What Chapter Are You On?
It’s easy to look at someone during the height of their career and think how is easy it is for them. We lean into this comparison and sometimes think ‘that could never be me.’ But we can’t compare someone else’s Chapter 10 to our Chapter 1. How many times do you think you’ve told yourself ‘no’ before you’ve given something a chance?
A few years ago, I realized that I consistently told myself (and others) that there were certain things that I just couldn’t do. Sayings like “couldn’t be me” were said in conversation. One thing that changed this for me was when I lived in Los Angeles. I was around people who were strong athletes. I was part of a boxing gym that I loved and my coach re-introduced me to running. After a few weeks, I had fallen back in love with it. He was also a marathon runner. He was always pushing me to sign up for one, but that same old adage reared its head and I said “26.2 miles? You must be crazy; I could never do that.” Then he asked me why. I didn’t have one good answer for him. What blew me away is that I had shut down the idea before even considering whether or not it was actually something I could do. I couldn’t even come up with one solid reason.
The next day, without telling anyone, I downloaded a running app. They had a few different marathon-training plans and seeing it broken down into small steps like that made it seem approachable. Which makes sense, this is what we’ve been told before: take a big goal, break it into doable chunks then all the sudden, you’ve made some serious headway. As Kobe Bryant once said “1% better every day.”
Within a few weeks, I had signed up for the LA marathon. I gave myself plenty of time to train, a full year. The longest I had ever run before was about 6 miles, so I knew it was going to take some time to add 20 more and still live to see the next morning. Many moons later, I was up at 4am, heading to Dodger Stadium with my race bib, energy gels and snacks.
I will always remember the feeling of crossing that finish line. I couldn’t believe it! Me? Run a marathon? Sometimes I still can’t believe I did it, but the fact remains: I did something I had told myself for years I could never do. And it all changed when I got sick and tired of telling myself no. Did I win the whole thing? Of course not. But now I get to tell this story. And I get to be one of those people who say, “if I can, you can” and really mean it.
Creating your career, your life’s work, is a marathon. It taken endurance, perseverance and adjusting along the way. It also takes patience, grace and a willingness to learn. Even the best success stories you have heard started with failure, usually many more than one. Whenever I see someone at the top of their game, I also imagine them as a college student or at their first job. It’s a good reminder than everyone is human. We all started somewhere.
