Mine is smaller than the average man’s. I hadn’t ever known FOR SURE if it was or not. But I had my suspicions. It never really made a difference one way or the other until well you know…those situations when things start to get physical and then it is obvious to everyone including me. Mine is small. Really small…But I wasn’t sure until 2010 when a doctor confirmed it.
This is embarrassing me to admit. But mine is small. Yes…I have a small CEREBELLUM. (What were you thinking I was talking about? Anyway…).
In 2010, I was in an MRI tube for the History Channel tv show Stan Lee’s Superhumans and when my brain showed up on the screen the MRI tech’s gut reaction was, ‘Oh…..’. Everyone in the room at once said, ‘What? What do you see?’ He tried to blow it off and say, ‘Oh never mind. It’s nothing.’ But he had just told the group that a few months before his wife climbed in the tube to test it and when she did he saw a brain tumor. Him spotting that saved her life and they were wondering if this was a replay.
He said,’Ah no…It’s just that he has a small cerebellum in proportion to the rest of his brain.’ The cerebellum controls things like coordination and motor skills. It all made sense. This is why I’ve never been coordinated. As a young kid I had fallen out windows, tripped and broken my arm (twice) and never excelled in any sport.
In Little League baseball I got 1 hit in 3 years! It was a double and I will never forget it. But imagine going 3 seasons and only connecting with the baseball for a hit ONCE! I could just never coordinate my hands with hitting where my eyes saw the ball to be.
So does that mean I resign myself to never competing in anything athlete or trying to exercise? On the contrary, physical fitness is a big part of my life and even competing in sports. Am I the star athlete? Nope. Never have been. But do I use it as an excuse? No, I never will. I just know that whatever physical activity it is I have to learn it and practice it 10 times more than the average person before it becomes natural for me.
Jim Abbott had half of a right arm and threw a no hitter for the New York Yankees
When I was 19 I told my telemarketing manager at work, ‘Frank, I am so disadvantaged. My friends have their parents paying for college and all they have to do is focus on school. I have to work full time to pay for my college. I am at a disadvantage. They have it easier.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You may not see it now, but in 10 years you will. You are really the lucky one.’
You know what? He was right. I was forced to work harder and get creative to generate money and it was during that time I started my business teaching memory training. What I thought was my disadvantage became a strength because it forced me to work harder. If not for that I could have been satisfied and not pushed myself.
I’ll quote Jim Rohn, ‘Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.’
Or in my case, ‘Don’t wish it was bigger, train to get better.’
My lesson or advice to you is this:
Whatever your limitation is in life don’t let it become your excuse. Let it be what makes your story sweeter when you achieve in spite of it.
