Thursday, January 22, 2015

On Being Great

Be warned – this is a purely inspirational and motivational message.  Hang on.

Carolyn and I are watching The Biggest Loser at the moment.  This episode features four former Olympic contenders and medal winners.  When they started this show seventeen weeks ago, each of these athletes was an enlarged version of their former self.  They once had amazing physiques, and then inactivity set in. 

There are some amazing stories being written in their lives about now and the reason is these four wanted to reclaim a dose of their former greatness.

One of the coaches was quoted just a few minutes ago.  He said.



Can you relate to that?  In January I started with a dose of seriousness by hitting LA Fitness more regularly.  If I shared with you my routine, which I will not, you would not be very impressed.  This is not a path to Olympic stardom for me, but it is a path to improved breath control, weight control, blood pressure and blood sugar control. 

Already, just a few weeks into this routine, my collar is not as tight, my breathing is easier when climbing stairs, and often, in the middle of the day, that amazing euphoric feeling, or endorphin rush, overwhelms me.

Well, enough of the personal and the “I” and “me” story. 

Another coach on this program just said this:

“The journey is long,
the journey is hard,
and the journey is worth it.”

And so it is. 

Success comes from the little steps, repeated and repeated and repeated.  And they lead to better habits, better muscle memory and better life management practices.

Do you want to be great?

You may have to put your ego away, start taking those small steps, and build slowly so that someday, you’ll look back and say – “Look where I’ve come from.” 

On Wednesdays, the community college baseball team shares the gym where I do my running.  Now, this team is full of 25 young, strong, mostly in shape athletes.  I could feel intimidated.  I could walk away and say “I’ll do this tomorrow when they are not around.” 

No.  No.  No.  Who cares if they watch me, or laugh at me – which I've never felt.  They do their thing and I do mine.

They are working on their greatness, and I’m working on mine.  We just happen to be sharing the same space one day a week.

There are other areas in which I’m pursuing greatness.  Being a top-notch banker is important.  So is writing and speaking, not to mention being the best husband in the world to Carolyn.

What is your “being great” goal?

It starts today, with the first step.

Remember:  

You don’t have to be great to start.  
You do have to start in order to be great.

You are dismissed.


P Michael Biggs
Offering Hope
Encouragement Inspiration
One Word at a Time


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