In 1983, in Sydney, Australia, the world’s toughest race took place – an ultra-marathon from Sydney to Melbourne. This marathon covered a distance 875 km and had to be completed on foot. Many highly talented athletes from around the world came to participate in this marathon. These athletes were young men, 20-25 years old, with incredibly strong physiques. They were sponsored by major shoe companies like Nike and Adidas. They had received specialized training, and their diet and sleep were meticulously monitored using scientific methods. These athletes were truly superhuman, having undergone rigorous training.
Then, a man emerged from the bustling crowd. He was a 61-year-old farmer named Young Cliff. He slowly made his way towards the starting line. He was not an athlete. His clothes were those of an ordinary working man. He wore rubber boots on his feet—cheap rubber boots, the kind he usually wore while working in his fields and tending his sheep. When the journalists standing there saw him, they started making fun of him. One of them extended a microphone and asked, “Hey old man, what are you doing here? Did you get lost?” Cliff replied innocently, “No, I’ve come here to run.” Everyone standing there burst into laughter. “You’re going to run 875 kilometers at the age of 61? You must be joking!” Cliff said, “No, I’m a farmer, not an athlete. But we have 2000 acres of land and 2000 sheep. When a storm comes, I have to go out to gather my sheep. Sometimes I run continuously for two or three days. I chase them down on foot. I think I can do this.” All the journalists laughed, and the athletes made faces at him. They thought he was a madman who had come there for publicity.
The race was about to begin. All the athletes were standing in their positions. As soon as the gun went off, all the athletes, who were all young men, shot forward like the wind. Young Cliff was left behind. He wasn’t running; he was jogging in a strange style. His feet were dragging on the ground. It looked as if he would fall at any moment. In the first few hours, he was miles behind the other runners. Everyone assumed that this old man would get tired and sit down after an hour or two. He was just joking around.
Now the real story begins. A real competition starts. All those top athletes were prepared according to an expert’s plan. The plan was that they would run for 18 hours and sleep for 6 hours. This was a scientific approach. Six hours of sleep were necessary for the body to recover. That was the rule. After the 18-hour run on the first day, all the athletes went to their tents, got massages, drank special drinks, and went to sleep. But when they woke up the next morning, they received news that shocked them. They were told that while they were all sleeping, the 61-year-old farmer, Cliff Young, was still running. He hadn’t stopped. He had been running all night. The athletes laughed. They said he was crazy; his body would give out. He would be out of the race by tonight.
When the second day arrived and evening fell, after 18 hours of running, all the athletes went to sleep for 6 hours again, as it was the rule. That’s what science dictates, but Young Cliff didn’t stop. He continued running through the second night as well. People along the way would give him food, which he would eat while running. He would drink water and then keep going.
By the third day, all the other athletes were sleep-deprived. Their smiles had vanished because the 61-year-old farmer, whom they had initially mocked, was now miles ahead of them. They panicked. They tried to reduce their sleep. They started running for 20 hours instead of 18, but they couldn’t catch Young Cliff because he simply wasn’t stopping. He was now playing outside the system. After 5 days and 15 hours and 4 minutes, Young Cliff crossed the finish line. He had won the 875-kilometer race. He hadn’t just won the race; he had broken the world record for that race. The athlete who came in second finished 10 hours after Cliff.
The whole of Australia, even the whole world, was astonished to hear how this had happened. How could a 61-year-old farmer, wearing rubber boots and without sleeping, beat the world’s best athletes? When journalists surrounded Cliff after the race and asked him, “Cliff, how did you do it? What’s your secret?”
The answer Cliff gave was the essence of the story.
Cliff simply said, “I didn’t know I was supposed to sleep.” He didn’t win because he was the fastest. He didn’t win because his shoes were the most expensive. He won because he was ignorant. He won because he didn’t know the rules. No one had told him that it was necessary to sleep for six hours to run 875 kilometers. No one had taught him that a person cannot exceed their limits at the age of 61. His mind was free from the limitations that we call knowledge. He was beyond this knowledge.
This story isn’t about romance. It’s about understanding the many limitations you’ve imposed on yourself in your own mind. What went wrong with all those athletes? They were all younger and fitter than Cliff. They had better technology, yet they all lost. Why did they lose? Because of their learned helplessness.
This is a major principle of psychology discovered by Martin Seligman. He says that when a person is repeatedly convinced that they cannot change a situation, they stop trying, even if a door to freedom opens later. All those athletes were experts; they had read numerous books. They had been taught that the body has limits. Science had told them that running for 18 hours and sleeping for 6 hours is the optimal way to run. This very knowledge became their trap. This rule became their chain. While Cliff was running all night, the athletes were sleeping. Why? Because their books said that sleep is necessary; it allows the body to rest. They were trapped in their learned helplessness.
Now, pause for a moment and think about your life. Have you also been taught that after the age of 40, your body doesn’t function as well? Have you also been taught that you can’t break through your limitations and learn something new in your 60s? Have you been taught that you are bound by constraints and cannot overcome the things that always hold you back?
