world championships – Page 3 – Disney Employee Engagement Speaker

So Then What Happened?

So the second week, I ran two mailboxes a day. Third week, three mailboxes a day.

Yes, many of you have heard this before. Which is one of the secrets to excellent results – repetition. Never get tired of doing the basic, common sense things.

Stories are critical to perpetuating past success and moving to even greater success. You already knew that right?

Eventually, the goals became impossible, but their pursuit was compelling.

What’s fascinating is how intense it was to rise to the level of representing the United States at the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships, without anyone knowing.

Neighbors. Family. Work. Ten years. Ten years of dedicated, relentless effort.

Invisible to everyone around me. For a decade.

Now, neighbors know. And Family knows. Yet to this day, most where I work have no idea.

And so the question today is this, “What is your impossible goal and will you persue it without any fanfare or glory, but just for the sake that it’s a noble goal?”

Lane 8 Optimism

What can we learn from defeat, loss, failure?

Many things to be sure. But only if we try hard to learn from setback. And only if we listen. And only if we then try again.

Are you listening? And I don’t mean, “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening”.

I mean, are you the kind of person that will pick yourself up after you fall?

Are you the type of person that finds a million ways to stay motivated?

You see, getting motivated is one thing. What makes winners is staying motivated.

Oh wait, you want to tell me something, right?

Okay, go ahead.

“Jeff, you don’t understand, my life is hard. It’s very difficult.”

Here’s a Christmas gift for you, and it is given with the most hopeful and sincere intent – “No one has it easy. Period. End of story.”

This may scare some people off, and I would hate to see that happen, but I can’t allow myself to make excuses.

How can I teach our son (9), that it’s okay to make excuses?

Hurts Like Hell

Blah, blah, blah….hurts like hell. Still. My foot hurts. A lot.

If you’re new to Lane 8, welcome. Earlier this year, there were quite a few Lane 8 blog posts discussing my foot pain and whether or not I could travel to Finland for the Master’s Track & Field World Championships.

And yesterday, after writing the post, “43rd”, it caused me to do several things:

Be amazingly thankful
Become more confident
To feel like a victor, rather than a victim
Pray for others to overcome their own struggles

The last one in particular is the one that seems most important.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Fall down seven times, get up eight.

If you’re goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough.

Carpe diem. It’s completely up to you. You are the CEO of YOU, Inc.

Yep, it’s gonna hurt like hell to reach your big dreams. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Once you realize that hard work is the way, the way gets easier. It doesn’t become easy, simply easier.

Lane 8, What’s Next?

Lane 8, “What’s next”?

Face to face questions, as well as emails, ask the same thing, “Are you preparing for any upcoming meets”?

Yes, and no.

YES, there are two big meets in 2010. The WMA Masters Track & Field Indoor World Championships in early March, in Kamloops, British Columbia. And there’s the USA Masters Track & Field National Championships, in July, in Sacramento, California.

NO, the left heel pain precludes me from anything remotely intense enough to be considered world class training.

This may be a good thing. If you don’t know, it was never the intent to become a world class Master’s athlete. But after several years of running and making common sense, common practice, I wanted to see if it could actually be done.

Tomorrow I’ll describe the level of fitness that I didn’t even know I had achieved. And what it feels like to see it slip away and the thought process on how, and if, I should deal with that.

Pain Update

Pain update. Short and sweet.

Yes, the pain is still nagging me, slowing things down, tempting me to become very discouraged.

Tempting me, and I shudder to think about it, to quit.

Quit?

Yes. Quit.

This has been going on for years. YEARS!

Being 50 years old and achieving and sustaining a world class fitness level is not easy.

Why work so hard, so long, so quietly? You know there are many, many people who know me well and have no idea I went to Finland for the 2009 WMA Master’s Track and Field World Championships? So yes, quietly.

So why then, all this work?

Remember my big goal? To see our son graduate from High School in ten years. No man on my Dad’s side has made it past 60.

What’s your “excuse”?