In-Between Bits

"Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else." -Brian Tracy

There you stand at the start line, anticipation and excitement building up inside of you. Those around you are murmuring the same thrill of the race to begin. The general tone of the crowd begins to build in crescendo, everyone waiting for the starting gun to go off.

Bang!!

Away everyone takes off and immediately they cross the finish line. That finish line tape breaks as all of the runners shout in joy. The band plays and the crowd cheers in approval.

Think of what it would be like to get rid of all the bits in-between the start and finish line. What if we set a goal in life, started and could finish it right away without having to deal with all of the ups and downs in-between? What if you could snap your fingers and you would be done?

I'm not sure we would really gain all that much. The first couple of times would be pretty cool one could suppose. But we would lose our ability to grow, to learn from all that happens in-between. Pretty soon I'm sure you would become bored with life in general. We are born and than we die; no sense messing about with all of that stuff in-between right?

It is great though that life isn't that way. It is great that we have to live all of the in-between bits. We have to struggle in order to appreciate the success. We have to endure some pain in order to experience the joy. We get to live life and all that happens from start to finish.

While the start of something is exciting and crossing the finish line is exhilarating, the tough part is what happens between the two. We can easily allow discomfort to takeover and allow us to abandon our dreams. You are running the race and someone yells "free ice cream" and we pull off course, distracted from the finish. Well, you get my point.

All of that stuff in-between is the really important part of achieving any goal or dream. Starting is easy and crossing the finish line is easy. Keeping yourself motivated and inspired is the hard part. It will be a roller-coaster ride, painful, joyful, easy, hard, and you name it.

You will finish though, you will break the finish line tape. The band will strike up a song, the crowds will cheer, the trophy will be presented and pictures taken. But before you get there, keep moving forward, keep advancing, keep overcoming anything that stands between your start line and that glorious finish line.