How To Sustain Yourself For the Long Race
Your ability to find quiet, reflective time to dream is what pushes you into a new phase of boldness. The process allows for the seepage of new ideas and solutions to ongoing problems and in the end, your purpose is illuminated and you are ready to run the race to the finish line.
As a young track athlete I was always a sprinter. I loved the quick burst of energy and the fast pace of the race and was consistently ranked in the top five in my age class. However, my desire was to be a cross country athlete. I wanted the strength and endurance to continue on a long road, running against the elements yet still keeping a steady flow of air as my breathing supported my physical exertion.
The picture of the marathoner or long distance achiever has always stayed in my head and to this day I still dream of running that long race. Maybe it’s because in my mind, I have never been able to run a full marathon like the sprinter inside of me wanted to. Somehow my mindset has kept me on this short track sprint, running as fast as I can, unable to mark the pace that my body and mind could handle for a longer race.
Only in the last few years have I realized that through my career thus far, I have tried to run the short sprint pace and made decisions based on this mindset versus a longer term thought process and running the long race pace. Because of my sprint mentality I was getting tired of everything. Every hurdle seemed like a brick wall covered in spikes that I couldn’t scale. Upon realizing this, I challenged my thinking and became determined to take action on my dreams and set the right strategy for success.
We have all had dreams that haven’t worked out in our lives. I am no different than anyone else in that regard. I’ve had dreams that crashed and burned, those that faded quietly to the background and those changed my mind. There is no shame in attempting to realize a dream and for one reason or another having it not come true. Nothing ever feels good about our dreams being dashed, but when we let go and free ourselves for the next inspiration, our true passion can shine.
Most high profile leaders that I have interviewed proclaim to have far more failures than they have had successes. Their collective advice was to always get back up and try again. They shared that with the right perspective and some perseverance people need to choose to overcome their fears. Upon reflection of their advice I came to a revelation. We, as leaders of our own lives need to raise the bar and commit to action despite fear. Our dreams need to be big enough, crazy enough, and daring enough to spark urgency and passion. Our dreams are meant to be lived and not placed high up on a shelf collecting dust only to be taken down to look at on special occasions like the family china.
When you combine dreaming with passion and urgency you have all the ingredients to set an idea in motion. A dream devoid of passion or urgency is just another idea. Possibly it is another good idea that you can look at for the future, but for now it will take a back burner to one more urgent. Gaining perspective on any dream or idea is critical and can lead you to success.
Learning to do a check in with my perspective as I made plans has been key to setting a smart pace for connecting my dream to strategy and for bringing it to reality.
Paula Morand, CSP is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold expert brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and bold impact. 23 years, 25,000 clients, 19 countries, 11 books, former radio personality, 10x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
To check out Paula’s newest book, “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything” go to Amazon http://ow.ly/i8yW307ix67
To book Paula to speak email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.