I heart Sony Walkman W Series

... and the W stands for "winner"! I blogged about a birthday purchase of a Sony Walkman W Series a few weeks ago. It took a few hours yesterday to load up lots of music. I had 5000+ songs to peruse. Once loaded, I adorned them like an electronic laurel of garland won from a hotly contested Olympic victory -- only, I hadn't run in a few weeks, I was pretty sloppy for a week of gluttony, and had a Saturday free after yard work. So, minus the Olympic victory, I put the phones on and Voila! Good stuff.

The controls are really easy to manipulate while you're running. Even if you press a wrong button for, say, volume or to skip a song or to shuffle the music, an angelic, but somewhat maternal disembodied voice tells you what button you just pressed.

It is idiot proof, and therefore ideal for me.

If I had more ears I would buy another pair. I love them. Oh, and their comfortable too. Little "nipples" or buttons or whatever you want to call the appendage attached to the headphones keep the phones firmly in your ears and provide great comfort. They are much better IMO that cramming an earbud that refuses to stay put.

So, in sum: smiles and hearts for the Sony Walkman W Series.

Motivation

Motivation is the key to achieving any goal as well as remaining happy and enthused in life. If motive is the impulse that causes us to act, motivation is our mental and spiritual machinery designed to mobilize a person toward a goal. It is our passion to live, and for the goal-oriented person, it is the passion for life.

Personal power sensei Anthony Robbins says, “Giant goals produce giant motivation.” Having inspirational goals motivates us to get out of bed every morning to embrace the greatness we earn by achieving our goals.

Dare I say it, it is nearly impossible to roll out of bed each morning and awaken with a passion for life without motivation. There will be days, alas, when you are despondent. Here, the odds are playing against you. To allow this to persist is to welcome defeat.

Play these odds in your favor by seeking the inspirational. Who or what motivates you? Is it God? Is it a leader like Lincoln, Gandhi or King? Is it civic action like environmental protection or human rights? Is it a brave soldier, social activist, or exemplary athlete? Could it be a book like To Kill a Mockingbird or On the Road? Is it a dancer, artist, actor, athlete? Your spouse? Your children? A clear blue sky? A field of flowers? An iceberg? A mountain? An eagle? A pot of gold? Pot?

We find inspiration in the most peculiar, personal places. Only you know what inspires you. In fact, please take a moment – NOW! – to think about those moments in your life when your heart soared, when you felt 10 feet tall, and when you had the confidence of a lion. What about when you were stirred up emotionally and intellectually?

*DO THIS NOW*

Us the following page write down these moments and influences in your life.

*DO THIS NOW*

Stuff that sizzles my bacon

Now, spend some time contemplating what you wrote down. Can you remember what inspired you? Was it a person, place, thing or occasion? Think hard. Refine it down to a moment of clarity, a “diamond bullet in the forehead” as Colonel Kurtz described in Apocalypse Now.

If you can recall it (that is to say, call upon it) you have your source of inspiration. Having this source of inspiration can be duplicated, replicated, imported and transported. You can carry it with you and channel it whenever you need a lift, whenever you need a reminder of what’s important and why you are passionate about your goal and about life.

As I stated, we all find inspiration in the most peculiar, personal places. Allow me to share with you some of mine:

Bully!

The PBS American Experience biopic of Theodore Roosevelt. What an inspiration. His life was as full as the earth he lived in. I knew very little about the life and enthusiasms of Roosevelt before watching this. This show was followed by volumes of biographies I consumed to learn more about him. Though he lived more than 50 years ahead of my time, Roosevelt changed my life. He is an inspiration, and to remind myself of his life and that which moves me, I keep his portrait near.

Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. Crazy as it seems, Krakauer’s story of eight doomed climbers on Mt. Everest actually inspired me to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. It wasn’t the story of death and suffering that moved me; rather, it was Krakauer’s very personal autobiography of mountain climbing and how it was his obsession. Mountain climbing to him was practically religious. I felt that while reading the book, and knowing that I had little interest in becoming a technical mountain climber risking life and limb to perch atop Mother Earth’s highest peaks, I was inspired enough to take the challenge to Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. Is it a coincidence that I read this book cover-to-cover during my 14-hour layover in the U.K en route to my destiny with Kilimanjaro? This Krakauer story tells the true tale of a young man from an affluent family who gave up everything – namely hygiene – to live a life on the road. Another Krakauer tragedy, the protagonist ends up dead in Alaska’s wilderness under curious circumstances. Again, the overall story isn’t what captured my imagination; it was Krakauer’s autobiographical linkage of his life to that of the main character. Doing so he explored the primeval motivations of wanderlust and empathized with the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery in the wild, which so captured my imagination.

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. This book instilled in me a spirituality of adventure. I believe that humans are naturally wild at heart, and when we follow our hearts, we’ll go to wild places. No, I’m not suggesting joining the circus or making your life at the corner of Haight and Asbury. But when you examine your heart and explore its desires you will find yourself in places (see Into Thin Air above), a state of mind (see “beer” below), and a spiritual awareness (see Gospels below) that you would otherwise never find unless by accident. To paraphrase Robert Kennedy, who paraphrased George Bernard Shaw, “There are those who long to find their place in the world and ask ‘Where?’ I prefer to dream of open frontier and ask, ‘Where to?’”

The pitcher of beer prelude to my decision to run my first marathon. What can I say? Liquid bravery.

The pitcher of beer prelude to my decision to skydive. Uhh. What can I say? Oops.

Capricorn One

The Gospels. Hey, Jesus saved my life. I don’t care what they may know. I don’t care what they may do. I don’t care what they may say. Jesus is just all right. Oh, yeah. (with apologies to the Doobie Brothers).

Inspiration can come from watching movies like Dead Poets Society, Rocky and Pre, or whatever fills your pants with ants. Much of my inspiration, as you can tell, comes from books, and occasionally beer. Whenever I feel like I need a pick me up, I look for a biography or heroic story to lift me up. To me, the books are trophies of inspiration that adorn my shelves; a conspicuous reminder of what moves me.

My books are no different than taping a picture to your mirror of the dress you long to fit in or the poster on the wall of the hero you most admire – and seek to emulate.

They are like little monuments. In fact, what is a monument if not a physical memorial (i.e., something designed to make us remember) of an inspirational person, place or event. Ostensibly, the Lincoln Memorial is designed for us to remember the heroic figure of Abraham Lincoln and to find inspiration from his example of heroic leadership during our nation’s lowest moment. Indeed, there’s a reason Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, and it wasn’t merely because of the Emancipation Proclamation. King sought to cast his persona in the mold of America’s greatest, most humble leader. He found inspiration in Abraham Lincoln, and today millions around the globe find inspiration in King.

The point is this: you know what inspires you. You may have to remind yourself. You might even have to leave clues and little monuments and posters and pictures to remain tethered to it. Tap into that resource and make it energize you.

Since this is a book about goal achievement and marathon completion, allow me to refine this in the context of running. To remain focused and motivated on training, I subscribe to emails and magazines about running that share with me techniques on training and tips on eating. There are personal stories of runners who struggle, fail, and succeed. There are how-tos on staying motivated and focused.

The real value, in my opinion, is a regular, frequent exposure to the running life, without which I might be tempted to stray and lose interest. One day of skipped running could turn into several days, perhaps weeks. One unhealthy meal could turn into a saturated fat love affair that could lead to outright nutrition adultery. A day in the dumps could become the pity party that galvanizes into apathy and indifference.

Other helpful influences can be where you run. Perhaps the most motivational place to run is the National Mall in Washington, DC, or the LSU Lakes in Baton Rouge, LA. I am lucky to have trained at both.

You can be inspired by your running partner or from music you listen to while running. I use my running time to think big thoughts, which actually puts the spring in my step.

Staying focused – with the help of outside influences – is key to sustained motivation in training and in life. By surrounding yourself with the things that inspire you, you are playing the odds to your favor.

Paul’s attempt at being profound: A lump of clay is nothing until it is shaped. If you condition yourself to manage outside influences that help shape you, the source of power available to you is limitless.

Motivation is not the same as Happiness. But it is. Sort of.

Let me make a clear distinction that – to me – is important. I don’t subscribe to most motivational speakers whose messages are quite simply, “Let a smile be your umbrella” or “smile and the world smiles with you.” There are a lot these motivational speakers and thinkers making a lot of money off depressed, vulnerable people. I’m not saying they’re necessarily wrong or bad. In fact, they might even help some people.

I believe, however, that life is much more complicated and that the forces of humanity and nature are often too powerful to be overcome by a dopey smile or daily affirmation. If life were that easy, people would be happier and alcoholics, drug abusers and smokers could be unshackled from their torture with a mere grin and greeting card.

I think it is wrong to believe that life is as simple as a smile. But, I will go to my grave arguing that a happy life if impossible without it.

Well, what the hell does that mean?

Just like motivation is nurtured in an environment of inspiration, a happy life is optimized when you create an environment of happiness.

How contagious is laughter when you see others laughing? How much harder do you laugh when others laugh with you? It is easy to find joy when the world around you is happy. And, clearly, external influences affect your disposition. Otherwise, how else could you explain why funny people cause milk to come out your nose? So why not surround yourself as often as you can with those people, places, things, and occasions that bring you joy?

Ask yourself these questions:

How do you behave when you’re happy? I whistle and sing, and to the horror of others, occasionally dance. I believe that if you did these things more frequently, you would find your mood a little lighter, a little more often. Do you whistle and sing when you’re in a good mood. Try it now; see how you feel.

I sometimes whistle and sing to become happy, not necessarily as a passive effect of me becoming happy. In other words, some stimuli like singing and whistling can be as much the cause as the effect.

What things make you happy? Books, as you already know, strike my fancy. Some people find happiness in clothes and jewelry, and while I am loathe to encourage a quest for happiness in material things, it is undeniable that such objects cause some people happiness. So, what is it that appeals to you? How do you feel when you hold these things? When I have a book, I am content, focused, and quite satisfied. Do you like collecting items? Does a vase of flowers cheer you up? If the nouns that bring you joy inspire such feelings, why not cause yourself to be with them and near them often?

Are there places that bring you happiness? One word: BEACH. I looooooove the beach. I want to be there right now! I want to hear the waves crashing, the gulls laughing, the beer cans cracking, and the sunscreen a-slapping. I just love the outdoors. Period. Hiking. Fishing. Walking. Running. I am completely, totally blissful when I’m outdoors, and especially when the outdoors = beach. Do you have similar experiences? Are there places you go that cause emotions to stir? A store? A restaurant? Home? Museum? Another city? Another country? Maybe you like to visit a mentally far away place. Whatever floats your boat is fine. I won’t judge. However, if there is a place or places that bring you happiness, try visiting those places as often as you can. Even making plans to go or flipping through photos and memories of those places can inspire glee. Yes, glee.

What people make you happy? My wife, kids and family. Well, most of my family. And if you are a family member reading this book, consider yourself one of my favs. I might add that I had a dog once that I loved as much as a human family member. He was, I think, my best friend. While his four paws padded this earth, he brought be considerable friendship and joy. Maybe the happy people in your life are pets. Either way, spend more time with both and you’ll find yourself quite the happy camper.

What activities bring you pleasure? I like fishing, reading, playing with my kids and running. I even like working in the yard. I like to travel with my wife and take her to restaurants. My daughter’s soccer games are pretty fun, and going on walks with my little son brings a smile to my face just writing about it. What do you enjoy doing for pleasure? Is there anything stopping you from engaging in these activities more often? If so, finish reading this book, which teaches you how to get what you want. If not, make a point of doing these things more often. You’ll find it is good for your mind and your soul.

As it is with motivation, the key to happiness is not that difficult to find. Sure, life will be hard and surprise us all with unexpected unpleasantness. But those occasions are as rare as they are unavoidable. In the meantime you are the only one who can control how you feel. I believe happiness is a choice – I really do – and if you choose to be happy, it is easy to be happy, particularly if you draw yourself nearer to those things that make you happy.

Think of it this way: you like being comfortable, right? Who doesn’t? You know how to make yourself comfortable by sitting or lying down when you’re tired, and snuggling in a blanket or sweater when you’re cold, and removing your clothes when you’re hot (though that will likely make the rest of us uncomfortable). As simpleton as it seems, the same is true with motivation and happiness. Find what inspires you, find what makes you happy, and wrap yourself in it like a Snuggie.

Play these “happy” odds in your favor by surrounding yourself, or getting yourself near, those people, places, things, and occasions that bring you joy. Who or what brings you happiness? Only you know.

Please take a moment – yes, NOW! – to think what behavior you demonstrate when you’re happy and what things bring you happiness or cause you to be happy.

*DO THIS NOW*

Take a sheet of paper and write down these happy moments and influences in your life.

*DO THIS NOW*

A few of my favorite things

There you have it. There’s your “happy list.” You now have your source of happiness. Choose to be happy and draw on this list to channel its power whenever you need a lift, whenever you need a reminder of what’s important and why you are on this planet.

Remember, you are the source of your own emotions.

Self-discipline

So how does everything we’ve covered so far get accomplished? Self-discipline. Self-discipline means being the boss, the boss over yourself. Are you a good boss? A good manager?

It is easy to tell others what to do because they, not you, are burdened with the work and follow through. As a boss, you tell your worker what you want, how you want it, and when you want it, and, theoretically, the order is executed accordingly. If the worker fails to meet the boss’ demands, the worker risks getting canned.

How are you as a boss over yourself? When you tell yourself to do something, do you do it timely and appropriately? Or do you get to a task when you whenever you feel like it (“manana, manana.”)? Really, the only person you have to accommodate and impress is you. So what if you don’t do what you tell yourself to do?

As with motivation and energy, self-discipline is fortified by immersing yourself in a nurturing environment, which in this case is an environment of determination and persistence, and by creating a routine – a pattern – of repetitive behavior and activities – like a training schedule.

Self-discipline, more than anything, requires outside influences: a coach, a teammate, a friend. Self-discipline is the key, the fulcrum, and the capstone of personal power. When we sacrifice it for the “easy way” or the “sure thing” we render ourselves powerless. This is so obvious, but it is a point lost on all those who continue to fail.

If you ask any successful athlete, businessperson, or professional whatever, they will tell you that their success developed from a pattern of persistence and determination (i.e., self discipline). The real “secret” to success – if there is indeed any real “secret” – is how the successful were disciplined to remain focused and intent on their goals.

The behavior pattern of self-discipline comes from inside, and failing that, it is borrowed from outside influences. I’ll admit it, my will is as strong as wilted lettuce, but my desire and passion are massive. Wanting to succeed (desire) is substantially unique from the will to succeed (discipline); therefore, I have to “borrow” discipline from others. I tell people about my goals and progress, thereby tapping into peer pressure. I seek the advice of coaches and friends who motivate me to persist. I tap into the countless reserves of motivation the we listed above that inspire me, excite me, and remind me of the importance of success.

Outside influences help keep me focused when I fail to maintain concentration myself.

So I’ll state it once more: play the odds in your favor. Game the system. Do whatever it takes for you to overcome your obstacles by surrounding yourself with success and establishing behavior patterns of success.

Living easy in the Big Easy

The race where the poster
is cooler than the shirt

Awesome weather in NOLA this past weekend, which seemed to ease the tensions of New Orleanians who are stressing over the drama besetting the New Orleans Saints.

It was great weather for the Crescent City Classic, which has to be one of the most popular races in Louisiana. EVERYBODY talks about it and so many people run it. One of these days I will run it too.

Was in New Orleans for business Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Spent the night, and since it was my birthday week I treated myself to a very nice dinner at Cochon, which was not totally unawesome.

Cochon means pig in French. Not to disappoint my hosts, I became one enthusiastically.

Salad - pickled shrimp and thinly sliced radishes that didn't taste or offend like everyday radishes. Crunchy fried green tomatoes that evoked hundreds of years of my shoeless and toothless Southern heritage (in a good way).

Main course - melt-in-your-mouth brisket accompanied by sinus clearing horseradish potato salad.

The wine was not equally unawesome, but I forget the name.

The pig was I

Dessert and wine was conducted at the unremarkable Shula's Steakhouse located at the hotel. A chocolate souffle was pretty near divine, but by the time I finished I was so miserable I could hardly sleep.

Fortunately, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill Friday morning that seemed to make it all better. So says me.

Ask Questions



Everything is better with Family Guy

Oh, man. I'm about to invoke Anthony Robbins. This ain't gonna be pretty, but here goes...

“Questions set off a processional effect that has an impact beyond our imagination. Questioning our limitations is what tears down the walls in life. I believe all human progress is preceded by new questions.”

I believe that life is as difficult, or simple, as we make it. I believe each of us has the intellect to climb out of bad situations, survive under tumultuous circumstances, and thrive as boldly as we desire.

I also believe that Socrates’ gift to pupil Plato was more than an historic education: the Socratic Method of asking questions unlocked the mysteries of life itself. Though risking hyperbole in that statement, I believe that humans are logical, and that by asking questions about our environment and circumstances – like Socrates to Athens – our minds pull back the shroud of doubt, ignorance, and frustration to reveal awareness about our individual realities.

In other words, if we keep asking “how, what and why,” eventually we will come to the answer we seek.

While training for a marathon, one might ask, “How in the hell am I going to run 10 miles?” A better question to ask is, “I must pass 10 miles to get to 26.2 miles. What do I need to do to run 10 miles?”

Answer: You need to condition your body.

Question: How must I condition my body?

Answer: Run 4 miles four times a week, eat a fortified diet, and run one long run once a week until your mileage equals 10 miles or more.

Question: When will I find time to do that? My work schedule won’t allow.

Answer: Because finishing a marathon is so important to you, you must find 45 minutes each day, and two hours on the weekend. You must run early in the morning or after work.

Question: It is too dark in the morning and night. I don’t want to risk injury.

Answer: Run on a tread mill.

… and it goes. Remember that questions help probe deeper until you reach your answer. Many people assess a situation and determine immediately without much thought that it is impossible. If you’re stuck in a bad situation, ask “How can I make it better?” And ask with the attitude and conviction that nothing is impossible.

Since you are trying to advance your mind and body forward, frame your questions positively so you reach for your answer in the direction of your goal. Ask questions that empower your spirit and motivate you to reach higher.

Don’t dwell on unhelpful, pitiful, demoralizing questions like,

Why Me?


Why does this always happen to me?

Why are you blaming me?

Oh, why Lord?

What’s the use?

Why bother?

To make a positive difference in your journey toward personal greatness, ask empowering questions like,

How can I make this better?

How can I make my position stronger?

What do I need to do smarter?


Anthony Robbins’ Problem Solving Questions

1. What is great about this problem?
2. What is not perfect yet?
3. What am I willing to do to make it the way I want it?
4. What am I willing to no longer do in order to make it the way I want it?
5. How can I enjoy the process while I do what is necessary to make it the way I want it?

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

As a Christian whose life was transformed way back in what I call my Epiphany (Hey! It just occurred to me that that’s actually a religious event, so I guess the term is apropos), I ask questions when I pray like, “God, will you please teach me what I need to know or do to succeed?” “Will you open my eyes, mind and heart so that I may know what you want me to know?”

I don’t ask, “God, please will you give me this,” or “God please deliver me from Y.” I ask for his help to acquire the tools, skills and knowledge I need to earn my way to what I want.

Look, I am not evangelical, but I am grounded in the Spirit. I am not preaching to you, but allow me to elaborate further on meaningful prayer. In 2000 author Bruce Wilkinson published a wildly popular booked called The Prayer of Jabez, the story, explanation, and application of the petition to God by an obscure Israelite, Jabez, hidden amongst the Old Testament begats in 1 Chronicles 4:10.

Without context, narrative or exposition, Jabez is merely mentioned among his long list of ancestry as being a good fella notable for his unique prayer, which pleads,

“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.”

When the book was published, it was received by many Christians – though not all – as a sort of genie lamp incantation that when said would make the petitioner’s wishes come true, which I do not believe was the author’s intent.

On the contrary, I think the author, and Jabez himself, meant that if the Lord granted him a wide sphere of influence – be it property, wealth, recognition – he would command great influence among his people and better serve as an example of a pious Hebrew, thereby encouraging other Hebrews to follow his lead. Jabez was not seeking – if I may liberally infer that which I didn’t write – wealth and status for the sake of wealth and status.

Jabez’s prayer was not a series of questions, per se, like I am promoting. It is, however, a petition, and what is a petition if it is not a request for change? In other words, it is a question. The Jabez prayer seeks empowerment for the sake of serving a greater purpose. In the quest for your goal, questions, too, can be empowering psychological tools to direct you, empower you, toward a greater purpose. Avoid superficial, useless questions like, “Why did that jackass get a promotion and not me,” and turn your attention toward empowering, Jabez-like petitions like, “What can I do to be better and earn that promotion?”

Prayer is my daily routine of questions and self-examination

1. Praise – expression of worship and awe in the Lord. Reminding myself of his powers.
2. Thankfulness – Thanking him for the goodness – and problems in life.
3. Forgiveness – Recognizing my faults. Asking for forgiveness and requesting strength, power, and wisdom to overcome.

Supplication – asking for stuff – not for free, but to earn it. Give me knowledge, wisdom, power, strength, patience, endurance, to acquire that which I need to conquer my problems and achieve my goals – and to bless others

An Easter Message from Billy Bragg and Wilco

In this solemn season of presidential politics and joyous occasion of Easter, let us remember who Billy Bragg and Wilco suggest as the ideal presidential candidate.

Sony Walkman W Series

For my 16 years of running I have religiously sworn off the temptation of Walkmans and iPods. Running has always been a solitary sport for me and music has been a distraction, especially if I'm stuck with bad music. And I'm a music lover. Oh the irony.

Running time is always deep thinking time for me. It is my alone time. Me time.

Still, when running the Chicago Marathon last year and Houston Marathon this year, my buddies seemed to be quite motivated and fully supported by the 4.5 hours of selected music playing from their Sony Walkman W Series headphones, which gave them a little extra umph.

So, as a birthday present I bought a pair (people have been telling me to "get a pair" for years. I hope this is what they meant). No, this is not a product review. Frankly, I've only taken them out of the box and haven't used them -- though I can report they fit nicely and feel comfortable.

Wearing headphones and listening to music is a big change for me. I'll tell you how it goes.




You are not allowed to use me for podcasts of "60 Minutes"

Next time I'm in New Orleans with amazing weather, this is the 3 mile run I'll do

NOT a lousy treadmill 3 miler. The map didn't come out as big as I like, and I couldn't attach the link. I probably shouldn't have bothered even trying to upload. This is an easy, very beautiful run from the Central Business District (downtown) down St. Charles into the Garden District. Very nice if you can avoid being hit by a streetcar.

The map comes from Map My Run. I typed in New Orleans and surveyed the map for runs that begin downtown. Easy breezy.

And since I love Map My Run so much, why haven't I used it for Miami, New Orleans, San Antonio, Norfolk, San Francisco and every other city I visited the last year? I'm an idiot.
 

Strategy

In his bestseller Visioneering, Andy Stanley describes the title’s meaning as “the course one follows to make dreams a reality. It is the process whereby ideas and convictions take on substance… [I]t is the engineering of a vision.” This, in my vernacular, is a strategy.

A strategy is taking a concept and turning it into an invention. It is wanting to go to the moon and figuring out how to get there. It is wanting to be a doctor and designing a curriculum of courses and practice that will get you there. It is wanting to cross a marathon’s finish line and designing the course you will run to get you there. Stated simply, the strategy is turning your goal into a plan of action.

I am a cute graphic that reinforces
the adjacent text

A strategy for a marathon is pretty simple, mainly because I and countless others help you outline a training program, advise you on challenges, coach you on overcoming them, and encourage you to push through. Indeed, the rest of this book is your marathon strategy.

If you want to be a doctor, find out everything you need to know about becoming one. How much schooling is required? What is required to get into medical school? How intense is the studying? How much does it cost? How does one pay for it? After school, what comes next? Internship? Residency?

The answers to these questions are easily obtained. Ask a doctor. Ask the Medical Society. Ask the medical school admissions office. In other words, understand everything about getting from now to your goal.

Next, devise your plan (some elements of which are described in upcoming posts about Specificity, Measurability and Commitment).

For example, the first small goal is to get into college, which is a prerequisite to get into medical school. To get into college, one must perform sufficiently on the SAT. How many hours will you study?

Value

Anything in life with little value is considered by definition superficial, trivial. And there is certainly no motivation to vigorously pursue anything in life that is meaningless. Though I have asked you to personally invest your life into finishing a marathon, I admit that such a goal might not be your life’s ambition.

The anecdotes I have described about how I made a decision to run the marathon give the appearance, I admit, that the marathon was less a life-changing goal than it was a mere bar bet. OK. OK. Like most men caught with their pants down I must respond, “This is not what it looks like.”

I used to have asthma. I was diagnosed during my sophomore year in college. What a miserable experience it was to live with the symptoms of this oppressive affliction. Can you imagine what breathing would feel like with a 300-pound fatty sitting on your chest? With a pillow on your face?

Until I was diagnosed and treated after what seemed like an eternity of wheezing and coughing, I could not exercise at all. Worst of all, I couldn’t sleep! Asthma attacks would always occur in the dark of night in my deepest sleep.

After a couple of years of treatment, the asthma was finally manageable; however, I was concerned that the disease would prevent me from living a “normal” life, or at least the life I wanted to live.

It was also around this time that I had my life’s epiphany, having suffered for years with depression. It was during my own personal Great Awakening that I determined that I would live my life to the fullest, and that I would reach for the stars, chase rainbows, and all that other greeting card nonsense. I resolved that I would try everything, do everything, and be all that I wanted to be. I wanted to live life to the absolute fullest.

I also looked askance at my asthma, sulking in the corner of my life’s party just waiting to ruin it. I further determined that no matter what I did, asthma would not get in the way. And if it did, I would conquer it and move on. Or as the storied Carthaginian general Hannibal put it,

“We will find a way or make one.”

So, sure. The pitchers of beer had a way of fertilizing my bravado, but for me the marathon had value. I didn’t know it until that moment in the bar because running a marathon hadn’t really occurred to me. But when it hit me, it hit like a Mike Tyson blow to the ribs (the young Mike Tyson, not today’s Mike Tyson).

Of course I would run the marathon! How could I avoid it? My life demanded it, if only to run over my asthma in the process.

Look, goals must have meaning. Goals must have personal value. The goals in your life will take time to develop -- they’re not just a “to do” list. If you burden yourself with a lot of meaningless bric-a-brac, you’ll become increasingly frustrated that you’ve got no time, energy, or focus to accomplish the meaningful stuff

I’m asking you to finish a marathon so you can understand what it feels like to pursue and capture life’s meaningful ambitions, and to understand that what may have seemed impossible before is really within your reach. In other words, I want you to apply the lessons of the marathon BIG THING to all the BIG THINGS in your life.

***** DO THIS NOW *****

Dear Reader, this might be the most transformational moment in your life (or at least in this book). Take a day or two to think of all your life’s ambitions – one of which will include the marathon. Do you want to be a photographer? A librarian? Do you want to scale a mountain or swim the English Channel? Whatever it is, let your mind go wild. Write it all down, no matter how stupid you think it is.

Step away from the computer. Go for a walk. Think. Now come back, with pen in hand, and commit this list to an empty page. It’ll be good to have this list handy as you read on.

***** DO THIS NOW *****

Stuff I wanna do when I grow up:

As important as it was for you to make this list, it is equally important to review it from a value perspective.

Review each item on the list and ask what is there to gain by accomplishing this?


What is there to lose?


What difference will success make? Failure?

What are you willing to sweat and cry for?

Ask why. This is important to understanding the value of what you pursue.

Here is your opportunity to cull from your list the dreams that are perhaps more hollow than you may have originally imagined. Whether you cull them now or later is less important than actually doing it before you engage in a capricious odyssey for which you have no true burning desire. Otherwise, you will find out sooner or later – usually out of frustration – that a goal means little to you and that you are ready to give up.

Unfortunately, when that time comes, you risk transferring the frustration of this meaningless goal to the quite valuable exercise of goal making and goal pursuing. There are good goals and there are bad goals. Only you know what is right for you. Don’t mistake a bad experience for the true value of going after your BIG THINGS.

The Running Moron: Nothing about actually running the 2012 Cherry Blo...

Running Moron's experience with the Cherry Blossom 10 miler is like my experience with the Rouge Orleans ultra.

The Running Moron: Nothing about actually running the 2012 Cherry Blo...: I'm still kind of processing my performance in yesterday's Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (the short version: I finished, but I stunk it up real g...

Map My Run

Surely you know this web site, but it bears mentioning again. Map My Run is a great way to tell how far you're running on a particular course, or to help you, ahem, map your run. It is great for a place like Baton Rouge, LA, where there are very few trails. When meandering through neighborhoods and parks, it can be difficult to tell how far you've run or where you're running. I used it to map runs in my neighborhood and around the LSU and Capitol lakes.