Mighty mindset? If you can do both great, but if you can only choose one, choose Mighty.

The question is, are you ready to be that 7 year old super-hero again?

Darren Smallridge, Power-Up Partner

Read about the other Power-Up mindsets here