The Man With The Only Hand Story

The Man With The Only Hand Story

ðThis story is about Karoly Takacs, a Hungarian, a great pistol shooter and an army officer. This is about a man who achieved the world record of winning two olympic gold. This is about the personality who originated from army training and went from the national pistol shooting championship and the hungarian national pistol shooting to 1948 olympics.

This was the year 1938. His aim was to make his hand the best shooting hand in the universe. He was training for the same his whole life. Everyone knew that he would bag a gold in the olympics.

But one unfortunate experience changed whole sinario of his life. While training in an army camp, a hand grenade got bursted in his hand. He lost his right hand in this horrific accident. His aim, to make his hand the best shooting hand in universe, was over.

He was having two options; one to cry his whole life, and two, be a fighter and conquor the situation. He choosed to be a fighter. Karoly was not focussing on what he didn’t had, he focussed on what he had, and what he had, was a left hand, a hand which could not even write.

He started training with what he had and after one year(1939), he was seen in a local pistol shooting competition in Hungry. All the participants there were very proud of him and everyone came to him and congraturated him for the reason that after going through all the hell in life, he was there to support all the shooters.

But again, this was not the situation in this case. Noone was aware of the fact that he was training with his left hand the past year and Karoly was there to participate in the competition.

All the participants were participating with the best hand they had, but he was participating with the “only hand” he had, and to everyone’s surprise, Karoly won that competition.

But he didn’t stop there, he was fully focused for the olympics of 1940. 

Unfortunately, the olympics got cancelled due to World War. He then focused on the olympics of 1944 which were again cancelled due to World War.

He was not demotivated with this, he moved on and focused on the olympics of 1948. In 1938 he was 28 years old and therefore in 1948, his age was 38.

Age plays a major role in shooting and it was very difficuilt for Karoly to compete with young shooters. But he was not aware of any word called “difficuilt”.

The Man With The Only Hand Story

He went to the olympics, best shooters from the world were competing with their best hand and he was with his only hand, but again to everyone’s surprise, Karoly won gold medal in the olympics.

But he was not satisfied here also. He participated in 1952 olympics and creating history, won gold medal. He did the impossible. His aim to make his hand the best shooting hand in the universe was achieved.

After this, he was transformed from a man to "THE MAN WITH THE ONLY HAND"

Things that one can learn from The Man With The Only Hand

Operating from your circle of control

 Karoly took responsibility for his own destiny by consciously taking a choice to not specialise in the items that weren't under his control (the right that he had lost).

More often than not, this leads to an attitude of blame and accusations, reactive language, and increased feelings of victimization.

To succeed professionally, always pro-actively spend some time and energy on things that you simply can control and influence.

  Mental grit

One of the foremost important lessons from Karoly's story is that he was a person with the mental toughness to recover quickly from an extreme quite adversity.

Such professionals are those that don't linger over problems or the past, but can turn obstacles into a source of growth and opportunity.

The Man With The Only Hand Story

Perseverance is that the key to success

Karoly spent a month in hospital depressed both about the loss of his hand and therefore the end of his Olympic dream. Most of the people under this situation would have quit and possibly spent the remainder of their days feeling pitying themselves.

But this wasn’t the case with Karoly. He was a winner who knew quitting wasn't an option and although life was hard, he wouldn’t let it beat him down.

After being discharged from the hospital, the great personality prepared by himself for months. Nobody was aware of what he was doing. He probably didn’t want to subject himself to the scrutiny of individuals who may need discouraged him from his rekindled dream.

This ultimately led him to win gold within the 1948 London Olympics. Professionals who have the power to resiliently continue , even when their efforts are met with failure or disappointment, tend to realize their goals and ambitions easily.

As Karoly often said, “Make a promise to your dreams as if you were making a promise to your child—I will always stand by you regardless of what, i will be able to never hand over on you regardless of what.”

Karoly is a superb example of the infinite capabilities of human will-power. The inspiration is that despite being a right-handed person, he won two Olympic gold in 25m rapid fire pistol events, in a row with his left and only hand .

He's the solution to all or any those professionals who say that they can not . Next time you get pushed against the wall at work, take a choice to act sort of a winner., think like him. rise up quickly, take action, and achieve your goals!

The Man With The Only Hand Story

The Man With The Only Hand Story

“  A CHAMPION IS ONE WHO GETS UP, WHEN HE CAN’T  ”