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Speed Dial: 60-Second Marketing Insight Newsletter
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I joined my friends Mike & Sue
Baldauff in running the ING Marathon (Atlanta GA). It was my fourth half-marathon, so I knew
what to expect- - but could I bang it out in under two hours? Bring it
on!
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All was well for the first nine miles, but at the
10th mile, my legs SHUT DOWN. I tried to rally my double dead-weights by
channelling Tony Robbins on a Starbucks binge, but they weren't having it. I screamed at
them like a maniacal Bobby Knight during March madness, but it was non-negotiable: the legs had
reached their limit, and I finished at 2:06.
As we race through life, many of us charge hard in
pursuit of our goals. We have big plans and big dreams. Especially here in America,
we believe that if we just work hard enough & keep our spirits high, we can
accomplish anything. It's an inspiring idea, and it propels us forward.
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But as Sunday's race proved, you can have all the guts, chutzpah,
or sisu in the world and still slam into the immovable wall of reality.
So many of us blaze
through life at a breakneck pace trying to make things happen, as if the limits of time & space
can be defied by sheer determination. It's a pace that can be sustained for awhile- - until the 10th
mile, where we come face to face with the irrefutable reality that there are limits, and we have reached
them.
Our culture tends to reject that concept. We're
driven to cram in as much as we can into every available moment- - not just at work, but also into
our leisure time, too. We don't want to recognize limitations, because we think it means that
we're compromising, giving up... failing.
I'm challenging myself to re-think that.
Instead of racing through life trying to achieve everything, recognizing
limitations means making difficult choices, prioritizing, and moving forward in the focused
pursuit of what matters most. For me, and perhaps for you as well, that's a difficult reality to
accept. My body had to take drastic measures in order for my mind to begin to grasp
it.
It think of it now as the gift of the tenth mile- - where I lost one race and found a better
path.
Here's to a great week- - and I'll see you next Tuesday on
Speed Dial!
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