There’s something in us all that makes us root for the underdog – even if only a little bit, and even if we don’t
show it to anyone else. We can all see ourselves as underdogs in some areas, without the best circumstances
and without any “advantages,” striving for something that’s important to us.
Most people who have heard the name would find it hard to believe that Ben Askren was himself an underdog at
one point in his career. Now a US Olympic wrestler, 2-time NCAA champion, and undefeated MMA champion in
the Bellator Fighting league, it seems like he must have had something going for him all along, right?
Actually, a lot of people told Ben he simply wouldn’t succeed in wrestling. Why? Because he made the choice to
go to the University of Missouri – a program that had never produced an NCAA champion, never mind an
Olympian.
However, despite a situation that didn’t involve the absolute best coaches, facilities, and training partners,
Askren did have a lot going for him… even if nobody else could see it at first. Here are 10 Success Strategies
from a then-underdog, now-top dog. All of these insights were drawn from an interview I had with Ben in
December of 2010:
1) Firm Commitment
Ben Askren had determined that he wanted to be a great wrestler – the best wrestler he could possibly be – and
he never let go of this ideal. All of the BEST at anything – whether it be sport, business, or bodybuilding – come
to be so because they have a firm and direct commitment to that single achievement. In Napoleon Hill’s “Think
and Grow Rich” this is defined as “Definiteness of Purpose.” In other words, the purpose is not questioned, it is
always present.
What is your Definite Purpose? What are you 100% committed to achieving?
It could be a more modest goal at first, and it might be a few years down the line rather than five or ten years
down the line. The idea is the same – without the same motivating goal point drawing you closer and closer, real
achievement is more of a myth than anything else.
2) 100% Belief
Commitment is one thing, but Belief is another. In fact, we could say that sustained commitment is essentially
impossible without 100% belief. Askren exemplified this success strategy by never allowing himself to unhinge
from his focus – completely knowing that if he kept improving and training, and improving the way he was
training, he’d make it. In the psychology world his quality is referred to as “self-efficacy,” essentially our belief in
our own capacities, in our own ability to act and be effective toward our goals.
Knowing about this kind of “confidence” is one thing, but as well all know, having it is something entirely
different. If you want to build this kind of confidence, it might be good idea to refer to legendary psychology
researcher and creator of the “self efficacy” concept, Alfred Bandura:
Bandura makes note on a myriad of potentially contributing factors in self efficacy, some which are our of our
control, and some which are within it. “Mastery experiences” are essentially instances where we are able to
achieve something meaningful. We aren’t just told we have done well, we don’t just think we’ve done well, he
have evidence in front of us that we’ve done well. This is the greatest developer of self efficacy, and we can
bring it under our own control.
For instance, the mere act of taking consistent action can give us real feedback that we ARE capable of
changing things and acting in the way that we want. This might involve running 2 miles in the mornings or
practicing your public speaking skills in your car on the way home from work. If you regiment real behavior
towards your goals in a consistent way, you’ve taken the first step not only towards results in the real world, but
belief and confidence in your ability to get those results for yourself.
3) Above and Beyond
If you aren’t doing more (in terms of quality and/or quantity) than other people around you, how can you expect
to do any better than they do? Counting on talent or fate is often called “resting on your laurels,” and has never
been the strategy of the champion. Ben has some amazing stories about what he did to make sure he was
better prepared than his peers to excel in high level wrestling.
In terms of “quantity,” think about how you could physically DO MORE than the other people pursuing your goal
(whether its closing a sale for insurance or running the best MMA gym in your town, whatever you’re pursuing).
Ben trained over the summer, traveled to different schools to compete against other high level wrestlers, and
focused hard on challenging a variety of opponents to expand his game with their techniques and strategies.
In terms of “quality,” thing about how you could physically DO BETTER than the other people pursuing your
goal. How could you use your time more wisely? How could you structure your training time, office time, or
working time to bring you closer to your goals without necessarily taking more time? Ben’s secret to success was
far from just working harder, he trained smarter. He used drilling time to experiment with new ways to perform a
technique, using different speeds and movements to hone technique to perfection instead of mindlessly running
repetitions – no matter what you need to do to reach your goal, there are higher quality steps to take you there
than you can see now.
4) Practice with Purpose
Never “go through the motions” of anything you’re serious about. Plan, think, analyze… consistently doing so
will mean more knowledge, faster learning, and better performance by far. Before my goal systems seminar at
Joe Lauzon’s gym, he made reference to mindless training sessions as “practicing to practice,” a kind of boring
series of movements that don’t really challenge anyone to develop skills. We want to opposite of this.
Practicing with purpose implies a kind of “dialing in” of your attention to what’s working and what’s not working,
of who’s doing something more or less effective and why, and ultimately of how you can improve. Can you
refine your systems as you go through them every day? Can you pick up on the trends you didn’t really look for
before in order to do more of what seems to produce results for you? This applies to the board room as much as
the wrestling room.
5) Learn from the Best
Ben Askren didn’t just aim to listen to the best wrestlers, but to watch them intensely and notice what they even
left out, what they couldn’t articulate – even about themselves and their own technique. “Instructional lessons
were cool up to a certain point, but when you’re at an advanced level you can get a lot more out of watching
matches” he told me.
Though you certainly should be reaching out and getting advice from those who are succeeding in the game you
want to succeed in, but are you watching what they do differently that gives then an edge? It could be how your
boss is able to manage email and phone calls while still getting so much done, or it could be how your
kickboxing instructor is able to repeatedly set up the inside leg kick with ease. Either way, have you noticed
some of these dozens of little success factors and integrated them? You aught to be…
The good news is that all of these strategies translate to all areas of life – from Bodybuilding to the office, from
Combat Sport to fitness. Getting results that exceed the norm involves doing things that the status quo doesn’t
do, and probably hasn’t even thought of. This is a reality in any domain in life.
However, now you have some proven tool from one of wrestling’s greatest success underdog stories, and if you
have find 2 ways to apply each of the ideas above, not only will you be more engaged and interested in what
you’re doing (learning, being genuinely interested, and making progress is an incredible energy boost) you’ll
already be on the high road in terms of results.
If you are looking for something to practice knowing these helpful insights I’d check out this FREE eBook I posted up on 7 MUST KNOW BJJ Sweeps. This eBook is one of my personal favorites that I’ve created for the BJJ community.
Good luck making big things happen,
-Daniel Faggella
The post 1 Through 5, the Greatest Success Strategies from US Olympian (and Undefeated MMA Champion) Ben Askren appeared first on Science Of Skill.