When extraordinary adversity strikes— lessons on bravery and peak performance

By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye

An unlikely fierce battle unfolded between a hammerkop bird— a predator by nature and a seemingly helpless bullfrog in the untamed wild land of Kruger National Park in South Africa. At the first glance, the outcome appeared certain: a powerful bird versus a fragile amphibian. But as the encounter progressed, the bullfrog demonstrated an extraordinary display of resilience, turning the fight into an inspiring lesson in survival, determination, and success against all odds. The bullfrog— an unassuming creature— defied expectations, transforming an inevitable defeat into a masterclass in resilience and strategy.

This remarkabmle event, far from being a simple survival tale, mirrors the profound struggles we face in life when odds are stacked against us. Unlike the everyday challenges that test our patience and resolve, some adversities demand an almost superhuman capacity to persevere—turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. The event perfectly matching those hardships necessitating an almost superhuman capacity embodies the principles of peak performance and serves as a metaphor for life’s struggles. Like the bullfrog, we often face overwhelming challenges that seem insurmountable. Yet, this story reminds us that courage, strategy, and unwavering effort can overcome even the direst circumstances.

What can we learn from this intense encounter and how does a battle between predator and prey illuminate the path to personal success? This article delves into the gripping details of the fight, extracting powerful lessons on conquering adversity, unlocking potential, and achieving the impossible. With valuable insights on the rare kind of adversity that pushes the boundaries of human potential, the article spurs you to rise stronger. It compels you to dig deeper and redefine the very concept of triumph against any apparently insuperable hardship.

Details of the fight

As highlighted in video which we initially found on MSN but which  is now unavailable on the platform, a hungry hammer-kop in the Kruger National Park in South Africa caught a bullfrog. Over and over, the bird went after its prey. Why does what happened stand as the perfect peak performance and success lesson? Why is the event linked with peak performance and success? These are secondary questions to which this article responds.

At the beginning, you observe that the hammer-kop has actually shattered the bullfrog. This bird seizes the frog with its beak and then walks while keeping it in the beak, and eventually knocks it on the ground. This situation persuades you that the bullfrog has already become the bird’s food. The bullfrog actually appears to have already been plunged into a hopeless and irreversible situation.

When struck on the ground, the bullfrog doesn’t gain any opportunity to fight back. The bird continues grabbing it in its beak and striking it on the ground for at least 4 times. At the final time, the bird knocks the bullfrog down on its back. You understand that the bullfrog actually remains in a non-supportive environment.

Yet, upon being struck on the ground on its back, the bullfrog rushes to be in the normal position and turns abruptly ready to retaliate. While the bird notices that the bullfrog is going to attack back, it hastens to assail the bullfrog first but since the bullfrog has already reinvigorated itself; an unexpected event happens.  While the hammer-kop moves its beak forward in the hope to hit the bullfrog, the latter one suddenly jumps as if it were going to take the beak.

This has unpredictably thwarted the bird’s plan, since it immediately struggles to escape this attack.  But the bird doesn’t relinquish the fight.  It instead goes on attacking the bullfrog while the latter one is also retaliates forcefully. The bird assails the bullfrog which courageously combats the bird back. To end the fight, the bullfrog leaps to bite the bird which also jumps a bit above. In this case, the bird decides to quit shamefully and the bullfrog rescues its life through its bravery.

We believe that the bravery has undoubtedly emanated from the bullfrog thinking that this fight constitutes a matter of life and death. It is as if told itself “If I don’t resist fiercely, I shall be eaten, but if I fight back courageously, I am likely to beat the enemy though I can lose the combat. Thus, it’s better and more beneficial for me to attack back than merely succumbing to the enemy.”

Why does the event stand as the perfect peak performance and success lesson?

In fact, the word ‘perfect’ is too powerful that using it necessitates extreme caution. This word means ‘flawless, impeccable, free of any imperfections, complete, faultless and immaculate.’ The Cambridge Dictionary echoes it, defining the word as ‘complete and correct in every way, of the best possible type or without fault.’ But the performance or bravery and achievement of the bullfrog deserves to be called a perfect performance and success lesson. It demonstrates the sure success of using all your energy to overcome your adversity how powerful it were. This event forms a flawless lesson in terms of employing your force to full potential, so as to defeat your adversities and then achieve inconceivable success.

The event represents a perfect peak performance and success lesson because the bullfrog has first determined to eliminate fear from itself and then combat back to its full potential. The immediate outcome is the bullfrog’s tremendous success. The latter one is tremendous since no success surpassing that of expelling your death has existed and shall exist.  Managing to employ your abilities to thwart death which was close to carrying you is and shall remain the most important success.

Lesson from the event and why it is linked with peak performance and success

The lesson from the incident is that when you encounter an adversity, you don’t have to dread and then run or succumb to it. You instead have to remain brave and face the adversity fiercely. Fight back every time you seize an opportunity, and we are sure that you will get the opportunity.

But, this demands using all of your energy in a certain relevant field or more fields as clarified with the bullfrog’s case. Employing all your energy means peak performance. Peak performance also means performance acme which is your highest level of performance.

Very few people perform or work to their full potential, because of reasons that we will address in our future stories. However, you register incredible success by working to your full potential. If you are an employee or business owner, you need to work to your full capacity so as for you to attain extremely maximally high success which is even inconceivable.  The statement that it is very few people who perform to their full potential is substantiated by different sources, some of them being the following ones.

According to Gallup research of 2013 which Inc. Africa cited in its 2017 article, an astounding 70 percent of U.S. employees weren’t showing up to work fully committed to deliver their best performance. “Adding insult to injury, 52 percent of those workers are basically sleepwalking through their day, and 18 percent of them are busy acting out their unhappiness” reads the article. The Business Journal in its June 2013 article also pointed out “An alarming 70% of American employees aren’t working to their full potential, and they’re slowing economic growth.”

You may think that this issue has changed greatly, since the research is very old. No, this isn’t the case. Job dissatisfaction statistics in 2023 revealed in Zip Do article indicated approximately 53% of Americans were unhappy at work. It added that 85% of people were dissatisfied with their jobs worldwide. An unhappy employee hardly works hard; which signifies that they can’t work to their full potential. Nevertheless, Money Magazine says “Happy employees are 13% more productive.”

Very few people work to their full capacity, especially because they don’t regard the reason for doing so as a supreme one, contrarily to the bullfrog. The latter’s one reason for working to its full energy was the most important because nothing transcends life. Faced with the situation, the bullfrog was compelled to employ all of its strength to get out of the problem which was closing to claiming its life. During this struggle, the bullfrog resorted to different fields. All its thoughts, bodily efforts and tactics were channeled on winning the battle.

This is how we have to deal with adversities and success. We need to approach them like a battle— like that of the bullfrog—that we have to win at any cost. We need to first convince our minds that we have to be victorious and they will help us to marshal all resources needed for us to emerge vanquishers. That’s what the bullfrog first did; which resulted in its unexpected success.

Adversities will always manifest themselves like too hard or powerful to defeat. An adversity can be of any kind such as chronic disease, destructive relationship or violent conflict, failures, unemployment and financial hardships, just to mention a few. If you act like the bullfrog, you will assuredly manage to overcome your adversity. In other words, if you don’t fear to confront it, you will certainly surmount it successfully.

For instance, we know people who have suffered from diseases described as incurable by their doctors, but these diseases were eventually successfully treated especially because of not fearing. Most people who are told that they have contracted incurable diseases develop excessive fear that the latter one contributes to their quick death. So, the best tactic to face any adversity includes confronting it calmly and fearlessly. In other words, we need to develop our minds into peaceful ones for them to play a crucial role. Life In Humanity has published some articles around this point, like this article and another one accessible here.

The Indian Express in its article “Explained: Why patients sometimes make ‘miraculous’ recoveries” corroborates our point. It states “Now and then, a doctor comes across a patient who improves unexpectedly from a disease that usually progresses, such as cancer, and at times is even cured. This is called spontaneous healing.”

“In their 1966 book ‘Spontaneous Regression of Cancer’, W H Cole and T C Everson defined it (in cases of cancer) as the partial or complete disappearance of a malignant tumour in the absence of all treatment, or in the presence of therapy which is considered inadequate to exert significant influence on neoplastic disease. Such cases notwithstanding, the medical fraternity is often sceptical and takes ‘miraculous’ recoveries as flukes [accidents/coincidences/chances]. Very few study such cases such or take them into account when treating patients.”

These very few cases include Dr. Jeffrey Rediger, MD, a psychiatrist who also possesses a master’s degree in divinity, according to the Indian Express. For more than 15 years, he studied spontaneous healing, the results of which he has written in his book “Cured: The Life-Changing Science of Spontaneous Healing.” Dr. Ridiger has explored patterns behind healing illnesses such as the deadliest kinds of cancers and lays out physical and mental principles associated with recovery. “These include physically healing diets and immune systems, and mentally healing stress responses and identities. Rediger argues that much of our physical reality is created in our minds and perception changes our experiences, sometimes to the point of changing our bodies. Therefore, Rediger argues, healing our identities may be a key tool to recovery.”

Different prominent medical professionals have commended the book. Their quotes highlight the undeniable and great importance of our minds in overcoming our adversities and we have placed the quotes at the end of this article.  While Rediger’s work substantiates the considerable importance of preparing our minds to fully support us in our life struggles, 5 years ago, the Former Car Salesperson [1977–2000], Gregg MacDonald wrote “If you are faced with an immediate attack situation that could kill you, you cannot react with fear. Face the issue immediately and do what needs to be done as quickly and as calmly as possible. If you can defend yourself, do so immediately. If not, then run, duck, dive for cover or do whatever is necessary to escape.

If it is a situation that is not immediate, you must still control your fear. Take a moment or two to sort out your options, and forge ahead. Knowledge helps. Before you do anything risky, do your best to be mentally and physically prepared. Firemen tell cops [ police officers] that they would never chase a bad guy down a dark alley, while cops say they would never run into a burning building. Knowing in advance what actions will minimize the danger makes all the difference.”

MacDonald also suggests that we shouldn’t panic when an attack arises but that we should retaliate back with composure. But he also advises us to run away, if that’s what the situation dictates. But, remember that we are now dealing with peak performance to surmount hardships which have arisen on our path to success. Here, one of key tactics from his advice is to gather knowledge and skills- from both the adversities as they also generate them and any other sources- we have to employ.

Like in the case of the bullfrog, it often comes to pass that we face issues we have no ability to run away from. In this case, we are obliged to stand up and combat fully energetically and calmly as exactly as the bullfrog acted.

The quotes of the prominent physicians who have commented on Rediger’s book

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, Director of the Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Blood Sugar Solution has said “Cured is a rare glimpse into the mysteries of human health and disease. Why do some people with incurable disease suddenly heal? This phenomenon has been ignored by medicine rather than investigated. Dr. Rediger finally asks what we can learn from these cases of spontaneous remission and how can we activate the power of the human body using the mind to harness our body’s own healing systems.”

Jill Bolte-Taylor, PhD, Neuroanatomist, Spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Bank, Author of the New York Times bestseller ‘My Stroke of Insight’ has shared “I believe Dr. Rediger is the perfect person to write this meaningful and timely book, which shows us a new paradigm of healing from physical illness. His unique documentation of the traits and strategies of individuals who have manifested their own medical recoveries, against all odds, will offer not only hope but also genuine insight to anyone facing a medical crisis.”

Ellen Langer, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Author of ‘Counterclockwise’ has stated“Dr. Rediger’s work adds enormously to the growing body of work willing to take on the medical establishment and show that we may have far more control over our health than most physicians, researchers, and the lay public realize.”

Martha Stark, MD, Faculty, Harvard Medical School has said “Packed with pearls of wisdom gleaned from Dr. Rediger’s intensive immersion in the field of remarkable recoveries and from his thoughtful reflections about his own personal journey, Cured will touch the hearts and souls of everyone who reads this book and will inspire them to take charge of their health – and their mindset. This exciting book is bound to be a page- turner for anyone who wants to die from old age – and not before then.”