The Difference Is In The Effort

Every year I do something stupid that doesn’t involve sitting in an Aeron chair.

I run a Disney Goofy Run – Half marathon (13.1 miles) on Saturday followed by a full marathon (26.2 miles) on Sunday. Well over 40 miles when you consider the distance to the start line, losing your car in the Disney parking lot, etc.

Now, I wouldn’t really call it running. I barely averaged 5mph.

I’m also fat. At least according to the mirror, scale, BMI and other stuff biased by physics and gravity.

Long story short, I’m not winning many of these things. There aren’t many Kenyans out there worrying if they’ll have to outrun me.

Oh, and I friggin love McDonalds. Cluckin’ Surf’n’Turf (that’s a Big Mac, Fish Filet, Chicken Sandwich):

So do I set myself up for such an obvious failure?

It’s not for the humbling aspects – of which there are many.

It’s because I have this personality flaw – I’m impatient and I don’t like to lose.

Turns out there aren’t many self help books out there for this problem. Mostly because it’s something you’re supposed to be slapped out of when you’re very young and you learn how to deal with a loss and move on. I apparently didn’t go to school that day.

So as I’ve grown up, built a business, started a family, assumed responsibilities and so on.. this personality problem started getting worse and started consuming more of my time. Suddenly I had to worry about kids about employees about business partners and competitors and as much fun as it may seem being successful, it’s not exactly easy or flawless.

You fail a lot.

I haven’t yet figured out how not to fail. Or how not to be stupid – if you have an answer to that (aside from “Don’t try.”) let me know.

What I have learned how to do is deal with the losing and just moving on to the next one.

At some point in my life I realized that I’m just incredibly lucky to keep on getting another shot to do something every single day.

Running marathons helps me strive to fight another day.

When you’re fat, out of shape, IT person.. any core physical activity is a miracle. Learning how to push yourself to the next bush, next mile marker, next water station, next race eventually gets you to the finish line. It’s a process of selling yourself on the fact that “Yeah, things may suck right now but you can do this.”

If you can’t have that much faith in yourself then what’s the point of getting out of bed?

The difference between success and failure is motivation. Yeah, you’re going to fail at times – that’s a given. All you have to do is brush off the dirt, get back up and work at it some more. Yeah, you’ll get knocked down again. But once you’re no longer afraid of getting knocked down – good things will seemingly come your way.

Why I wrote this…

I know a lot of you are struggling out there and it always seems other people have it figured out.

I assure you they don’t.

Don’t confuse luck with perseverance, arrogance with confidence.

Every day you wake up you have a choice of either feeling sorry for yourself and your problems or doing something about it and being happy you can do so.

Some of you hate your jobs. Some of you hate your businesses. Some of you can’t find a job – while others are struggling to fill open positions. Everyone has something they don’t like – don’t stress over the situation, focus on working towards a solution. In a really motivationally pessimistic sense, at least working on a solution will take your mind off your problems temporarily

The difference between winning or losing is less with the external perception of how you’re seen, it’s more about what you’re pushing yourself towards.

Know when to quit. Just never quit on yourself.