On a cool autumn night in November 1979 a 15 year old boy named Danny asked his 14 year old friend to go and see a movie with him.

Danny’s friend at first said “no” but then decided at the last minute to go anyway.

So the two boys walked into the movie theater and sat down. After a few minutes the theater got dark as the movie was about to begin.

And within the first five minutes of that movie the life of Danny’s friend was about to change forever.

What Danny’s friend saw in those first five minutes and throughout that movie gave him something that he would carry around with him for the rest of his life.

Little did Danny know that night and over time that he contributed in a large way to his friend’s life just by asking him to go and see a movie.

Who is Danny’s friend…me.

What movie did we see that night…Rocky 2

And what did I get that night which changed my life forever…

The will to never give up.

And looking back at it now I can see how this was the trigger point which led me into becoming a human potential specialist while helping people throughout the world transform their lives.

What I also learned and applied into my own life, is something that you can learn and apply right now into your life and that is…

“What does it take to never give up?”

1. Your guiding force- After the movie was over that night I went home. It was late and time for bed. But I kept thinking about what I had just seen. It was still on my mind during the next day at school. That same night I went back to the movie theater by myself and saw the movie a second time…

And the same thing happened again. In fact, this time I got goosebumps when the opening scene came on. Along with that I started to randomly plan out different scenarios of how I can take the theme from a boxing movie and use it in the different areas of life.

When the movie ended, this time I ran all the way home which was about half a mile away.

I was now convinced that this in some way would be my guiding force in life.

What is the guiding force in your life? What is it that you can use to persist and persevere through the many situations that life throws at you?

Regardless of what those are for you, they’ll be “up” moments and “down” moments. There’s no denying that.

What’s important for you is how you handle those situations. How you react to the infinite amount of situations you come across in your life is going to dictate the level of success you achieve.

When you can fully embrace the fact that throughout your life that you’ll have an equal amount of “happy” and “sad” moments, “supporting” and challenging” moments, along with moments of “peace” and “war”…

You’ll have a very high probability of not giving up no matter what happens in your life.

But there’s another very important piece that’s involved here.

And this is something that if you’re not doing, you’ll stay in the habit of giving up every time and remaining stuck.

Before I get to that, let’s revisit what it was that took place within the first five minutes of Rocky 2 that changed my life…and how it can change yours too.

2. Down but never out- The opening scene is where they flashed back to the end of the first Rocky movie.

It shows Rocky getting beat up in the ring.

You hear the announcers say, “What is keeping him up I don’t know.”

It shows Rocky getting knocked down and his trainer telling him to stay down.

It shows Rocky barely getting back up.

You also hear the announcers say, “Apollo (the guy Rocky was fighting) can’t believe it.”

At this moment Rocky is backed into his corner and fights out of it by coming back against his opponent (Apollo).

And then there’s the final round.

Rocky keeps coming back. The fight ends. The ring announcer says, “Tonight we had the privilege of witnessing the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring.” Rocky lost the fight.

But in the process won the admiration of others because of his will to never give up.

From the first time I saw this opening scene I instantly noticed that this was the story of life. Not just my life but the lives of everyone.

How many times did you feel like you got beat up in some way?

How many times did other people try and tell you to “stay down” and not pursue what you love?

How many times has someone told you that they can’t believe it or that they don’t believe in you?

Additionally…

How many times did you wonder, “what is keeping me up and going?”

How often did you find yourself barely getting back up after being knocked down?”

And how often were you backed into a corner and came back when the situation seemed hopeless?

These are the questions to ask and answer that will determine your will to never give up.

Not only that but they’ll help you rise to colossal levels of success in the areas of life most important to you.

Now I want to come back to that very important piece I mentioned earlier…

And this is something that if you’re not doing, you’ll stay in the habit of giving up every time and remain stuck.

In addition to embracing both sides of life equally it is incredibly important that you live your life according to your highest values or the things that are most important to you.

When you live your life saying “I should”, “I have to”, I’m supposed to”, “I’ve got to”, you’ll have a high probability of giving up.

When you live your life from a place of “I love to”, “I’m inspired to”, “This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing”, You’ll persist and persevere and you won’t give up.

There may be moments when you’ll be down but you’ll never be out.

This is the driving force behind what it takes to never give up.

3. The will to win- Even though Rocky lost in the first movie he won the hearts of people everywhere. In that movie he just wanted to go the distance and prove he wasn’t just another bum from the neighborhood. You could say that in losing he actually won.

And what the ring announcer was really saying is that Rocky had more guts and stamina that has ever been shown in the ring.

Where do you show more guts? And where is your stamina in the ring of life?

This will be where your will to win is. It will also show in your ability to never give up.

In the second Rocky movie, Rocky did win. Even though he won he had even more challenges along the way. More criticism, more pain, more people disliking him.

But he also had more praise, more pleasure, more people liking him.

And this all stemmed from the will to never give up.

This has been the story of my life and why I do what I do.

Now it’s time to create the story of your life and make your ability to never give up the driving force in that.

Yes, it’s something we hear all the time. In fact it’s pretty much cliche to hear the words “never give up.” nowadays.

But what it takes to never give up goes way beyond the words themselves.

It comes down to who you are. What you’re here to do.

However you come to realize that just know that it’s your own personal journey. For me it started when a friend asked if I wanted to go to a movie.

For you it can be something that doesn’t look like much on the surface at first…

But when you look deeper you’ll find what that is for you. Along with that you’ll also discover the magnificence and brilliance of who you are…

And in the process make a profound difference in the world through all that you do.