Ep. 8 - Unlocking Your Inner Strength with Matthew Ames | Part 1

Matthew Ames was 39 years old when he was struck with illness. It started with just a sore throat but worsened to the point that he eventually ended up in the Hospital ER, where the last thing he remembers was describing his symptoms to a nurse before being placed in an induced coma.

His doctors soon discovered he had a strep infection which had entered his bloodstream. Matthew had a 1% chance of survival and his doctors and family were left with just one option: amputate all of his limbs.

Can you imagine what it would be like to go from riding a bike into work and renovating your own house, to lying in a hospital bed with no arms and no legs? Matthew couldn’t.

Here are some of the key points from Dave’s interview with Matthew:

You don’t know what you can do until you do it. We have an inner strength in us and we don’t realise how deep it is until we face something significant.

Matthew’s wife was faced with the decision of whether or not to amputate Matthew’s limbs. Knowing who Matthew is and knowing that her role in their family would dramatically change, she made the call to amputate. Do you have people in your life like Diane who you would trust with your life in their hands? People who have your best interests at heart? People who can be selfless when it counts?

Initially, while in Intensive Care, Matthew was focussed on survival. He would set himself 24-hour goals. When things get tough, you can focus on those small things you can do right now.

Matthew’s strength to work on those goals came from his deeper “why”: wanting to get home. What is the deeper meaning or purpose behind why you want to achieve, do or have something? When you focus on that, you’re able to have greater motivation, focus and willingness.

Keep trying different ways of doing something. This is the only way to learn whether something will or won’t work.

Sometimes we get caught up focussing on the bigger picture. When you’re trying to achieve something or have something, concentrate on the smaller parts, step through the process and focus on what you can do, this will help you not get overwhelmed.

It is ok to fail. Fail quickly, but also fail safely. Plan things out, think things through and make an honest (and safe) attempt.

The second part of this interview will be our next episode.

Challenge for the week: find one main thing that inspired you from this interview and use that as motivation for this week.

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