There's a realization that goes hand in hand with anything you could ever want
and it's that nothing in life is simply deserved. Success has never been about
entitlement or what you feel is owed to you.
It's about what you take. See every cause has an effect, every
journey has its milestones and every victory has a beginning and right now
begins yours.
Not in some blown-up cinematic Hollywood sense
but in a decision to separate from your past, your mistakes and misconceptions.
They are not what you are made of. The hardest thing to understand is that
you are your future, the space between where you currently stand in your
greatest dreams and every step along the way is who you
are. That's what defines you, your pursuit.
Your future rests on the decision to conquer right now. Create the world you need
be the change you so desperately want. There are an infinite number of ways to
succeed, infinite but there is only one way to fail and that's standing still.
Embrace life with open arms, it's giving you everything
you need, it is your answer. The narrow existence right in front of you is not
life, life is the opportunity outside your door. The pure ecstasy of
moving day in and day out towards your dreams, towards their ideal existence,
that's what makes your highs higher and makes your lows feel like the cost of
admission. It is a cheap price to pay for the ability to turn an average Tuesday
into your wildest dreams. It's not a requirement, it's a gift. You get to see
how far you can go, how much you can achieve and if you want it bad enough
you will step on your limits like they are a never-ending staircase. Your
journey is infinite and so is your potential. What you want
is not behind, it is not who you used to be or what you used to do, it's your very
next step but let me ask you this. Do you think if it was a life-or-death
situation right, say you needed water to survive. Would you give up after looking
for three hours and coming up empty-handed?
Of course not you'd keep looking because life depended on it
right? There's no other options available. There's this old saying that if you want
to take the island, burn the ships, commit and it's not until you do this that
things truly begin to change. That progress is made at the highest level.
You simply cannot tiptoe to success. You can't sneak up behind it, you have to own
it right? Go after what you want like the world is on fire. Like your universe
revolves around making this happen. I have never in my 28 years of existence seen a
lion walk up to a gazelle and hope that it falls over right? It attacks it with
everything that it has. Speed, strength, tenacity that's what brings home the
prize. If you and your goals aren't one, if they are not the same that's a pretty
good indicator that you are fighting the wrong fight. You should live and breathe
your dreams. Inhale and exhale them. They should live at the forefront of your
mind where every thought that comes through your head should be in the
context of that dream. That basic question, 'how bad do you want it?' Well if
you're not willing to fully commit, to dive into something then that gives you
a pretty good answer right out of the gate. You can talk about hours spent, routines
habits, but if you aren't passionate about what
you want, if you don't immerse yourself in it none of that really matters. Live
how you need to live. Do what you need to do, be who you need to be to make your
dreams real. Fully commit to excellence because until you do that you will be
left with only a vision and a false sense of reality. Winners don't have time
for that. Okay set your mind to your target and crush it. That is the only
option. If success came at the snap of a finger
everyone would be running four minute miles and driving Ferrari's but that's
not the way the world works but when you make the decision to be different, to
give up temporary comfort for something greater
you've committed to the ride of your life and when the time comes and you
cross the finish line first or you realize success in whatever capacity, you
can smile at the world as they look at you like some miracle. Completely
oblivious to the price that you paid for this but you know and there's no greater
gratification than that.
It's been said that it takes 10,000 hours to perfect your craft. 10,000 hours
of walking away from immediate satisfaction to enter this sense of
solitude and dedication to where you weed out mediocrity, to where you carve out your
place in the history and if you're waiting for someone to come along and
just make that happen for you, it'll be a long wait my friend because it's your
flame and if you don't keep it lit, it will die and a flame can be a fragile
thing. Weakness, doubt, uncertainty, failures, they all want to put it out and
if you're not bigger than your body, they will. Trust me you'll fail. Time and time
again. It may not be until your 100th attempt that you even begin to see
success but if you don't have the foresight and that persistence to see
past the bumps in the road, you will never know. That relentlessness? It's how
you separate yourself from the people that feel sorry for themselves and watch
the world from their bedroom windows but that's not what you signed up for.
Nothing good falls into your hands. It's why every day is so important. Think of
every hour as a piece of paper right, by itself very little weight, very little
significance but committing to the grind every day causes each piece to stack up
and before you know it, you've transformed yourself and your ability and that's
what people don't see. That stack being built piece by piece. What they see is
the finish line as it's crossed one by one. They see 30 seconds, they didn't see
10,000 hours but you did. It's why you hold your head high.
It's why you can smile to yourself when people talk about you quote-on-quote
being born with talent, it's why you're looking at them from the podium.
So you look outside right, and the first thing you see through the window is that the running
conditions are terrible, they’re far from ideal
Your first inclination is to go back to bed, wait until it warms up, maybe hang tight until the
rain or snow stops, which the majority of us
would find completely reasonable by the way.
But let me explain this scenario from a different angle, because this is the exact situation when
it’s most important to get out of bed, to put your running shoes
on and to head out the front door.
There is an undervalued benefit that comes from putting yourself in an
uncomfortable situation, from forcing yourself to be just a little bit
irrational. When you look at those who have been successful, what separates them
is that they do things and they make sacrifices that others would not. They're
the people that study until 4:00 a.m. or wake up when it's dark outside to practice
free throws. Whatever the specific skill set may be, the pattern is always the
same. They were willing to pay a price that most wouldn't.
They wanted it just a little bit more.
So what could this possibly have to do with running in the rain?
It has everything to do with it.
Why is it that when you run outside on a cold, rainy day no one's out there?
It's not because you're doing anything that in itself is great or heroic. You're
running alone because it sucks. It sucks to run in the rain right? To have cold
wind blowing in your face that's not relaxing or enjoyable, it's
uncomfortable but you're out there when everyone else is warm inside and there's
value to that.
Training yourself to follow through with your ambitions regardless of hurdles
because life will not always be comfortable.
What are you gonna do when things get bad? You lose a client at work, your
girlfriend leaves you, are you gonna stay in bed because there will always be a
reason to wait for later, to hope for smoother waters ahead. The best though?
They achieve in spite of undesirable conditions.
Then suddenly meeting your goals is becoming a habit not something left up for
chance. You don't even look at the weather right
the forecast becomes of very little significance to you. So it's cold, great
you'll wear two sweatshirts but you'll figure out how to get it done and I'll
tell you when you take those shoes off and head to work or practice or wherever
your day takes you, that mentality does not leave. You look at things differently
you know you realize that 99% of the reasons we give for not doing things
they're excuses. They're meaningless. If you want
something, do it and guys that's not a cliche. That's the key to success. Find a
way to get it done
and the best part. When it's finally 72 and sunny and the world is outside ready
to run, you'll have lapped that place so many times that you're not even on the
same level. You have been to hell and back and your performance will make that
apparent.
That's how you become the best.
So is it just a run in the rain? You tell me.
All things of value come with a cost and this cost, it's essential because
without it there's no triumph, there's no victory.
It's what separates out those who really want something, the determined.
Why do triathletes compete, why do rowers row, runners run?
At a competitive level it certainly isn't because it feels good physically.
You know it's quite the opposite, they endure a lot of rough situations, a lot
of painful training because of a tiny light at the end of the tunnel and that
light is how you build upon your self-worth. It's how you define what
you're capable of and success cannot come to be without adversity. How you
handle yourself in those adverse situations, that is what defines a person
that is how you build your legacy.
There will come a time when it hurts. When you have to ask yourself if it's
worth it and consciously avoid quitting and turning to an easier approach.
Remember - anyone can run downhill, not many people can run up and the
interesting thing is that that trophy is usually at the top.
Be careful how you conceptualize the word Hell because Hell implies that the
suffering will never end, that it's the ultimate pain. Three things. One, you can
always be worse off than you are. Two, suffering is temporary and three when
you wake up tomorrow, having given up will be far more painful than anything
else you could have done. Everything in life is temporary.
There's a quote that's gotten me through many tough times in my life and it's
that pain is temporary but quitting is forever. Oh and how true that is.
I can still remember the times in my life where I know I had more to give. That
stays with you but how bad your 2K test hurt, how bad you wanted to sleep
before a final exam, the pain in your body during the final stretch of a race,
that all dissipates. That becomes pretty meaningless looking back. It's the
results that matter, it's the results you remember because when the hurt is over
right, the struggles gone you either did something great or you didn't. That's
when things fall into place. The hell you experienced was simply a
vehicle taking you to your destination so being that you only live once, that
you're fortunate enough to have an opportunity to do something significant
why not make it hurt? Rise above what's uncomfortable and see
the big picture. Ride it out because when all is said and done, the guy who gives
more when it hurts gets more when it's over.
Some build, others tear down.
Some take risks, others critique the risk takers. Some pursue the infinite, others
settle for a life of limitation. Some make change, others complain that things
are no longer the same. Some help people grow, others think that your loss is
their gain. Some learn from misfortune, others become held down by it. Some turn
fear into opportunity, others avoid the unknown. Some never stop learning, others
think they have all the answers. Some do, others talk. Some give, others take. Some
live, others wish. Some see an opportunity, others see an
obligation. Some work toward the possibility of excellence
others run from the possibility of defeat.
Some fall and get back up, others stay where they are so that they never have
to worry about leaving their feet.
Some embrace the elements, others take shelter. Some search, seek and discover
others wait to be told. Some perform, others watch. Some persist, others stop.
Some make the most of every single day and others watch those very same days
go by.
So which one are you? What will you create with the pieces presented to you?
Not tomorrow or the next day but right now and every second moving forward. Will
you build or tear down, take the easy road or the road less traveled? When all is
said and done and you've come to the end of your story, what will it say?