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.