Fall in Love with the Process

The formidable foe in Rocky IV courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/bjornbrouwer/martial-artistactordirector-dolph-lundgren/.

I remember my brother, Bill, used to love the Rocky movies when he was growing up.  In Rocky IV, Rocky's good friend Apollo Creed meets up with a formidable opponent from Russia named Drago.  Drago is so muscular, so huge, he doesn't even seem real.  Despite the odds, Apollo Creed rises to the challenge.  He faces Drago in Las Vegas where the Russian is determined to show his Soviet superiority.  Apollo's blows land but don't seem to have any effect on Drago.  Then the Russian attacks the American with such ferocity he knocks him out and kills him.

Determined to avenge his friend's death, Rocky challengers Drago to a match.  But how could anyone defeat the steroid-enhanced Soviet in the ring?  Rocky rises to the challenge.  He doesn't focus on the end result, on the fact that the odds are stacked overwhelming against him.  Instead, he focuses on the process.  He falls in love the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6w4XtsfyVo

This is the part of the movie that Bill loves.  To prepare for the match, Drago exercises with his high tech equipment and pumps himself full of steroids.  However, Rocky takes a completely different approach.  He travels to Siberia where he trains under the most primitive conditions:  lifts and throws heavy logs, chops down trees, pulls an overloaded sleigh in the snow and climbs an icy mountain. What most would consider mundane and boring, he thrives on.  The process becomes Rocky's "raison d'etre".

Through his training, he doesn't just build strength, but resilience.  During the match, its this resilience which helps him go the distance with Drago.  Battered and bloodied, he manages to knock the Russian out and win the match.

What is your goal?  Who or what do you have to face?  Rather than focusing on the formidable opponent who looms over you, focus on the process  Fall in love with it.  It won't seem like work anymore.  You will go the distance.

A jubiliant Rocky after defeating Drago courtesy http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/02/rocky-movie-rankings-creed-sylvester-stallone-rocky-iv-ivan-drago.

Struggling Philadelphia Actor Watches Fight on Black & White TV

I`ve been a survivor all my life.  If I survived the marines, I can survive Ali. (Chuck Wepner)

Mohammed Ali versus Chuck Wepner circa 1975 courtesy http://danwmiller.hubpages.com/hub/Meet-The-Real-Rocky.

In 1975, a struggling Philadelphia actor watched a fight on his black and white TV.  The world heavyweight champion, Mohammed Ali, was paired with an unknown named Chuck Wepner.  While Ali won the match hands down, Wepner went the full fifteen rounds.  The actor, admiring his spunk, wrote a screenplay about him.  The following year, Rocky debuted in theatres, and the image of the boxer standing at the top of the steps in Philadelphia, his arms held high in victory, was forever etched on the memory of Americans.

Chuck Wepner fought his first fight in 1964.  At one point, he held the title of New Jersey Heavyweight Champion.  However, he later lost to big names like George Foreman and Sonny Liston, the latter fight costing him 72 stitches.  Wepner earned the nickname `The Bayonne Bleeder`.
But Wepner wasn`t about to go down without a fight.  After a loss to Joe Bugner, Wepner rallied and won nine out of the next eleven fights.

In 1975, crazy haired promoter Don King was looking for a new opponent for Mohammed Ali.  He chose the unknown Chuck Wepner.  Ali would receive 1.5 million for the fight while Wepner would receive $100,000.  The latter retreated to the Catskill Mountains for eight weeks of heavy training.

Ali and Wepner met at Richfield Coliseum, a city south of Cleveland, for the match.  When asked how he thought he would fare in the ring, Wepner explained:  Ì`ve been a survivor all my life.  If I survived the Marines, I can survive Ali.` Wepner did survive the fight, although he was badly beaten up in the process.

At home in Philadelphia, a young Sylvester Stallone watched the fight on his television.  He created Rocky Balboa, an underdog with a heart, to mirror Chuck Wepner.  Apollo Creed, his loud boisterous opponent who holds the world heavyweight championship, mirrored Mohammed Ali.  The script had all the ingredients of a blockbuster movie.

While Rocky required next to nothing to make, it earned 225 million at the box office and spawned a series.  Creed, the most recent in the series, is due out in November of 2015.

Rocky Balboa vs Apollo Creed in the 1976 movie courtesy http://www.vh1.com/news/4131/blockbuster-movies-low-cost/.