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#5 Bill Russell & Barfing

“Bill Russell is one of the great names in basketball, an all-American… the only athlete to ever win an NCAA Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal, and a professional championship all in the same year—1956…But Bill Russell had this one problem: He threw up before every game.”

 ~ John Eliot, Ph.D.
From “Overachievement”

Someone help me out here, please.

Why do we have this insane notion that our heroes are fearless? That they don’t feel the same amount of fear that we do? That they somehow become immune to the stuff that would freak out us mere mortals?!?

Hogwash!

Or something.

Seriously. All the greats feel the same fear we do. They just know how to smile with it and rock on in spite of any fear they may have; whereas too many of us tend to never even try to step thru it.

In the words of Dr. John Eliot, in his (brilliant!) book, “Overachievement”:

“Butterflies, cotton mouth, and a pounding heart make the finest performers smile—the smile of a person with an ace up their sleeves…They definitely would agree with Tiger Woods, who has often said, “The day I’m not nervous stepping onto the first tee—that’s the day I quit.”