Small Business Today Magazine OCT 2015 TEXAS SECURITY SHREDDING | Page 19

How to Bounce

Back and Win
by Three-time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez

K

aroly Takacs. You’ve probably never
heard of him. However, in Hungary, he’s a national hero - everybody
there knows his name and his incredible story. After reading his story,
you’ll never forget him…

In 1938, Karoly Takacs of the Hungarian Army, was the top pistol shooter in
the world. He was expected to win the
gold in the 1940 Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo.
Those expectations vanished one terrible day just months before the Olympics.
While training with his army squad, a
hand grenade exploded in Takacs’ right
hand, and Takacs’ shooting hand was
blown off.
Takacs spent a month in the hospital
depressed at both the loss of his hand,
and the end to his Olympic dream. At
that point most people would have
quit. And they would have probably
spent the rest of their life feeling sorry
for themselves. Most people would have
quit but not Takacs. Takacs was a winner. Winners know that they can’t let
circumstances keep them down. They
understand that life is hard and that
they can’t let life beat them down. Winners know in their heart that quitting is
not an option.
Takacs did the unthinkable; he picked
himself up, dusted himself off, and decided to learn how to shoot with his left
hand! His reasoning was simple. He simply asked himself, “Why not?”
Instead of focusing on what he didn’t
have – a world class right shooting hand,
he decided to focus on what he did have

Those expectations vanished
one terrible day just months before
the Olympics. While training with
his army squad, a hand grenade
exploded in Takacs’ right hand,
and Takacs’ shooting hand was
blown off.
– incredible mental toughness, and a
healthy left hand that with time, could
be developed to shoot like a champion.
For months Takacs practiced by himself. No one knew what he was doing.
Maybe he didn’t want to subject himself to people who most certainly would
have discouraged him from his rekindled
dream.
In the spring of 1939 he showed up at
the Hungarian National Pistol Shooting Championship. Other shooters approached Takacs to give him their condolences and to congratulate him on
having the strength to come watch them
shoot. They were surprised when he said,
“I didn’t come to watch, I came to compete.” They were even more surprised
when Takacs won!
The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled because of World War II. It looked
like Takacs’ Olympic Dream would never
have a chance to realize itself. But Takacs kept training and in 1944 he qualified
for the London Olympics. At the age of
38, Takacs won the Gold Medal and set a
new world record in pistol shooting. Four
years later, Takacs won the Gold Medal
again at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Takacs - a man with the mental toughness to
bounce back from anything.

Winners in every field have a special
trait that helps them become unstoppable. A special characteristic that allows them to survive major setbacks
on the road to success. Winners recover QUICKLY. Bouncing back is not
enough. Winners bounce back QUICKLY. They take their hit, they experience
their setback, they have the wind taken out of their sails, but they immediately recover. Right away they FORCE
themselves to look at the bright side of
things – ANY bright side, and they say
to themselves, “That’s OK. There is always a way. I will find a way.” They dust
themselves off, and pick up where they
left off.
The reason quick recovery is important is that if you r