Adversity

Public Speaker, Author

W Mitchell Associates

Whenever a major challenge or difficult situation comes up and I feel like throwing in the towel or just plain giving up, I pause, and replay in my mind the courageous story of W Mitchell, a brave American who wouldn’t be beat. It certainly puts things into the proper perspective.

Overcoming our challenges as well as our setbacks is part of our everyday personal as well as business life. We may all tend to think our problems are absolutely the worst possible. They probably aren’t.

Throughout our lives we will all be tested and challenged in a variety of different ways. W Mitchell was certainly tested. He endured tremendous pain and insurmountable obstacles almost beyond belief. Despite the never ending pain he went through, he hung in there with his unwavering determination and undefeatable will power.

Mitchell asks each and everyone of us to reflect on, “Is it a set-back or a starting point?”

At age 28, Mitchell was living his dream to the fullest. It was a wonderful life. He enjoyed the outdoors and had a great job as a brakeman on San Francisco’s world famous cable cars. There was no shortage of opportunities for him to meet beautiful women enjoying the romantic city by the bay.

Life was grand. He just completed his first solo flight toward obtaining his pilots license and also just bought a brand new sleek Honda 750 motorcycle which was the hottest bike in town at that time.

THEN IT HAPPENED - HIS LIFE WAS TO BE CHANGED FOREVER

He was cruising down one of San Francisco’s busy streets on his motorcycle, when suddenly, a maroon laundry truck cut in front of him. Smack, he hit it squarely on the side, and then was forced to dump his bike sliding down the red hot asphalt. Then, a blazing inferno of fire exploded when his gas tank erupted drenching him with two -and-a-half gallons of gasoline.

Over 65 percent of his body was severely burned. The leather motorcycle jacket saved most of his body, but didn’t save his hands. His helmet saved his life, but did little to save his face. In a coma for two weeks the doctors hid the one thing they feared would kill him once he woke up – and that was a mirror. They feared the shock of him seeing himself after the accident with his badly burned, distorted new face just might be to much for him. The doctors were wrong, he endured the unbelievable process.

His face and body were rebuilt with 32 sessions of plastic surgery. Once out of the hospital Mitchell was out taking a walk when he passed in front of a San Francisco schoolhouse. The children soon saw him and ran out and started yelling, monster, monster, look at the monster.

From that incident, Mitchell became passionate to share his story that you could look like a monster on the outside and still be a good person – warm, funny, and caring on the inside.

“Before I was paralyzed, there were 10,000 things that I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I lost, or focus on the 9,000 I have left,” Mitchell states bravely.

Later, Mitchell moved to Crested Butte, Colorado to experience the beauty of the outdoors. He took up snow skiing and loved it. He then became a part-owner in a commercial building and a bar. Later, he invested in a new design for wood burning stoves that were much more efficient than current models and very profitable. Mitchell was now a full blown multi-millionaire.

Just when everything seemed to be smooth sailing again, the unbelievable happened. Back flying again, Mitchell’s plane crashed when the wings iced up on takeoff. “It appears you will never walk again. It appears you’ll have to use a wheelchair for the rest of your life,” whispered his doctor.

“Why me? I laid in bed and wondered if there was anything left of my life,” reflects Mitchell. There certainly was, despite the past. In the hospital, he met a pretty, young nurse who assisted him named Annie Baker. A few years later to everyone’s amazement but Mitchell’s, he married her.

Mitchell’s favorite quote is by Albert Camus.

In the midst of winter,

I finally learned there was in me,

an invincible summer.

With the mindset now firmly in place that there is nothing that you can’t do, Mitchell ran for mayor of Crested Butte with the campaign slogan of – Not Just A Pretty Face and won. He fought and won stopping the largest mining company in the world from putting a huge molybdenum mine in the community he loved.

All the things a paraplegic shouldn’t or couldn’t do, he tackled head-on. Who would ever believe a “cripple” as some might call Mitchell, would now go whitewater rafting or go skydiving?

“I had the recognition that I was responsible, and with recognition I took care of what was possible. We all have the ability to respond. It just depends on what we choose to do with it,” states Mitchell. “Another thing, every time you refuse to act because you are embarrassed about what a friend might think, you are taking a step backwards.”

As far as role-models, he credits his father and step-father Luke Mitchell, who helped him build up his strong perseverance.

Today, Mitchell is one of the world’s top motivational public speakers giving over 70 talks per year to audiences around the world. He has also been awarded the prestigious CPAE, Council of Peers Award of Excellence – the highest award for professionalism bestowed by the National Speakers Association.

Our hero gives us hope with his belief, “The beauty of the American Dream is that there is really nothing stopping someone from realizing their dream.”

So, the next time you think you can’t, just remember the can-do attitude of W Mitchell. Also, be sure to pickup his great book, “The Man Who Refused To Be Defeated.”

Mitchell leaves us with his message, “It’s not what happens to you, It’s what you do about it.”