Disney Employee Engagement Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
Sundays in August. You Tube videos. Perfect timing for a look back one year ago.
Lane 8 makes you want to do something when you consider this man was 100 years old and still competing in sports – the Shot Put no less.
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From last year’s Lane 8 archives. There are four times as many daily readers today than last year. You probably missed this one.
Are you still holding on to last year’s dream, or have you quit?
Lane 8 is a fun story to write. Fun because it’s for our son. He’ll be nine in a few days. There are only a few who actually know this. Now more will.
If you were to spend an hour reading back through this blog, you’d start to see how impossible it was for me to be here in Finland.
The temptation to postpone, rationalize, or even to quit, is beyond my normal threshold for these types of life’s challenges.
Yet, I write this from Lahti, Finland – home to the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships.
Reading back through the posts, and looking at where I was ten years ago, I hope our son will realize a few things about life:
Thanks for following Lane 8. I totally understand virtually all of you will never have time to read from here to the beginning, or from the beginning to here.
But if you ever want to read a “book” to be inspired, this may be a diamond in the rough.
Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
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If you looked back exactly one year ago, do you remember what you where doing and why?
Lane 8 archive from exactly one year ago today, while in Lahti, Finland representing the United States at the 2009 Masters World Championships:
Do your best. How can anyone complain if they’ve done their best?
While it is quite tempting to want to be the best, for many, simply doing your best is gold-medal worthy.
What could be a sad thing for many dreams, is that people sell themselves short because they think winning a medal is the only measure of greatness.
Twice yesterday, I witnessed two athletes finish dreadfully last in their preliminary heats. They received more applause than the winners.
Why?
You tell me.
Perhaps, because deep down inside of each of us, is a desire to try as hard as that person, but we don’t have the courage to risk that kind of “embarrassment”.
When people aren’t concerned about what others think, they can do extraordinary things.
For an adult who’s never been able to read, and they work desperately hard to try to – then one day they are able to read a kindergarten book.
Gold medal.
Ya with me? Please don’t sell yourself short. Do your best, no matter what others think. This is what I tell myself everyday.
Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
Scroll down for today’s part II (Gold Medal)
Once again, this post is copied from Lane 8’s archives exactly one year ago:
Yes. Gold medal effort. That’s all I can ask of myself, “Did I do my best”?
Yes, I did.
It’s a question we should ask ourselves daily, “Will you do your very best”?
These two crazy dreamers (below) claim, “If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough”.
Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
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This post has been copied from the Lane 8 archives and reposted here today:
Race day at Lane 8 – August 4, 2009.
Men’s 400 meters, 50-54 age group. Call time 2PM. Heat time 3PM.
By the time my preliminary heat is over (8AM EST), most of you back in the United States will just be waking up.
I visualize myself running and feeling God’s pleasure. Running effortlessly, not to compete, but running simply because I can.
I don’t know why I run sometimes, all I know is that I enjoy it, and cannot help myself.
There is a popular misconception that winning is everything.
May I antagonistically challenge that?
Winning isn’t everything, doing your best is everything.
Don’t sell yourself short. Be as great as you can be. Even if you finish last. Even if you are not a runner.
Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂
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