Never give up

Dean Karnazes has run over 200 miles. At one time.

Take a moment to fully appreciate that: 200 miles in a single run. Think about the last time you went for a run, it was probably less than an hour.

It’s not because he has bigger lungs or stronger legs. It’s all in his mind. It’s not a physical thing. Now, it’s easy to say that people like Dean Karnazes are “freaks” and that’s why they can do the incredible things they do.

But isn’t that just an excuse?

Doesn’t that give us justification to not attempt the same things? We can sit back in our comfortable chair and say “well if I was Blessed with lungs like his then I would do the same, but I’m not, so I won’t”.

But we’re just kidding ourselves when we do this aren’t we?

Dean Karnazes is not a freak. He is a normal guy who has chosen to do some incredible things. He was nobody before he decided to do this. In fact, there are people with bodies far more suited to endurance running than his who haven’t done anything.

The fact is – anyone can choose to do something incredible.

And ‘anyone’ includes you…

The Importance of Hard Work

You do not come across success just by hoping for it. To achieve true success, you need the strength of mind and body to struggle and work hard to reach your fullest potential. You need the right attitude, self-discipline, and the ability to put your goal before all other desires if you are really driven towards reaching success. There is, after all no substitute for hard work. As Henry Ford said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get”, and the more successful you get!

The truly successful person keeps trying and struggling. Thomas Edison failed approximately 10,000 times while he was working on the light bulb and yet he never dreamed of giving up – this is the hard work and the determination that marks a true success. Indeed, success is not measured by the position that you are in today, but by the amount of hard work you put in and the number of obstacles that you overcome to reach your goal.

There are no short cuts to success. Hard work, complimented with a willingness to struggle to achieve success is the only way to reach your goals.

Remembering Steve Jobs

Like many, I respected Steve Jobs and his genius, and I am deeply saddened by his passing. The reality is that even if you have never owned an Apple product, Steve Jobs impacted all our lives.

There are many lessons we can all learn from Steve Jobs brief, but brilliant life. In particular, if you have not seen his 2005 Commencement address at Stanford, it is time well invested.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Take these lessons and apply them to your life–personally and professionally. Once you stop setting new goals to strive for, your strategy for your career or your life becomes timid and leads to stagnation and decline.

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

You have today. What will your legacy be?