All Those Small Things

The Mini Marathon took place this past weekend. 35,000 people registered for the race, just like the past seven years, making Indy the proud host of the largest running event in Northern America. Since I’ve been in the States, I’ve known many people that have successfully, and unsuccessfully, completed the race. Every year I tell myself that it’s a great idea for me to run the race and that “next year, I’m going to do it.” Sadly, I’m always still in bed when the first Kenyan streams through the ribbon and the last, strong-willed, chubby Aryan stumbles across the line.

But I really admire every one who takes part in this event, because I know that it’s really a great feat to accomplish. I’m a huge fan of goal-setting in general and think that it’s a great idea. I mean if Donald Trump has a large section in his autobiography on simple goal setting, than it has to be worth looking into right?

Trump talks highly about fasting for a week, or staying away from a simple luxury for a while. It’s all about building up self-control, and about knowing that you can control your every whim and fancy. I think that having a good grasp on one’s habits and routines is extremely important. But for some odd reason, I always seem to wrestle with this concept of “goal setting.”
I mean how many of you have really kept your New Year’s Resolutions? Yeah, sadly not I. This whole ordeal of making a goal, setting it on a pedastal and humbly working your way towards it, is it really worth it?

I think it is. But my point and argument is that instead of running hard from January till May for this marathon, shouldn’t one just run three miles everyday because they really want to be in shape, and not just because they hope to complete the marathon? This way the marathon just becomes another run in the park right? Because otherwise, as we all know it, most people who ran the marathon are back on their couches, eating their Lays and I’d bet they haven’t gone on a run even once this week.

So Instead of setting idealistic goals, shouldn’t we wake up every morning with the “hey – I’m going to do this!” approach? I might be getting ahead of myself here, but you know that I’m not a crazy optimistic type, I’m not trying to save the world or save souls, and I’m definitley not a morning person.

I’m just thinking that instead of doing things for an incentive or reward, how about we disprove Pavolov’s theories on Classical Conditioning, and do things because we realize that they are worth it and that sacrifice is the biggest asset. Sure, goals are great, but don’t let them be counterproductive, strive for the best benefit and work hard at it.

Just the other day I was networking at Starbucks. An old friend who is now a CEO of a very successful company basically said “My biggest advice is to be ready to meet anyone anywhere and to impress them.” This really hit me hard because it’s good advice for everyone. Don’t wait to play your hardest only when scouts are around, don’t only be on your best behavior when the In-Laws are in town and don’t only be in your best shape when the Marathon starts. Do all of that everyday. As much as I despise Eminem, his line “opportunity comes once in a lifetime, Yo,” really does make sense. Gosh, I wish every kid I’ve ever coached would read this. Well hopefully they do. Anyways, what are your thoughts?