I am always inspired by people who are able to overcome challenges that seem insurmountable. People who push beyond the limits that others try to set for them. People who accomplish great things with fewer resources. People who make me realize that we should all be grateful for what we have and not focus so much on what we don’t have.

One of those people for me is Cliff Devries, the diving coach at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). I shared his story with our team this week and it filled us with admiration, gratitude, and inspiration. Devries was a high school All-American diver, competed at the collegiate level for the University of Kentucky and was an olympic hopeful. At 21 years old, doctors discovered a tumor in his spinal column and the surgery to remove it left him paralyzed on one side of his body. After being told he would be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life, he committed to not only walking again, but to make something of his life. He became a high school diving coach and soon after, he accepted the head diving coach position at RIT. He now celebrates his birthday each year with a dive into the pool off the three-meter diving board. ESPN featured him in their E60 series and you can see the full video here.

As someone who aspires to be a great coach and leader, I have a number of takeaways from Cliff Devries. We can learn so much from him and his approach to life that applies directly to how we lead our teams and our own lives. Three quotes in the video that stood out to me were:

“You’re not going to find a lot of beauty in what I do, but it’s a lot of hard work.”

We too often get caught trying to pursue something for someone else instead of doing it because it’s important to us. That dive each year is for him, he’s not out to put on a show for anyone else. He puts himself in an extremely vulnerable position, allows others to help him in his mission and because of that he is celebrated.

“When you look beyond the surface, there’s always more.”

Our brains process millions of pieces of information each day. To be efficient, we must scan the world, look for patterns and make judgements or guesses quickly about the people and things around us. It’s hard to look beyond the surface, to dig deeper into a conversation, to understand the whole picture. When we do though, it is extremely rewarding.

“When you see my dives, what else can you do? What can you find in yourself? What can you find in others?...It’s probably a little bit beyond what you think right now.”

We are all capable of so much more than we realize and sometimes we need to be reminded of that. If we let others tell us what is possible, we limit our potential to the expectations of those around us. And many of those people have an interest in holding others back so that they themselves don’t get left behind. Great leaders see through that and ignore the limits put on them by other people. They also in turn encourage others to be their best and help them achieve more than they thought possible.

I hope that Cliff Devries’ story about perseverance and the necessity of hope and optimism along the way provided you with as much inspiration as it has to me. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, filled with gratitude for what you have and belief that you can overcome anything you set your mind to.