Welcome to “How You Living?” a transformative podcast featuring best-selling author, inspirational speaker and minister, Dr. Rick Rigsby—and, now, Dr. Rick.
Dr. Rigsby: Hello, friends. So glad that you could join us today. I'm so excited about this topic called dreams and I think it's because I’ve had some mega dreams over the last few months, and what I'm discovering is that when I'm dreaming, there are no limitations on my creativity. There are no handcuffs on my imagination. I don't need anybody's permission. I can just dream, and what I find is I wake up, I'm encouraged. I'm excited. I feel full of adventure and I'm ready to go. [01:03.3]
And then what happens? You start thinking about the realities of life and comparing those realities to the dreams that you've had, and the next thing you know, you continue on the treadmill of life, giving little attention to the dreams.
If I described you in any way whatsoever, if so, I want to share just with you for a few minutes something that perhaps might break that cycle by telling you that big dreams can produce small results, but small results can have a major impact over time. You don't have to accomplish the whole dream and just one day, but big dreams can produce some small results and over time can have a significant impact.
This theory is called the aggregation of marginal gain. The aggregation of marginal gain. I first was introduced to this theory in James Clear’s wonderful book titled Atomic Habits, tiny changes, remarkable results. [02:09.0]
This is the young man that suffered a massive brain injury during a baseball game and literally had to teach himself how to function all over again using tiny habits, and he's gone on to do landmark work in the area of habit formation. It was in his book, Atomic Habits, that I learned about the British cycling team, which up until 2003, wasn't very notable. But in 2003, they hired a man by the name of David Brailsford as their performance coach and his strategy was what he called the aggregation of marginal gain.
Basically you discovered tiny margins of improvement in every single aspect of what you do. Now, you're not going to see any grandiose change. You might dream it and the dream might be big, but it may take a long time before you see any kind of significant change. [03:11.5]
This one was Dave Brailsford’s theory. He would take the British cycling team and he would break down everything that goes into riding a bike for a global competition. He thought if he could improve each area by one percent, theit would produce significant improvement overall. I mean, they did everything. You might want to look this up online. Google Dave Brailsford, B-R-A-I-L-S-F-O-R-D.
They made the seats more comfortable for the bikers. The clothing was designed to maintain ideal muscle temperature. They hired doctors. Are you ready for this one? They hired doctors to teach the riders the best way to wash their hands to reduce infection and colds. They tried to discover the best pillows and the best mattresses on the market that could produce the best results in terms of sleep for their riders. [04:15.6]
They even painted the inside of the team truck white. And why would you do that? If you paint it white, you'll be able to detect dust inside. The accumulation of dust and a finely-tuned cycle don't go together. They looked at every single aspect of racing, and what's amazing to me are the results.
Brailsford was hired in 2003. Five years later, by 2008, the British cycling team had dominated the sport. In fact, from 2007 to 2017, British cyclers one 178 world championships, over 60 Olympic and Paralympic gold medals, had recorded five Tour de France victories and was regarded as the most successful cycling run, this 10-year period from ’07 to ’17, regarded as the most successful cycling run in history. [05:21.6]
You see, we underestimate the value of daily small improvements. I think that we believe in our outcome-oriented society that massive success must be instant success. We dream big, and if that dream doesn't come into fruition in a week, we move on to other things. There's this constant battle, friend, in my opinion, that goes on between process- and outcome-oriented living.
We live in an outcome-oriented society. We want instant gratification. We want instant amusement. We want instant entertainment. We want instant results. We want instant food. We want everything when we want it. “On demand” is a huge word in our society. We want it when we want it. [06:13.3]
Now I want to ask you a question. Do you think in any way that affects the way in which you think, that affects the way in which you process information? Do you think in any way that might even affect how you choose to implement a big dream?
I would challenge you for just a short time today, live in the moment. That's called process living. Live in the moment. You know what I find interesting, friends? I find it interesting that you will listen to professional athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their sport, whether it's downhill skiing with Lindsey Vonn or whether it's winning an NBA championship or a Super Bowl or a golf tournament, and they don't tend to focus on the trophy. We focus on the trophy. We focus on the title. They're talking about the journey that got them there and when they can start the next journey. [07:12.9]
That's what I'm talking about. Process-oriented living forces you to stay right there in the moment. Let me tell you a story, a story about a man that I held in high esteem. His name is Bill Walsh. If you don't know that name Bill Walsh is legendary in American football, leading the San Francisco 49ers on one stretch to three Super Bowl victories, and he's credited with being the architect of the West Coast Offense. I argue it should be called the Midwest Offense, but let me not get ahead of myself.
Bill Walsh grows up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He starts his coaching in high school and then colleges, and he eventually gets a shot in the pros with the Oakland Raiders. [08:03.2]
Now, he's trained with the Raiders in that traditional vertical passing offense. His coach at the time was a man by the name of Al Davis. You throw the ball, the length of the field, that vertical passing offense. That was the way it was. But then a couple of years later, remember this date, 1968, Walsh is now an assistant under the legendary Paul Brown for an expansion team called the Cincinnati Bengals and the vertical offense, throwing the ball a long way down the field doesn't work, because their quarterback at the time, while mobile doesn't have the strongest of arms.
What does Walsh do? He takes the vertical offense and turns it completely around to a horizontal offense, a horizontal passing scheme that implements quick short throws and it spreads the ball across the width of the field. Eventually, that plan becomes known as the West coast offense. It should be called the Midwest. [09:15.0]
Now you need a quarterback who may not have the strongest arm in the world, stay with me, but has pinpoint precision. In ’79, the 49ers draft a young man out of Notre Dame named Joe Montana, and Walsh now has the piece in place that he needs. He's got the right quarterback, but he's got to retrain the quarterback.
The quarterback has always been, I believe the right word would be the model for the quarterback would be, to hit the receiver in the numbers. Walsh doesn't want that. Walsh wants the ball a foot ahead of the numbers, so that the receiver can catch the ball while in stride. Now Walsh needs to go and somehow recruit receivers that can make yards after catch. That's a very important concept in the NFL, YAC, yards after catch. [10:12.7]
I’ve got a quarterback who's not going to hit you the numbers. I have a quarterback who is going to give you short passes the width of the field and he's going to hit you one yard ahead of the numbers. You go out and you get guys like Jerry Rice who may not have a whole lot of natural speed, but when he catches the ball in stride is what they call football speed.
Here's the bottom line. Walsh's first of three Super Bowls came in 1982, but plans for that Super Bowl win actually began in Cincinnati in 1968. James Clear is right. Success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformation. [11:08.8]
That's really important, friend. Just because you have a big dream doesn't mean you have to accomplish that dream this weekend or next Tuesday or the following Thursday. Dreaming is important. It should never be limited to our imagination or creativity, or to chronology, that we ought to take the limitations and the handcuffs off and focus more on the process of how we can implement that dream.
I hear people say all the time, Oh, I can't dream. I can't dream big. I beg to differ. I like a quote from Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't—you're right.” I hear people tell me all the time, Why should I dream for small results? Easy, because if you can stay with it, those small results one day will be seismic. Don't forget the British cycling team. [12:05.2]
Dreaming big, it’s great mental activity. It's freedom. You don't have any limits. You're not governed by the laws of nature or the expectations of people. You don't need anybody's permission to dream big and you never ever know what your dreams might produce.
American entrepreneur and publisher, the late Malcolm Forbes said, “When you cease to dream, you cease to live.” Filmmaker George Lucas said on one occasion, “Dreams are extremely important. You can't do it unless you imagine it.”
Our 28th president in the United States, Woodrow Wilson, said, “We grow great by dreams. All [big] men are dreamers.”
I love what Walt Disney said. “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
In Proverbs. The Holy Scripture says, “As a man thinketh, so is he.” [13:01.9]
You know what's interesting, friends? We’re encouraged to dream as children. We’re discouraged to dream as adults. I want to encourage you today to dream as adults. I think we're discouraged because others say, Your dream is not realistic. I think we're discouraged because most dreamers are met with initial failure.
But, listen, failure is a critical component to the success process. You can't be truly successful unless you've had a setback because it's the setback that forces you to grow, that forces you to stretch, that forces you to improvise, that forces you to be more innovative.
Think less about the negative component of failure and view failure as your personal trainer, because you won't make your dream come true without some failures. I mean, come on, friends, if you're a dreamer, you're going to be tested through failure. [14:01.8]
Think about this. Think about a mother who was told that she was wasting her money on her daughter's acting lessons. What was her daughter's name? Lucille Ball. Come on, somebody.
How about this? A TV executive in the ’70s told this woman she was, quote, “unfit for television.” Who was that woman? Oprah Winfrey.
How about this? Fired as a newspaper editor because he lacked imagination and didn't have good ideas, the guy could have quit, but Walt Disney did not.
How about this? This man took his franchise proposal all over the country and was rejected 1,009 times, but, finally, Colonel Sanders heard the word “yes.”
My favorite is the single mom on government assistance, turned down by 13 publishers, but it was the daughter of that 13th publisher that resulted in J. K. Rowling, bringing Harry Potter to life. [15:04.7]
Listen to me, friends, as I close. Your perspective is more powerful than your problem. If you think you can or if you think you can't, you're right. So, why not dream miraculously? Why not imagine adventurously? Why not hope courageously? Big dreams produce little things that over time can be seismic.
I want you to think about that. Think about those thoughts. The next time you have a mega dream and you wake up and you say, Oh, no, but here's reality, no, you make reality happen one small step at a time.
Oh, friend, I’ve so enjoyed being with you today and, until we meet again, this is Dr. Rick asking the most important question I can ask, How you livin’? [16:02.4]
Are you ready to make an impact in your world right now? Do you want to stop existing and start living your best life right now? Dr. Rick wants to give you the first chapter of his bestselling book, “Lessons from a Third Grade Dropout,” absolutely free. Just go to www.RickRigsby.com/FreeGift to get the print or audio book right now.
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