JC Watts - Dig Deep: 7 Truths to Finding the Strength Within

DIG DEEP

Copyright 2016 by J. C. Watts Jr.

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First e-book edition 2016: ISBN 978-1-62157-561-0

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To the memory of my parents, Buddy and Helen, who never allowed me to make my knuckleheadedness and dysfunctions my normal, and to Frankie, my kids, my grandkids, and my siblings, who remind me that my family is the real wealth in my life.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

S uperhumanly determined. Thats how National Geographic once described Reinhold Messner, a man it also dubbed the worlds greatest mountaineer.

On May 8, 1978, Messner stood with his companion, Peter Habeler, at the summit of Mount Everest, the first men to climb the worlds tallest peak without the use of supplemental oxygen. Even with the aid of oxygen and other sophisticated gear, the scaling of Everest is notoriously dangerous. More than 250 climbers have died in the attempt, the bodies of most of them lying on that mountain still.

Before Messner and Habeler impressed the world with their stunning achievement, most experts believed that summiting Everest without oxygen was impossible. Not even the local Sherpas of Nepallegendary for their ability to operate in the dangerously thin air of the Himalayashad done it. In fact, so impossible was this feat that many in Nepal refused to believe that Messner and Habeler had actually done what they claimed. Experienced climbers whispered to one another that they must have secretly carried small oxygen bottles in their gear.

Messner knew of the gossip and the lies, so two years later he decided to silence the doubters. In an epic ascent, he climbed Everest completely alonethe first man ever to do itand did so without supplemental oxygen. It is almost impossible for those of us who arent mountain climbers to fully grasp the difficulty of what this iron-willed hero pushed himself to accomplish.

In 1982 Messner wrote a book describing the grueling ordeal of his solo ascent. He described the agony of the final hours of the climb, when he would stagger a few yards, collapse, and then somehow summon the strength to get up again. Once more I must pull myself together. I can scarcely go on. No despair, no happiness, no anxiety. I have not lost the mastery of my feelings, there are actually no more feelings. I consist only of will. After each few meters this too fizzles out in an unending tiredness. Then I think nothing, feel nothing. I let myself fall, just lie there. For an indefinite time I remain completely irresolute. Then I make a few steps again.

Messner was able to accomplish what no other human being had ever accomplished because he had cultivated the ability to focus his will, to summon more inner strength than he even knew he possessed, and to put it to use. In other words, he had learned to dig deep.

Dig deep. This is the phrase I use for drilling into the core of who I am and drawing out the strength to achieve, the strength to fight another day. It means summoning the better version of J. C. Watts Jr. who lies within me and hurling him into the present battle. Digging deep is going beyond the excuses and the superficial reasons for failure and tapping inner reservoirs of inspiration, character, heritage, and motivation. I believe it is necessary for being the best we can be.

In fact, nearly every person who climbs to great heights of success, who lives an extraordinary life, has had to learn to dig deep. As Reinhold Messner taught us, the ability to dig deep is an essential skill for those who intend to stand upon the mountaintop.

Do you think you have this skill? If you dont have it now, do you think you can cultivate it? No? Well, I disagree! What if I can show you in these pages some of the keys to digging deep and living the rest of your days on this earth at a higher level? What if I can teach you how to be the best you possible? I believe you can do it. In fact, I believe you can do more, achieve more, and be more than youve ever dared to dream. Digging deep is the key. It is the skill most essential to real success in life and to becoming the best possible version of the person God created you to be.

I intend to show you how it is done.

You should understand from the start, though, that the type of success I have in mind isnt just about accumulating more prestige or greater possessions. True, these are sometimes the by-products of learning to dig deep. Yet wealth and fame alone do not make for real success. Our values teach us that, but so do the storieswhich we hear almost every weekof the many fabulously wealthy people who take their own lives. News headlines constantly confirm that famous people are often chronically unhappy and routinely self-destructive. It seems the rich and famous need the kind of transformation Im talking about just as desperately as the poor and obscure.

I know this is true because I have walked on both sides of the tracks. I have lived among the poor and obscure, and I have lived among the famous and successful. I am intimately familiar with the world of the haves and the world of the have nots. This is why I can talk to you about how digging deep is essential for your success.

I was born in the small town of Eufaula in southeastern Oklahoma, a part of the state known as Little Dixie. My father was the pastor of a Baptist church, a respected job that didnt pay much, so he had a second job as a police officerthe first black man in Eufaula to hold that position. He did a lot of other things as well, from cattle raising to entrepreneurial ventures of every kind. He did everything he could to make sure his family could eat.

Before I knew what the word entrepreneur meant, I witnessed the entrepreneurial spirit of J. C. Watts Sr. To my young eyes, entrepreneurship didnt look fancy or adventurous. It was working hard to put food on the table and a roof over the heads of your wife and children. I would never have used a word as sophisticated as entrepreneur to describe the sacrifices my father made every day. Years later I would learn that his entrepreneurial spirit lived in me. I was deeply grateful that he modeled a noble and productive life.

Even now I probably know only a small part of the price my father paid. I was born early enough in the twentieth centuryin 1957, to be preciseto have personally seen the last vestiges of Jim Crow laws and attitudes, to have watched the struggles of the civil rights movement through wide young eyes. In fact, I was one of the first two black children to attend our local elementary school. It was named Jefferson Davis Elementary, after the president of the Confederacy. The only other local elementary school was named Dixienot much better!