“Every man is free to rise as far as he’s able or willing, but it’s only the degree to which he thinks that determines the degree to which he’ll rise.” (Quote from Atlas Shrugged).
At some point, my husband and I decided to run our first marathon. To prepare, we had an extremely targeted training plan. Our miles were mapped out in front of us, right there on the kitchen table, scrawled on paper calendars that were to taunt us from the fridge for the next 8 months. Each day had a number, and they slowly graduated to double digits that started with a 2 (which caused me to make me sweat, just looking at them).
The thought of a marathon never sounded like a good one, mainly because I loathed running. At the onset, I think I was just enjoying us spending time together… not really sure this whole marathon thing would ever happen. Surely some major plan would interfere at some point… a family reunion out of nowhere that same weekend, busy times at work that interrupted training time, some minor injury that would leave me in a cast and shrugging “oops, maybe next year”…
Running the first mile was a joke. So was my third. My fifth, too. I thought I was going to faint, puke, pass out, or croak right there wearing my nifty marathon belt filled with tiny bottles of expensive gel from the fitness store. What a façade…. I was no runner. People passed me constantly… older, younger, some with knee braces, some with strollers, others with dogs. All of whom seemed more fit to accomplish reaching the next block without stopping, where I lagged behind watching every step of theirs as the gap between us became more and more distant …
Eventually I noticed how often my husband and I got to swipe big slashes across the calendar days as complete. The miles we completed carried various emotions… fear, exhaustion, excitement, anger, accomplishment… all wrapped into one event.
Competing in a half-marathon was a milestone in our training plan. Nearing that finish line, I wanted to find the first trash can so I could throw up. As I came closer, I frantically looked through the legs of numerous runners zipping by me to make my path. Within 20 seconds near running under the FINISH banner, something shifted inside. I felt light as air, an energy spurt as if I just left my front door, and I was so overwhelmed with reaching the goal that I was wiping tears from my eyes, pretending they were sweat. The trash can was forgotten.
Three months later, 26.2 long and painful miles behind me, I crossed another finish line. This time, I didn’t hold back the tears. I limped for a good long month, my hips won’t ever feel the same when I walk down a set of stairs, I have a half-used tube of BioFreeze under my bathroom cabinet and a big shiny medal hanging on my wall. While I wouldn’t exactly do it again in a heartbeat (or 26.2 miles of racing heartbeats), I certainly would never take it back.
Some days I hated what I was doing, wondered how I would make it, or why I even started to try…. but I did it because I had already set the bar.
I often reflect upon this time in my professional life.
“Every man is free to rise as far as he’s able or willing, but it’s only the degree to which he thinks that determines the degree to which he’ll rise.”
Had the goal never been set, I would still be the girl who never ran more than a mile.
“Every man is free to rise as far as he’s able or willing, but it’s only the degree to which he thinks that determines the degree to which he’ll rise.”
The lesson I learned is to set the bar high, because wherever we set the bar – somehow our subconscious begins to take root that it may actually be possible. Whatever we tell ourselves we are supposed to do, our minds become open to reaching.
“Every man is free to rise as far as he’s able or willing, but it’s only the degree to which he thinks that determines the degree to which he’ll rise.”
To this I ask…. what degree are you willing to rise?
A great linked-in article from one of my favorite influencers, Bernard Marr, outlines how some of our society’s most notable leaders also set the bar high and rose to meet it, regardless how difficult the journey:
Henry Ford – the pioneer of modern business entrepreneurs and the founder of the Ford Motor Company failed a number of times on his route to success. His first venture to build a motor car got dissolved a year and a half after it was started because the stockholders lost confidence in Henry Ford. Ford was able to gather enough capital to start again but a year later pressure from the financiers forced him out of the company again. Despite the fact that the entire motor industry had lost faith in him he managed to find another investor to start the Ford Motor Company – and the rest is history.
Walt Disney – one of the greatest business leaders who created the global Disney empire of film studios, theme parks and consumer products didn’t start off successful. Before the great success came a number of failures. Believe it or not, Walt was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because he was not creative enough! In 1922 he started his first company called Laugh-O-Gram. The Kansas based business would produce cartoons and short advertising films. In 1923, the business went bankrupt. Walt didn’t give up, he packed up, went to Hollywood and started The Walt Disney Company.
Richard Branson – He is undoubtedly a successful entrepreneur with many successful ventures to his name including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Music and Virgin Active. However, when he was 16 he dropped out of school to start a student magazine that didn’t do as well as he hoped. He then set up a mail-order record business which did so well that he opened his own record shop called Virgin. Along the way to success came many other failed ventures including Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothes, Virgin Vie, Virgin cards, etc.
Oprah Winfrey – who ranks No 1 in the Forbes celebrity list and is recognized as the queen of entertainment based on an amazing career as iconic talk show host, media proprietor, actress and producer. In her earlier career she had numerous set-backs, which included getting fired from her job as a reporter because she was ‘unfit for television’, getting fired as co-anchor for the 6 O’clock weekday news on WJZ-TV and being demoted to morning TV.
J.K. Rowling – who wrote the Harry Potter books selling over 400 million copies and making it one of the most successful and lucrative book and film series ever. However, like so many writers she received endless rejections from publishers. Many rejected her manuscript outright for reasons like ‘it was far too long for a children’s book’ or because ‘children books never make any money’. J.K. Rowling’s story is even more inspiring because when she started she was a divorced single mum on welfare.
Bill Gates -co-founder and chairman of Microsoft set up a business called Traf-O-Data. The partnership between him, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert was based on a good idea (to read data from roadway traffic counters and create automated reports on traffic flows) but a flawed business model that left the company with few customers. The company ran up losses between 1974 and 1980 before it was closed. However, Bill Gates and Paul Allen took what they learned and avoided those mistakes when they created the Microsoft empire.
Bernard’s full post can be found here:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130715085900-64875646-the-one-thing-successful-people-never-do?trk=tod-posts-art-
Crowd Society 