“Son, you can do or be anything you want to… if you want it bad enough” he says to his son who is barely old enough to understand what his dad is telling him.
As the years go by the child continues to hear the same thing over and over, even though he’s not yet sure if it’s really true. It could be that his well-intentioned dad is just rattling off some rah-rah, Pollyanna stuff to make his kid feel good about himself and his future.
Finally, at age 10 the boy gets to test out his dad’s “you can be anything” theory.
His older cousin raced BMX and had recently won the “city championship” in his class. So, the boy decides to test his father’s theory to see if it really was true. “I want to win the ‘city championship too, just like my cousin did.”
Fast forward a little over a year and, after “wanting it bad enough” to practice and train regularly, the 12 year-old DID in fact win his class in the city’s championship race.
“Maybe Dad is right, maybe I really CAN do or be what I want as long as I’m willing to work hard enough to earn it. If that’s the case, then I want to be State Champion!”
With many more hours of practice and training under his belt, the 13 year-old arrives at the State Championship event ranked 2nd… not first like he wanted. But, after winning all of his preliminary races that day (although so does the top-ranked kid) he still has one shot to earn the title.
Only one point separates the two kids as they head into the main event, but the winner earns 20 points while the runner up will earn just 18. So, whoever between the two wins this single race will earn the right to call themselves “state champion” and wear the coveted #1 on their number plate for the next 12 months.
To the young boy whose dad told him no less than 1,000 times “you can do or be anything you want,” this ONE LAP around a BMX track in Dothan, AL could show that his dad was right…or not.
“Set ‘em up. Riders ready? Watch the lights.” says the official running the starting gate.
As the gate drops all eight riders in the main event take off, with the two point-leaders heading the pack.
Although the entire race takes only about 35 seconds, to the kid trying to prove his dad’s theory right and make his mom and dad proud at the same time, it seems to last 35 minutes!
After riding as fast and hard as he possibly can all the way till his front tire crosses the finish line… he looks up to access the outcome. Then he immediately (and a bit embarrassingly) puts his head down on his handle bars and begins to tear up and tries to not let it turn into full-blown crying.
You see, as he looked up he had just realized that no one was in front of him! He was the first to cross the finish line! So, by one single point he’d managed to earn the title of “State Champion.”
In the life of this 13 year-old, it’s the first time he’d cried because he was happy, happier than words can describe. But he wasn’t just happy because he won a title; it was as much because he realized that his dad was right. He COULD do or be anything!
It’s as if he’d just opened the door to a lifetime of possibilities! Can you say “Empowering?!” This kid was armed with “the secret” long before the book by the same title. But even better than The Secret, this kid had already learned that it takes more than a dream or a goal to achieve something… it also takes some hard ass work!
Hard work didn’t deter him a bit, though. He kept workin’ hard and kept achieving goals, one at a time, including a few more State Champion titles to add to his resume.
But, this isn’t about winning titles or beating other people, it’s about more than that…way more!
It’s about removing false, self-imposed limitations. It’s about daring to dream… and DREAM BIG! And, most importantly, it’s about being the best you can be – another thing this dad imprinted into the mind of his young son.
It’s my deepest and sincerest hope that you will dare to dream big (like a kid) and work hard to maximize YOUR potential and achieve YOUR goals!
Likewise, I hope that you will be like the dad in this story and persistently encourage and empower others to become their best!
And lastly, I want to thank Dad from the bottom of my heart for raising me to know that I can do or be ANYTHING!
You see, I’m the kid in the story who was blessed to be raised so well – with an encouraging dad and a super-supportive mom.
Today is my Dad’s birthday, and if he were still alive we’d be celebrating his 58th.
Instead, we’re celebrating his memory which is chock full of great advice; deep & thought provoking ideas & conversions; and more humor, laughs, and wacky banter than should be allowed! 
Happy Birthday, Dad! And rest assured, your lessons live on… and I’m still workin’ hard to achieve my goals, be my best, and make you & Mom proud of your boy.
Love you, Dad!
Your son,
Clay
All I can say is Wow! That was very heart felt. Thanks for sharing with us Clay. I’ll be the first to say that you are also a great motivator. I think that’s your Dad coming out in you.
Wow
Thanks Dr Clay Today would have been my Dads birth day as well he would be 82. Thanks for the motivation and for helping me think of my Dad.
FIRST OFF I WOULD LIKE SAY WHAT A GREAT LIFE LESSON! IN RESPONSE TO JOSEPH, CLAY IS A GREAT MOTIVATOR AND HAS BEEN SINCE HE WAS A 13 YEAR OLD. I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH CLAY AND HE GOT ME IN TO RACING BMX. CLAY WAS ALL READY IN THE EXPERT CLASS WHEN I STARTED RACING AND ALL THE TIME I SPENT CHASING CLAY MADE ME MORE DOMINANT IN MY OWN CLASS. I HAVE NEVER KNOWN CLAY TO DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD HOLD HIM BACK FROM BEING THE BEST AT WHAT EVER HE WHATED TO DO. THE INTERNAL DRIVE THAT CLAY POSSESSES AND ALONG MY OWN DAD HAS PUSHED ME TO BE THE BEST I CAN BE. THANKS CLAY
Thanks a bunch, Joseph! I really appreciate the compliment
You are VERY welcome, Mark!
Wow! That’s very, very kind of you to say, Brett. As you and anyone else who knows me at all knows, I’m RARELY at a loss for words. But all I can really say is… thanks!
Nice story Dr Clay. Definitely got me more motivated to achieve my goals in my sport! Your father sounds like a great man
Thanks, Ben! If you’re more motivated, then the story served it’s purpose…especially when you pass the lesson on to others!
Best,
Dr Clay
Clay, I just read this to Chuck. I could hardly read without crying, but I finally got it out. Chuck said to tell you thank you for him too for such a wonderful piece about his uncle. That couldn’t have been an easy thing to write, but you did and you did it beautifully. Love you much, and always,
Aunt Sharon
To be honest, it was easy to write. I know this sounds weird, but it was like I did not even write it! The best way that I can explain it is that it wrote itself, but it happened to be my fingers that were hitting the keyboard.
I hate to admit this in a way, but I didn’t know that it was Dad’s birthday when I woke up that day. I purposely didn’t know because I had not looked at the calendar in a few days to see what the date was. Plus, I sometimes get mixed up whether his birthday is on the 27th or 29th. But again, I purposely didn’t look it up because I honestly didn’t want to know for certain and be thinking about it all day.
But that morning I logged onto Facebook really quick and saw where you had mentioned that it was in fact Dad’s birthday. After that I tried to do a little work but just couldn’t focus and kept thinking about Dad. So, I logged in to my website with the intention to simply write and post a short paragraph wishing him a happy birthday.
Next thing I knew I was wrapping it up and had just typed what you read above. While I’m certainly not saying that it’s an incredible piece of writing, it is far more well written than I am typically capable of. In fact, it’s not even really my style of writing.
Although I do think I’m pretty good at writing factual health and fitness type stuff, I’ve never written anything like this and probably couldn’t if I wanted to.
I’ve heard of people before claiming that they didn’t write something, and that they were just the medium so to speak through which God or someone else wrote it. I was like “oh my goodness, this is a weird individual! And do they really expect me to believe this?”
Well, all I can say is that I can’t take any credit at all for it. Sure, I guess I “wrote it” because it was my fingers that were punching the keys.
But I put no thought into it whatsoever… it was (in all seriousness) as if I were reading it while it was being typed. It wasn’t until the very end that I sort of “came to” and became sad…and that’s when I had to come up with what to write next.
So, wanna know which part of that “I” wrote?… the last 3 paragraphs which begins with “today is my dad’s birthday…” Even as of right now, it’s the last 3 paragraphs that makes me sad. I really just want to keep writing so that it doesn’t end…
I didn’t want to make you sad. I just felt guilty if I didn’t mention him.
You could write a book about his antics alone. He was honestly the funniest person I’ve ever known. Talking about him makes me laugh just as I did when he first did whatever.
Remember the kid who told him he needed a body by Jake and Johnny said, “And you need a whipping, by God!” The kid ran to his mother crying. Rude little brat.
Very touching my friend. I lost my dad at 13 back in 86. This story really had me crying like a baby.
God Bless