Impossible is Possible
hey thank you guys so much for having me
here today i really do appreciate it and
i’m looking forward to this
as you said my name is aaron golib i
became the first legally blind division
one athlete to play in a game
when i played football at tulane
university i went on to become a team
captain and nfl free agent
now i’m an entrepreneur and a speaker
and say i want to talk about the concept
of the 25th hour
and so when you think of the 25th hour
most people think
how can i get more time in the day how
can i accomplish all that i have with a
finite amount of time if that sounds
like you
raise your hands sounds like most people
right most people think that
because everyone thinks that you need
more time in your day to get what you
have done done
and i’m going to tell you that’s not
true time is your currency
and when you treat time as your currency
you learn to use your time in the
correct way
you can fit everything you need to do in
one day
when i was a kid i wasn’t the most
athletic person i wasn’t the most
confident kid either i was often
picked last for sports and didn’t really
get that opportunity or that shot
that i wanted and it was hurt it hurt it
was hard
and i wasn’t that division one athlete
that i was able to turn myself into
when i was in seventh grade i started
playing the sport of football
and at that time i knew that i couldn’t
be a wide receiver i couldn’t be a
quarterback i couldn’t be a position
where
i had to run downfield and catch the
ball 40 yards away because i wouldn’t
see it coming
for me i’m legally blind as i said
before and for those of you that don’t
know what that means i have no vision in
my right eye
and extremely limited in my left i see
basically through a tiny hole about
the size of half of the dime and so i
started playing offense and defensive
line and
it was fine because it was around
teamwork it was around learning the game
it wasn’t an issue it wasn’t a
competitive thing at that time
and it wasn’t until my sophomore year
that i truly learned
the value of time the value of trading
your time as your currency
through this process i’ve learned that
i’m so thankful so blessed
so grateful that i was born legally
blind because it’s allowed me to do
incredible things meet some amazing
people and have outstanding experiences
so as a sophomore in high school i was a
third string junior varsity offense and
defensive lineman
and i was miserable i wasn’t having fun
yes i was a part of a team
but it wasn’t something that was
enjoyable for me i wanted to do great
things i wanted to play on varsity i
wanted to play in college i want to play
division one football
and if you’re a junior or a sophomore in
high school and you are
third string on junior varsity chances
are you’re not playing division in
sports
you know chances are if you’re gonna
play division once four at that age
you are starting on varsity you’re
getting a lot of playing time it doesn’t
matter if it’s football baseball
basketball swimming any sport
that’s likely what the outcome is and so
for me it came down to two things
first off assessing my situation and
understanding that
what i was doing was not going to work
how could i make myself get there
and so i found a position of long
snapping and for those of you that don’t
know what that is
i was the guy on puns and field goals
that would throw the ball between my
legs
hit the punter or the holder with the
football and then have to block
that was the first step and i realized
that if i got good enough at long
snapping
i might have a shot i might have an
opportunity and the second step was
learning how to treat my time as my
currency
so for me what that meant was i got up
at five every day
i had this plan and it was get up at f5
go practice long snapping go to school
go to practice lift weights
go home and do homework and that was my
treating my time as currency
i think so many people in this world do
what they want to do do what they need
to do but don’t do what they should do
everyone has a disadvantage everyone has
a challenge everyone has an obstacle
it’s probably different than mine you’re
probably not legally blind you might
have a different disability i don’t know
you might have just lost your job and be
struggling to pay your rent or your
bills
you might be an alcoholic or you might
come from a broken home or it might be
something completely different than that
but everyone has a challenge everyone
has an obstacle everyone has a
disadvantage
but when you learn to choose what you
should do instead of what you want
to do and you learn to treat your time
as your currency than anything possible
i’m here to tell you why
most people in life think of money as
the most valuable resource
and that’s just not true when you think
of money
money can be earned you can always get
more you can
you can always get more relationships
you can always get more friends
you can never get more time being right
here and now in the present and doing
whatever you can to accomplish your
goals
is the most important thing focusing on
the future yes you should have massive
goals
and you should focus on what you can
accomplish in five 10 20 years down the
road
but you shouldn’t dwell on that you
shouldn’t really center in on
and you shouldn’t dwell on your past as
well you shouldn’t have regrets you
shouldn’t think of that and let it take
over your day
you need to be present in this exact
moment right now and that’s how you can
create success
within your life you know when you focus
on
is what you truly get and i want to show
this to all of you in a in a little
exercise right here
so i want you all you know given that
this is virtual look around your rooms
see if you can find something that’s the
color green you know just just
look around the room that you’re in and
see if you can find something that looks
pretty to you
anything now shut your eyes
think of green think of the color green
green green green grass
a green tree green leaves a green car
going down the highway anything that’s
green
now open your eyes and look again it’s
easier to find something green isn’t it
yeah because what you focus on is what
comes to you
if you focus on positivity success using
your time wisely
guess what will come to you positive
things positive thoughts positive
feelings success
the ability to control your time and
letting you instead of letting your time
control you
it’s the same thing in every aspect of
your life for me my example was with
football
how i learned to use that finite amount
of time to create my goal
within such a small window we all only
have 86
400 seconds in a day and what you do
with each single one of them
is extremely important because you’ll
never get that second that minute that
day
that hour that week back again you need
to focus in on the present to hear
the now to accomplish your goals you
know so many people go to their jobs and
they want a promotion
they want to be making more money they
want more responsibility
but realistically they’re in a nine to
five and they show up at 903
and they leave a 456. and people who do
that
they’re not showing what they can do
they’re not doing well that they can do
to accomplish their goals they’re not
using their time they’re letting their
time use them
they think that oh i need to be here
from nine to five that’s all i’m going
to be here i’m not going to put in that
extra time that extra effort
to accomplish anything that i want the
people who will get that promotion
the people who will make more money show
up at 8 22 and leave at 541
because they know how to use their time
they know that
putting their time in is the resource
that they’ll never get back and the
resource that can create success for
themselves
they’re not going to get something new
by just paying someone to do it they’re
going to get something new
they’re going to increase their life
they’re going to get more success in
their life by spending their time
doing whatever they can to accomplish
their goals and when you do this you can
take any disadvantage that you have any
challenge any obstacle
and turn into your greatest advantage
your greatest asset and your greatest
resource and that’s what i was able to
do with my vision
but like i said before i’m so thankful
and blessed that i was born legally
blind
because without being born legally blind
i wouldn’t have this mentality this
attitude and this realization that you
could treat time as your currents
and when you treat time as your currency
anything is possible
you know it might not be this might not
even relate to you might not be in a
nine to five you might not be an athlete
but it applies in every single area of
your life maybe your family you’re
trying to spend more time with them
but you don’t know where to fit in your
schedule guess what treat your time as
your currency
time block in a week from now on friday
night that you’re gonna spend seven to
nine pm with your family
that’s what it takes to truly be
successful when you time block
every single area of your life i time
walk every day every hour every minute
and every second
from 5 a.m to 10 p.m because i know
what’s important to me
i know that the only way that i’m going
to accomplish my goals is to continue to
work hard at them
to continue to do whatever i can to
create success is by using my time as my
currency
i don’t need to focus on extra time
because i’m never going to get extra
time
you’re not going to get extra time no
one is going to get extra time in their
day
what you do have is 86 400 seconds and
we learn to use that wisely
when you learn to time ball when you
learn to be present in the here and now
and do whatever you can to accomplish
your goals
that’s when your time truly becomes your
currency that’s when your time becomes
valuable
that’s when you can accomplish anything
you want and i promise you if you learn
to do what you should do instead of what
you want to do
if you learn to use your time as your
currency and make it the most valuable
thing in your life
not only is anything possible but your
greatest disadvantage or your greatest
perceived disadvantage
will become your greatest advantage i
promise you that
thank you so much all for having me here
today i really appreciate this time