Page 90 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

man needs all the brains he can get,” said Patton. “Nobody ever had too many

brains. Brains come from oxygen. Oxygen comes from the lungs where the air
goes when we breathe. The oxygen in the air gets into the blood and travels to
the brain. Any fool can double the size of his lungs.”

I learned about Patton’s passion for teaching his troops deep breathing from
Porter Williamson. I had once written a few political radio and television
commercials that caught Mr. Williamson’s attention, so he called me and asked
me to lunch one day. He had identified himself as the author of Patton’s
Principles, so I eagerly accepted his invitation, having coincidentally read the
marvelous book a few weeks earlier. Williamson had served in the army for
many years as Patton’s most trusted legal adviser.

Williamson told me many stories about serving with Patton, and how truly
extraordinary a motivator the general was. Most of the Patton quotes in this book

come from Williamson’s own memories of his service with the great general.
Williamson told me about how he himself had lost his leg to bone cancer, and
how the doctors had erroneously forecasted his death twice. His inner strength,
he said, often came from the inspiration he received in his days of serving with
Patton.

“Frequently, General Patton would stop at my desk,” recalled Williamson,
“and ask, ‘How long you been sitting at that desk? Get up and get out of here!
Your brain stops working after you sit in a swivel chair for 20 minutes. Keep the
body moving around so the juices will run to the right places. It’ll be good for
the brain! If you sit in that chair too long, all of your brainpower will be in your
shoes. You cannot keep your mind active when your body is inactive.’”

That one principle—an active mind cannot exist in an inactive body—
became Bobby Fisher’s secret weapon in winning the world championship of
chess. Who would have guessed that swimming underwater would make you a
better chess player? Certainly not the overweight, worn-out chess “genius” Boris
Spassky.

Sometimes, all you need is the air that you breathe to motivate yourself.
Going for a run or a walk or simply deep breathing gives the brain the fuel it
feeds on to be newly refreshed and creative.

62. Bring on a good coach