Start Strong, Finish Strong

It’s not uncommon to find someone who will join your side when your near victory. In fact, a lot of countries stay out of wars until they figure which side has the best chance to win. Even in the American Revolution, France was hesitant to join until they were sure that America had a good chance at winning.

Why?

Because France didn’t want to have to deal with England if America were to lose to them. Such is true of human nature. Not many are willing to get in there and do the handwork. Not many are able to deal with uncertainty. And almost no one is willing to handle the consequences of failure.

So they avoid it all completely. Never taking risks and never getting that reward.

It’s why most people choose to work as employees instead of start their own business. They NEED that guaranteed income. They can’t even fathom working 80 hours a week for months straight without getting paid to start a business that may not make it. But come tax time they’ll be the first ones in line with their hands out or the ones chanting tax the rich business owners, even though they were unwilling to put in the work or time they did.

Is it fair? Absolutely not! But we’re not going to talk about what’s fair because quite frankly, life isn’t fair nor was it designed to be. Look around you.

The average weight of a male lion is about 430lbs. They have claws and sharp teeth. They are stronger and faster than humans. If I am in an open field with nothing but my bare hands faced against a lion, is that fair?

Of course not.

But if I am out in an open field and I have a hunting rifle in my hands, is that fair?

For me it is, but not for the lion.

You see, life was never designed to be fair. Nothing is equal, not even humans. We don’t all possess the same strengths or weaknesses, in fact, no one possesses the same strengths or weaknesses as another human being. Some of us excel at sports, some at academics, and some of us are considered beautiful. Nothing is equal about us.

Everyone wants to be better than everyone else at something. Everyone wants to win. My dad can beat your dad up. I make more money than you. I have a college degree. My car is better than yours. They’ll always find something they have that they think is better than what you have.

They’ll always compare their accomplishments to the accomplishments of others.

When I was in high school I was in cross country. I never trained like I should have because I was one of the “better” runners. I figured as long as I stayed that way in comparison to my team, as long as I could still beat the same people, that I didn’t have to train any harder than that. I never pushed myself to the limits to see what I was capable of, I never gave it my all. I didn’t even know what “giving it my all” meant until many years later.

There’s a saying that goes: “Winners compare their achievements with their goals while losers compare their achievements with the achievements of others.”

It doesn’t matter who you beat or what you have better than anyone else, what matters is whether or not you accomplished your goals. Did you pursue your dreams?

In my first cross country race ever I made the mistake of comparing my performance with that of others. Instead of worrying about pushing myself to my limits I was too enthralled with passing people.

The race started and I ran at a moderate pace, a pace that wasn’t even close to fast for me. At the end of the first mile I was in about 50th place of over 100 runners. My coach saw me at the mile marker and asked me what the heck I was doing.

Over the next mile I picked up the pace. I felt good as I was passing people left and right, I had a ton of energy left because I wasn’t running at my full capacity yet. At mile two I was about 30th place.

Over the final 1.1 miles of the race I continued to pass people, pushing myself harder and harder, and at the end I did an epic sprint and passed more people. I felt good the entire race, didn’t really challenge myself until the end, and ended up taking 18th place. Good enough I thought.

When I found my coach however he was not at all happy with me. I had made a serious mistake in my running strategy and cost our team points. Here I was thinking I did a good job and I came to realize that I was capable of placing in the top ten if I had pushed myself.

This was the day I learned a valuable lesson that’s carried with me through the entirety of my adult life.

In order to be the best you can be, you must start strong and finish strong.

What I should have done is ran my little heart out at the start and got myself into the top ten pack. I should have pushed and pushed so that I wasn’t smiling, so that I wasn’t just casually strolling passed people – I should have pushed myself to my limits.

By mile 2 I might have been breathing hard. I might have felt terrible. I might have had dimmed vision. I might have tried to sprint the same way I did at the end while barely moving from exhaustion. When I finished I might have blacked out or thrown up. But most importantly, I could have said I did my best…that I gave it my all.

I could have went back to my coach and said, “Coach, I started strong, and I finished strong.”

And he would have looked right back at me and said, “That’s all I can ask for.”

In life, you sprint toward your dreams, and you hold onto them no matter what. No matter how tired you get, no matter who stands in your way, no matter who says you can’t do something, and no matter how many obstacles you have to hurdle.

You get your ass in the top of the pack, and you hold that position at all costs because if you don’t…then you can’t say that you tried. And you can’t say you lived your life to the fullest. And you can’t say you gave it your all.

No matter how strong you finish, if you don’t start strong, you didn’t do it right.