A mindset shift saved his life.
Mike Burke is an executive, personal and life coach. His work is about mental fitness, positive intelligence, and mindset. He began coaching after he wrote the book Waiting to Die, Running to Live, about living with and managing cystic fibrosis. People began to share their stories of life struggles, and he wanted to do more than listen and encourage them.
Mike was very sick as an infant, and after many months he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of one. As soon as he got on a medical regimen, he started to thrive but when he was diagnosed he was given 5 to 7 years to live. The disease means that Mike’s body doesn’t digest food well, and it creates a thick mucus in the lungs and makes him susceptible to a lot of infections. He did well enough to survive childhood. For him being a kid it was never a big deal, he played soccer and baseball. But the family didn’t talk about his disease. When he was a teenager and got curious, before the internet existed, he rode his bike to the library and checked out a medical journal where he read that the life expectancy was 18 years for those with cystic fibrosis. This frightened him because he was 15 at the time.
At that time the disease had permanently damaged his digestive system, but not his lungs. He was very thin and played golf in high school. In college he started running, and one day decided he could run pretty far so he ran 13 miles. But after college he started his career and didn’t have time to run or bike.
At that point he was past the 18-year mark that had scared him, but he felt like he was on borrowed time. He didn’t tell anyone about his disease, and his short life expectancy. But he was running and also cycling about 50 miles a day.
After college, he focused on his career. He was traveling the country for sales and moving wherever they needed help. He was promoted to sales director for a big hotel company and he liked to work hard and long hours, and he really wasn’t paying attention to his body. Cystic fibrosis is progressive and aggressive, and he got very sick right around his thirtieth birthday. He realized that if he didn’t do something to manage this disease that he wouldn’t have many more years.
He moved back to St. Louis and had changed his lifestyle, always revolving around the same doctor. He wanted to exercise so he started running again, but the disease had taken 20% of his lungs. He was competitive and wanted to push himself and started increasing the miles. Soon he was able to run 10, and kept going until he thought he could run a marathon. He tried twice to make it but had to drop. But in the end he managed to complete his marathon.
The mindset tool Mike uses in his races is to focus in on one sense. When he did his first Ironman he had never swam in open water. And other swimmers were packed around him and he was getting pummeled. He began hyperventilating, and frustration was growing. Then he calmed himself and focused in on the feeling of being in the water. He calmed down and was able to get in a rhythm. This body awareness is a skill Mike uses to get through the tough parts of the races he runs.
When Mike was young he thought, “Why work hard in high school?” “I’m never going to go to college” “Why go to college?” “I can never be an adult with a job.” And he says that thank God his father was able to put an end to those thoughts and give him confidence so he committed to going to college and had a positive approach. By the time he graduated he had his mind set on a career and to make the most of life. He has a good focus on positive things, and when he sinks into negative thinking he tends to look for positive thoughts to pull him out of it. He is now able to recognize the internal dialogue when it comes and get out of it.
Mike’s Book is called ”Waiting to Die, Running to Live” and he talks about the 2 different mindsets he had in life. At first he was waiting for the worst things to happen. Cystic fibrosis hung over his head as a reality that was supposed to end his life early. But then he shifted his mindset to be as healthy as he could for as long as he could. That’s when he started running and taking on endurance challenges like the Ironman.
His phrase that describes his life philosophy is to live with confidence and in the face of adversity.
Connect with Mike:
Leave a Reply