Mike Tyson, Bling And The Stress Reduction Challenge

Many years back I used to box and was interested in the sport.  It was around about that time that Mike Tyson was at his peak.  He was incredibly destructive.  An immense malevolent presence, who had beaten most opponents before a ounch was ever laid.  He fought more often than almost any other Boxer, which he could afford to do since most fights were over very quickly.  And also to keep him out of trouble.

While he stayed focused and in love with Boxing no-one else could beat him.  However all that has happened in his life since then has proven that all that destructive power has been turned inwards.  While no-one else could ever beat him, he couldn’t stop from destroying himself and everyone around him.  Here’s his own words on his downfall, in an interview from the Times Online;

 

 “I was a hero under dark circumstances,” he says. “I allowed it to happen. I’ve got nobody to blame but myself. I got bad advisers and I must have run through $300 or $400 million. I just about killed myself in pursuit of money, drugs and sex. I never went anywhere without an entourage of about 30 people. I felt like one of those barbarian kings just going to conquer the Roman Empire. I was crazy.”

He says of his critics: “They can judge me but they never understood me. I might have done a job which was to hurt people in the ring, but I have always been shy and had low self-esteem.”

 

photo credit: octal 

 

It’s a story that began when he came under the Guardianship of Cus D’Amato.  D’Amato had a history of developing Boxer’s holistically.  Not just in the sport, but in becoming rounded people who lived with dignity.  D’amoto was in the twilight years of his life and saw the potential of developing another world champion.  Tyson responded to perhaps the only person who had shown him warmth and caring and was eager to learn and become both a great Boxer and also a Gentleman.

Unfortunately D’Amato, or his Business Partner Jim Jacobs, didn’t last long enough to see out the task and some, such as Tyson’s ex Trainer, Teddy Atlas, say they cut corners in their eagerness for one last success.  Without their influence, Tyson fell for the flattery and overtures of Sharks such as Don King.  He fired his trainers and eschewed any disciplined training regimen.  He surrounded himself with an entourage that pandered to his ego.  He chased all the bling and trappings of wealth.  And so he destroyed himself. 

There are many lessons we can take from the story of Mike Tyson, but this story came to mind as I was planning the 30 day Stress Reduction Challenge.  

One day Mike Tyson and Cus D’Amato were on a train and bumped into someone Cus knew and had a chat.  After he’d left the train Cus explained who the Man was.  Some great ex Boxing Champion.  Tyson was shocked that someone so successful appeared so nondescript and unostentatious in manner and appearance and asked why he had no Jewellery and other symbols of wealth and status.  

D’Amato explained that these symbols were only necessary to someone who didn’t believe in themselves and were hoping to convince others.  He impressed on Tyson the need to behave with dignity.  And this was partly behind the Tyson phenomena.  At his greatest, Tyson eschewed any frills, appearing in only his trademark black shorts.  And it was when he became enthralled with the ‘bling’ that his downfall began. 

In my mind the stress reduction challenge was going to be this big exciting event with lots of people involved and lots of new content and features.  But then as I thought about it I realised that I was falling into the trap that many people do.  That is believing that quantity is better than quality.  

 

photo credit: loop_oh 

 

Product designers actually have a name for this problem.  It’s called feature creep.  What happens is that lots of irrelevant extra features get added on that aren’t essential and so we end up with mobile phones that few people can understand fully.

I realised that people would get overwhelmed with lots of information and dazzled by all the ‘bling’ of different tools, ideas and features.  As a result they would reduce their focus on the main issue and be less impacted.

It is more important that those who do get involved get the result they need.  And the way to do this is to get ruthlessly focused on what the problem is and how to overcome it.   

So rather than get distracted by lots of bells and whistles and continually delay getting started, I’m going to set Monday as the start date.  So like Mike Tyson and his Spartan like black shorts, we’ll be stripped down to only ever moving towards resolution of your issue.

Now, I believe that the key to overcoming stress is speed of resolution.  In other words the most effective time to resolve an issue is as it happens.  (Actually second best. I really think you should resolve it before it becomes an issue, but that’s for another time).  

And today we are fortunate to have technology that lets us communicate in real time across the globe.  So I think we have a way of running this, that lets anyone participate even if they only have ten minutes here and there.  

Find out more at the Stress Reduction Challenge.

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