Running the Race

One day I was running down the street. I came to an intersection and tripped, but was able to maintain my balance. I continued running. A few days later, I was running the same route and arrived at the same intersection. I tripped again at a different spot, but in the same intersection.
This time I fell and skinned my hands and left knee. I was only a third of the way through my route and was compelled to complete the course. After a block I checked my hands and there was no blood, I checked my knee and it was bloody. A few blocks later I checked my knee again and blood was streaming down my shin and soaking my sock.

I thought about what I must look like to the outsider. I had a bloody knee, snot all over my face, and sweat pouring through my shirt like broth through a strainer. I looked foreign, I looked pained, and I looked insane.

Then I thought about what I looked like to the initiated, to others in my community. The phrase, “the joy is in the journey” came to mind. Other runners understand that the outer demeanor does not matter. The bloodied knee, the labored breathing, and the grimaced face mean excellence to others in my fraternity. It is the sign of someone who is striving for a goal, for a destination known only to the runner.

Life is like the run, there is a destination and sometimes we struggle to reach it. Our breathing grows labored and we stumble over the same thing over and over until some day we are able to run over the obstacle instead of stumbling over it. Even when we stumble over something we
cannot quit or else we will not be able make the destination. Regardless of our goals in life, we must continue on in the race towards greatness.

Greatness is the destination of our lives. Everyone has at least one talent; the journey is finding it and developing it. Therefore, we must learn to invest in ourselves. A company I worked for had an operating principle, “Invest for total return.” We must learn how to invest in ourselves so as to affect total return. In order to do this we must like the runner, focus on our destination or goal and let nothing stop us from reaching it.

Remember, as the runner, you control the pace, the training, and the duration and the course of your run.

You are in control of your own destiny; it comes down to the choices you make. Don’t waste your life, choose wisely.