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.

Finish Line

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another." -John Dewey

I have heard it said many times that starting a journey towards a goal is the easy part...finishing it is the hard part. Its a true and sometimes painful lesson for many of us to learn in life.

We set forth at the beginning of a new year with plans for many things. But by the second or third month, life and our own selves get in the way. We lose interest, become interested in other "bright and shiny" things or simply give up. It is a common theme for many of us and finishing really is the hard part.

I wrote recently that my son graduated from the University of Georgia, picking up his Bachelor of Science in Geology, Summa Cum Laude. Now it is graduate school (should he decide) ahead of him. I am sure it was a long and hard road to achieve this moment. Yet he pushed and kept his mind on the goal and beyond.

It is that piece beyond the goal, that which lay beyond the finish line that keeps us motivated. One goal begets another goal, another destination, or another level of achievement. But none of it happens if you don't keep moving forward.

Now I fully understand that we can start a journey and then realize the path might be wrong. The goal we set may have been the wrong direction. The course we take might get altered. We may not complete the first goal in mind, but the path leads you to the next goal and the next and the next.

The best thing you can do is to set a goal and then get up and do something about it. Try to finish the journey to your goal. If you get side-tracked from it, adjust; don't just stop. Don't click on the CANCEL button. Don't click on the BACK button. Go forward and achieve a great life.