Guest Blogger - Guy Overby | Craigproductions, Home of the Emerald Cup and Washington Ironman

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Guest Blogger - Guy Overby

03.10.2010 05:31:11

"Everyone believes the world's greatest lie..." says the mysterious old man.

"What is the world's greatest lie?" the little boy asks.

The old man replies, "It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." (An excerpt from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. A fable about following your dreams.)" Sent to me by Guy Overby.

America, this blog, by Guy Overby, is in response to yesterday’s blog on destiny. He messaged me on Facebook. I asked him if I could share his views and opinions. He so graciously consented. I love when someone expands upon what I’ve written, whether positive or negative. We all are entitled to our opinions. I will be happy to post others as well as long as they are in good taste with no foul language. If you disagree with what I’m writing, you can always rebutt – just do so in an articulate and professional manner – that’s all I ask. Now on to Guy’s blog…and once again, thanks Guy!

"Dave, I felt compelled to comment on your recent blog regarding predetermined destinations. This is one subject I am extremely passionate about. I feel you hit the nail right on the head with your statements. It made me think of my all-time UN-favorite cliché “Everything happens for a reason”. To me this is the ultimate saying for those looking to escape personal accountability. Funny, you never hear anyone use this line after something good happens to them. It’s usually after they got fired from their job, had a failed relationship or didn’t get something they had hoped for. So much easier to believe it was due to some sort of divine intervention as opposed to a personal failure. Whenever I hear someone say this I say, “You are exactly right. Everything does happen for a reason and 99% of the time that REASON is the choices and decisions YOU make on a daily basis”.

It reminds me a lot of my dad. He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and loved to justify it by saying “When it’s my time to go it’s my time to go, ain’t nothing I can do about it”. Of course he died at 47 from lung cancer. Do you know how many people I heard after that say “Everything happens for a reason”? I said, “Yep, and the reason was he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day!” To anyone who truly subscribes to the philosophy of predetermined destination I would ask them, “Why do you do anything you do? If you truly believe the choices you make in life have zero influence on your future how can you be motivated to even get out of bed in the morning?” The worst part about this mindset is it enables people to go forward thinking their failures were/are completely out of their control and never take corrective measures because they have already absolved themselves of all accountability.

The above was waiting for me this morning when I woke up. I messaged him back about how good it was and how I’d like to blog it. He then sent me “Part II” – even better! This one was deep, America. Read it and re-read it – it’ll truly make you think!

Dave, thanks for the compliment; I have always been one of those people who seem to express themselves better when writing than talking. Feel free to use anything you want in your Blog.

On the same topic, I was fortunate enough to attend a 4-hour seminar by Robert Cialdini a couple years ago at the Northwest Leadership Seminar. He is a psychologist and has written several books including “The Power of Influence”. He gave a long lecture on personal accountability and demonstrated this with an equation of; Event + Reaction = Outcome. The best part of this was studies had shown that the “event” only controls 20% of the outcome while your “reaction” to it controls 80%. Your hip replacement was a fine example of this theory in practice. How many people would have reacted differently than you did and had an entirely different outcome? Think of how much easier it would have been to never compete or lift weights again due to your hip injury. Your reaction has completely overshadowed the event. I think it’s safe to say a lot of people would resort to a sedentary lifestyle and blame the event for what has happened to them. Once you become aware of this it’s amazing how often you see it play out it all aspects of your life as well as those around you.

Anyways I could go on and on with this kind of stuff. I find human behavior and psychology incredibly fascinating as you can probably tell. I can’t say for sure if Marga and I will be in Vancouver to cheer you on but we’ll be at the E Cup for sure. You will be happy to know I will be starting my contest diet at the beginning of April at 217 lbs (haven’t gone over 220 since the last show) as opposed to 240 lbs like last year. Your talk to me about skin elasticity and the benefits of staying lean really changed my mind set. I figure every pound of fat I am not putting on this off season is one less pound I have to burn off during my diet.

If you ever get a chance, read the book “The Alchemist”. The story is a great one but the 4 page introduction was very powerful and addresses this very issue of controlling ones destiny. Keep up the good work Dave. I believe this Blog has been a great opportunity for you to make people think and assess."

Great stuff, Guy – you can be a ‘guest blogger’ anytime you want. And you know I’m gonna order out the book. Sounds like something right up my alley. To expand slightly on the equation (because he pretty much said it all…), our ‘events’ are the upcoming contests. How is everyone reacting to them? Do not for one minute believe that just because you are ‘doing’ the show means that you’ll be ready for the show. That’s where your work ethic comes in. That’s the reaction. You must push, and push hard, because if you aren’t I promise you someone is. You know what would be the ultimate contest, America? In every class, both male and female, every single competitor had a first place look. 8, 10, 12 deep…all looking absolutely incredible! Everyone dialed in. Everyone looking good. And a good time was had by all…peace!