What they didn’t teach you in school. The 90/10 rule.

Boys and boxing movies.

Growing up, every boy is a fan of boxing movies. This weekend I watched Real Steel with my boys. It was Rocky with robots, and they loved it.

As a kid, I was a huge fan of the Rocky series

Character (Rocky) overcomes major obstacle(s) (Apollo Creed, Mr T, Russian, economics, comfort) to get what he wants (boxing title, love, family).

Life hits hard.

The Rocky movies are about dealing with and overcoming difficulties life brings. As Rocky says, “Life hits hard.”

A friend of mine from high school recently found out he has a very advanced from of cancer near his lungs. He has a wife and a young family. He’s an architect and a gifted artist. Life is hitting him hard.

Someone posted on his Facebook page a link to this clip from the most recent Rocky movie – Rocky Balboa.

I watched the above clip and these 5 lines/parts stuck out to me about overcoming “life”.

1. You need to hear it again.

The beginning of the clip shows Rocky’s son, giving a subtle eye roll when Rocky begins to tell the story of his birth. You’ve heard this message before, but you probably need to hear it again.

2. …like a big shadow.

When things got hard, you started to look for something to blame…like a big shadow.

Sometimes there is nothing to blame when life is hard. It’s just life, and we have to deal with it.

Other times we need to take a hard look in the mirror. We need to stop blaming everything besides ourself.

3. Beat you to your knees.

Life will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.

It doesn’t really matter if there is someone to blame (yourself included) or not. Focusing on who is to blame will keep you on your knees. Blame allows life to continue to keep you down.

4. Keep movin’ forward.

It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep movin’ forward.

Forward momentum is sometimes the most difficult thing to do when you face obstacles in your life or business. Simply standing up, and continuing to be in the game is all the forward moving you can handle. It’s enough.

5. Believe.

Until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t going to have a life.

There is something within you – something of esteemed value, something others want. Until you believe in what that is (or find what it is), you won’t have the life you want.

You have to continue to believe in what it is despite what life throws at you.

The 90/10 rule.

Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, sums up everything I just wrote with these 14 words:

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.

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