In life, everyone has FEAR.
Everyone gets scared and if you’re someone that says you never do, well you’re lying and more importantly, you’re not living life!
In this post I want to discuss a scene taken from The Dark Knight Rises that really got my attention.
Even with all the action and drama that was within the film, this specific part was my favorite overall.
The part was about FEAR and how the human mind is able to harness the POWER of FEAR to achieve great things in life.
****SPOILER ALERT****
If you haven’t yet gone to see The Dark Knight Rises, you may not want to read any further as I do share a bit about the movie and it may spoil your experience. Just so you know… If you don’t care, read on 😉
So the part that I want to talk about from The Dark Knight Rises is when Bruce Wayne is locked in prison.
In short, this prison that he’s locked in doesn’t have cells that are locked as the prisoners are able to roam around the prison freely because the only way to escape is through the inside of a tall smoke stack like tunnel that leads straight up thru the top.
To escape out the very top, one must first climb up the the sides of the smoke stack to a ledge and once on this ledge, the prisoner must then make a “leap of faith” to the other ledge in order to successfully climb the rest of the way out.
There had been many prisoners in the past who tried to make the climb and the jump, but ultimately failed. It was said that only 1 prisoner was ever to escape in the history of the prison.
Now, while in this prison, Bruce Wayne is badly injured and as he starts to recover, he starts to build back up his strength in order to make the climb and the “the jump” out of the prison.
It gets to a point where Wayne finally builds back up enough of his strength to where he’s ready to make the climb out, so they tie him up to a “safety” rope and he makes the climb.
The suspense builds as you think he’s going to make the jump, but then when he tries, he comes up way short and falls but, since he had the “safety” rope on, Bruce doesn’t fall to his death so he lives to try another day.
While this whole process happens again and again, in Wayne’s mind he thinks the answer to getting out of the prison is to get himself stronger and more powerful in hopes so that he can make the jump over to the other ledge.
He feels that he isn’t yet rested up enough to make the jump, so he continues to train to get his body in well enough condition again so he can make the jump.
To make a long story short, in the end Bruce Wayne finally figures out the secret to him making the “leap of faith” successfully.
In order to do so, the secret is that he must get rid of the safety rope that he ties around his waist when he attempts the jump because it’s this rope that symbolizes “safety” and when you always have some sort of “safety net”, you’ll never really take a true “leap of faith” or in other words, you’ll never truly put in all you have in order to succeed.
So, every time Bruce tried to make the leap of faith with the safety net on, he would fail because he KNEW he could and if he did, he would always have the safety rope tied around his waist just in case. Basically, if he failed it was no big deal…
Now, when he finally removed the rope, he knew that there were no more second chances and that if he failed to make the jump this time, he would die. Ultimately, instead of being afraid of falling to his doom, he got rid of the safety rope and EMBRACED FEAR which then added FEAR into his soul and it’s this FEAR that ultimately helped him successfully complete the leap of faith and escape the prison.
Bottom Line – He took a chance and succeeded!
Now, what does this have to do with YOU and your SUCCESS?
Everything.
In life, most people never take chances and in other words, most people are walking around life with a “safety rope” tied around their waist.
It’s this thought of safety and comfort that keeps up from taking real chances in life and jumping on the many different opportunities that present themselves to us each and every day.
In short, too many people live in FEAR.
They live in fear thinking about failure where instead, people should embrace this fear and use it as fuel to push them ahead in life.
If all you do in life is worry about how you might fail or how you might not successfully achieve something that you go out into the world to do, that’s exactly what will happen.
You need to learn how to live in fear by taking chances and you can’t be afraid to fail as failure is apart of life.
One of the things that the human mind will continuously do is keep us in our own personal “comfort zones”. It’s these comfort zones that keep us from achieving our ultimate levels of success.
For example, here’s a quick story about how I had to overcome fear when I first started to train.
When I first started out as a personal trainer at a big box gym, I didn’t ever think that I was going to be able to make it as I was a very shy person at the time. I had a hard time talking to people that I didn’t know. I kept thinking to myself about how I was ever going to be able to talk to all of these different people out there or how I was ever going to be able to train people in front of 100’s of other members that would be watching and judging me?
These types of thoughts kept me up at night and when I first started out training, these same thoughts almost drove me to give up training for good.
But, I learned how to embrace this fear by taking it head on and instead of agreeing with my fear, I embraced it. I looked it right in the eye and said I could do it! Overtime, I got over being shy and things worked out great.
If I hadn’t taken that “leap of faith”, I surely wouldn’t be here today typing out this blog right now…
The same goes for when I was ready to go out on my own to start my gym, The Forged Athlete. Thoughts of failure were common and at the time, my “safety net” was the big corporate gym I was working at.
The reason this gym was such a safety net was because they continuously supplied me with new clients, equipment, and a steady paycheck, but the major problem I had was that I was extremely unhappy and I wasn’t living out my true PASSION.
While it was nice, it wasn’t what I ultimately wanted, but working at this gym at the time ensured my survival and means of living. In other words, it was “comfortable”.
It wasn’t until I got rid of that safety rope that I finally was able go out on my own and make it happen!
You see, I was fired by the large corporate gym I worked at because I was running boot camps outside of the gym which was considered a big no-no. When they caught wind of it, they canned me which was in actual reality, the BEST thing to ever happen to me. What was funny about this was that on that same day, I had been planning to go in to talk to my boss about putting in my “two-weeks notice”, but they beat had me to the punch.
Overall, it was a blessing in disguise, but when this happened it was now either DO or DIE! There was no more “safety rope”…
Since I didn’t have the corporate gym anymore to rely on to continuously supply me with more clients, equipment, and a steady paycheck, I knew that I had to go out and get my own clients and equipment in order to make money and survive. That right here pushed me way outside of my comfort zone, but at the same time it also made me the success I am today!
Instead of running from the fear I had of failing, I stood up to it and used it as fuel to become a success. I know that there wasn’t going to be a “safety rope” tied around my waist to catch me if I fell so, I knew I had to make it happen.
Today, I always to do things that make me uncomfortable whether that be within my business life or fitness life, I’m always pushing the envelope. In the end, doing things that constantly challenge you and force you to get out of your comfort zone will keep getting you better.
If you let FEAR control you, that’s exactly what will happen. You’ll stay the same and you’ll never get any better. Instead, cut the “safety rope” and live life a little bit!
The first thing you must do is make that “leap of faith”. You must learn how to embrace the FEAR that you have and use it as fuel to succeed in life! Don’t let it control your life!
Bottom Line – The difference between people that get what they want out of life and the people that don’t, is that the people who do get what they want TAKE THE CHANCES they need to take.
In short, if you really want to accelerate you progress in life, cut the “safety ropes” you have and live a little bit! This will only force you to get better plus bring in more success.
To end things out, here’s a GREAT quote I found:
“Successful People don’t fear failure, but understand it is necessary to continue to learn and grow from.” Robert Kiyosaki
Go ahead and drop your thoughts and comments below! I would really like to hear what you think.
Using FEAR as a Driver for Ultimate Success is one of the many things I’ll be going over at my Live and Train Aggressive Weekend.
Spots are running out and the deadline to save $100 + get a spot for the VIP Dinner is this Friday, July 27th!
The Live and Train Aggressive Weekend will have a huge impact on the success you have in both lifting and life!
Don’t miss your chance!
Cut that safety rope and live a little bit! 😉
Live Aggressive and Get Strong!