Disney Employee Engagement Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
June 8, 1959. A 50-year milestone.
Wow!
Some people never reach this milestone.
Some reach it just once in their lifetime.
Others, a rare few, reach it twice. I contemplate the saying, “Be careful what you wish for”.
Not sure about wishing for 100 years. But I am sure about wishing for this……..
I wish for, “Peace in my soul. Joy in my spirit. And Love in my heart. For all my family, all my friends, and especially all those people less fortunate”.
Carpe diem. Seriously. jeff noel 🙂
jeff noel, from Lane 8, was at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, in Orlando, Florida.
Here are several jeff noel midlife You Tube videos. They’re a documentary of sorts.
I’m heading to the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships this August, in Lahti, Finland.
This journey to the Master’s Track & Field World Championships began over ten years ago, all because of a bad cholesterol report from a routine annual physical.
Dream Big. Get There. Stay There. Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
Never gets old.
Lane 8 never gets old?
Not for me.
Why?
Because I’ve come to realize that the way to be great, at anything, is to cultivate, develop, and finally, harness two key factors.
Focus and discipline.
Can you imagine trying to be great without these two?
There’s one other factor that deserves intense consideration – vision.
Steve Prefontaine had a vision – to be the greatest runner in the world, even though people said he was too short, too weak.
Good luck with whatever is important to you. Now you know my secrets.
They’re actually just common sense, but not common practice.
Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
Is Lane 8 impossible?
Yes. Absolutely impossible.
That’s what I told a friend yesterday at lunch. We were at Hartsfield International Airport, on our way home from Pittsburgh.
She asked, “Why is it impossible”? I smiled and answered, “Because there are so many people who can run faster than me. Plus, I was never a great runner”.
Then I added, “But because I’ve been focused and disciplined for a decade, if the best runners have their worst day, and I have my best day, I could be in the mix for Lane 8”.
I said, “If I can make it to the finals, I will absolutely be the slowest runner there”.
Lane 8 is where the slowest runner is put. Lane 1 is the next slowest . The fastest are in the middle.
She really didn’t understand exactly what I was talking about.
This is a David versus Goliath story. A story that is being told so my son, who’s eight, will have a memory and a metaphor about his Dad at age 50.
“When my Dad turned 50, he competed at the Master’s Track & Field World Championships in the 400 meters – many say it’s the sport’s toughest race”.
It’s my hope that he’ll always remember that in life we have two choices:
It’s simply a family story and a vision he can use to make choices about how hard to try and why, as he goes through life.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather try and fail than not try at all.
Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
Yes, jeff noel from Lane 8 here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
How important is a competitive advantage?
It’s everything! Right?
When I travel, I attempt to use the travel day as a rest from training.
Even though the newness, and the break in scenery, would make running here, and other places, very enjoyable and motivating, I have to remember that traveling leaves me vulnerable to conditions outside my control.
Air travel, flight delays, client schedules and commitments, traffic, weather, etc.
Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes.
If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough. Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂