Blind Paralympian Shares How His Vision For Success Made Him A Champion.

Lex Gillette can’t see in a literal sense, but he’s never lost sight of his goals.

As a four-time Paralympic medalist and world record holder, the 36-year-old is the most accomplished blind long and triple jumper in the country. He credits his success to seeing past so-called limits to create his own destiny!

The athlete went completely blind at 8 years old. Instead of falling into despair, he looked to the future, visualizing his goals and how to achieve them.

First, he focused on getting through everyday life, learning to read braille and working on how to get around without seeing. If there was a way to do something, he would find it! That can-do attitude made him the champion he is today.

“Being blind literally gives me the opportunity to create and shape the world that I want to see,” he told “The Spark,” Calm’s audio series. “I think blindness has really been a huge blessing because it’s taught me that sight is never the determining factor in our success. It’s always that vision and our ability to see things before they exist.”

So how does he do it? Whenever Lex takes on a new challenge, he asks himself three questions:

What do I want out of this situation? What do I want to do? Where do I want to go?

Then he brainstorms how to make these things happen, takes action, and tweaks his strategy if necessary. Right now, he’s applying those same concepts to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, picturing himself jumping for gold. As he likes to put it, “No need for sight when you have a vision.”

What an inspiration! Lex is absolutely right: It’s not what you have, but what you do that makes your dreams come true!

We could all use more motivation, so share Lex’s wise words to spread some encouragement today.

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