This past weekend, my family and I went to downtown Boulder on beautiful Pearl Street. It was the holiday weekend, people from all over the world were here because there was the Bolder Boulder, a road race that over 50,000 runners participate in.

A few of the events downtown were street performers that do any number of things. There were jugglers, magicians, puppet shows, etc. One performer was this incredibly limber gentleman who could contort his body in bizarre ways. As he stood on his feet and was able to put his elbows on the ground, he put both his legs behind his head and talked to the audience with no problem and he even managed to put his body in this 3 foot by 3 foot plexiglass cube.

Everybody watching gave him a huge round of applause and I overheard more than a few times how incredible he was and how they could never do it.

So it struck me. That’s what people think in many areas of their lives.

Think for a moment, do you ever take a look at the Forbes Wealthiest list when it comes out? They profile individuals that make enormous sums of money and do incredible things year after year. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey.. The list goes on and on.

Do you ever think “Wow, they’re so lucky, or talented, or fortunate”, and then maybe dream about what it would be like to make that kind of money? Sigh you think, “That’s incredible”

Why? What makes it incredible? The fact that they did it? Or that they’re extraordinarily lucky? Or that they’re super-smart?

Just like the street performer, if you tried to put your body in a small plastic box, you might hurt yourself, but give yourself time and practice, you might surprise yourself at how flexible you could become.

Why not with other areas of your life? Health, wisdom, social interactions, success and money. Look - it’s not just for the other people, as long as you want it you can achieve it. Trust me, if you want to stop being the one to say “wow”, try and think “How can I?” and move to make it happen.

If you think that this advice is trite, when the first obstacle you have to overcome isn’t physical, it’s mental - between your ears. So here’s my advice for the day - START.

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