Disney Employee Engagement Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
“Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough.” — 2006 Fortune Cookie
A Lane 8 reader commented recently that part of her motivation, as she was training for a Marathon, came from a fortune cookie saying.
Had to read it several times.
Each time, it got better. Each time it had more power. Each time it made indomitable will seem more like an antidote than a pain.
Be willing to be uncomfortable.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Steve Prefontaine. The son of an Oregon logger man.
Too small for football. Too slow for track. Not a sprinter. Also not fast enough to be a great miler.
But, he could endure more pain than anyone else.
He set the the National High School two-mile record. Bill Bowerman, the University of Oregon head Track Coach, recruited “Pre” and the two of them forever changed American running.
Steve Prefontaine is the only athlete, ever, which Nike has immortalized with a bronze statue. Are ya with me? The only one.
This You Tube video is the final five minutes (of a 13-minute race) of the 1972 Munich Olympics 5,000 meter final. It’s breathtaking, and awe inspiring to watch a man run the best race of his life, and finish fourth.
America thought the best was still to come and the world knew that Steve Prefontaine would return in four years, with a vengence and determination to win the Olympic Gold medal and set a new World Record.
But a tragic, late night car crash changed all that.
Carpe diem.
What do Guido Mueller and Roger Bannister have in common?
Most people know Roger Bannister was the first person (1956) to run one mile in less than four-minutes.
So what did Guido Muller do? By the way, this is the same Guido as in yesterday’s post.
People who know, claim that what Guido Muller did in August at the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships in Finland, is equivalent to what Roger Bannister did – humanly impossible.
I was there when it happened. In fact, I was filming all the 400 meter final races. And then this happened:
Impossible is nothing. Carpe diem.
Lane 8 business cards have a unique beginning.
Do you have interesting stories about important moments in your life?
If so, then you realize that if we don’t find a way to capture that moment, it will disappear and be forever lost.
Great companies do this. Great Countries do this. Great religions do this. Holidays, milestones, traditions.
Three days before flying to Helsinki, Finland, it dawned on me that there were going to be 5,300 athletes from 80 countries and untold spectators. I needed business cards. Lots of business cards.
“Okay, you don’t have much time”, I said in a panic. “But you do have an enormous opportunity.”
I cut out a handful of business card size pieces of card stock (my wife always has stuff like this on hand).
In only three tries, I had what I wanted.
My wife commented that even the edges I had drawn weren’t straight. “Perfect“, I said.
Two days before the leaving the United States, I asked Kinkos/FedEx how much for 1,000 or 3,000 cards. And then I said, “How much for 5,000?”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Maybe. Maybe not.
On January 5, 2009 my Family Physician wrote a script for a routine colonoscopy, since this is the year I turned 50.
Well, here we are, almost January, 2010 – a year later. No colonoscopy. Not even scheduled yet.
How in the hell can that happen?
Simple. You already know, don’t you? We get busy. Distracted. Paralyzed – with the fear of making a commitment.
So, please know I ain’t perfect. Big dreamer? Absolutely. Perfect? No way.
But if you look at the batting average, it represents a decent overall “practice what you preach” reality.
How’s your batting average?