Top Colleges is proud to present our guest article written by Devon Harris. Devon Harris is an original member of the Jamaica Bobsled team which competed in Calgary and was popularized by the Disney movie Cool Runnings. He has also competed in the Albertville '92 and Nagano '98 Games. Before joining the bobsled team, Devon was a successfull track athlete as well as an officer in the Jamaica Defence Force. Devon currently lives in New York and works as a writer and motivational speaker. For comments or information on booking Devon for your event, please email Devon or visit premiere speakers.

In one of the scenes from the Cool Runnings, the German driver was bullying Junior. Needless to say Yul Brenner, Junior’s teammate, was not only upset with the obnoxious German but was also livid with the docile way in which Junior was accepting the abuse. Yul dragged Junior into the rest room, planted him in front of the mirror and asked,  “When you look in the mirror what do you see?” Junior, unsure of the answer that fuming teammate was after and even more unsure of what he was truly seeing, sheepishly responded “Junior Bevel?” To which Yul responded, “I see pride, I see power, I see a bad ass mother, who takes no crap off of nobody!”  Initially, Junior couldn’t believe that his teammate saw all of that, but after some prodding, looked deeper into the mirror and affirmed that he was indeed that person. Junior became convinced that he was filled with pride and power and that he was the kind of person who doesn’t take crap from anyone. It was a very comical scene but it was belied by a very profound truth----we always act consistently with the image we see in the mirror.

Your most important opinion

It doesn’t matter what others see in you. It is what you see yourself and the person you see yourself to be that matters most of all. Throughout your life you will have many opinions, however the most important opinion you will ever have is the one you have of yourself. Your self-image is the person you see your self to be with the abilities and attributes you believe you have and as such is the most dominant factor that affects everything you do. How you perform in any area of your life is only partly a function of your potential and largely a function of how you see yourself to be.

Each of us has a self-image of ourselves as a parent, a spouse, an employee, etc. and we can never perform at a level higher than where we see ourselves. I am sure you can think of at least one person you knew whom you thought could have done so well in a certain area and you tried to convince them of it with no avail. Maybe you yourself were being encouraged to apply yourself so that you could succeed in getting better grades or to use your talents to start your own business but you never did. There have been a few instances in my life where I’ve been in that same situation. The truth is that if you don’t see yourself doing it; if that’s not the image you see when you look in the mirror, it simply will not happen. As one author aptly puts it “What you see in yourself is what you get out of yourself. What you present yourself to be, in the end is what is drawn out of you.”

Thoughts are things

Many people try to hide from the image they see in the mirror, dodging behind addictions, overeating, overworking and other smoke screens with the belief that these things will allow them to be seen in a better light. Recent polls indicate that four out of every five Americans have a poor self-image. The continued denial and hiding from the image they see in the mirror has resulted in a plethora of maladies like academic under achievement, low productivity and depression just to name a few. What you must realize is that no amount of hiding or denial will change the image you see in the mirror because every minute of the day you are recreating and reaffirming those same images through your thoughts. The key is not to deny what you see in the mirror, but to change your reality through the way you think. Thoughts are things and without exception, you will always move towards your dominant thoughts.

Reprogramming your mind

I cannot possibly overstate the importance the establishment of your own self-image. Most people are operating with a self-image that was created by others. It may have been a parent who wanted them to pursue a particular career path because in their mind that spelled success. It may have been the TV commercials that consistently suggested that in order to be at their best they needed to own the next best thing on the market or maybe it was their dear friend who consistently criticized them because they were trying to cover up their own insecurities. Whatever the source, the majority of people live with a self-image imposed on them by someone else. 80% of the time it is a negative self-image! Please note however that although it was imposed, it was you who decided (albeit subconsciously) to embrace it and as we discussed earlier it is impossible to do anything that conflicts with the image of who you really are. Your thoughts, feelings and actions are all consistent with the images you see in the mirror. The answer to this dilemma is to reprogram your mind. Flood your mind with new thoughts that support your goals. Remember, your thoughts, feelings and actions all combine to create your results.

Fear of failure.
This is the most common obstacle to goal setting. Most people don’t set goals because they fear what others will think of them if they don’t hit the goals. They figure that if they don’t try, they can’t fail which is true but you can’t succeed either. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not success nor defeat.”  In other words it is ALWAYS better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. Don’t live your life saying “I could a, would a, should a.”

Lack of personal responsibility. 
It is much easier for us to blame some one or something else for our lack of success. It’s our parents, our neighborhood, our boss, the spouse or kids.... the list goes on endlessly. Remember that as human beings we were blessed with a mind that gives us the ability to recall events from the past, analyze them in the present and project them in the future. We are not like the birds that are wired by instinct to fly south in the winter. They would never think of going west one year or staying put and prepare for the cold months. They have no choice in the matter. But we were given free will and the ability to choose. In short our success is our personal responsibility!  To paraphrase Tommy Newbury. ...The prizes of life do not go to those who have been treated fairly, but to those who have maturely accepted responsibility.