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You have to start somewhere. That’s what I’ve been told anyway. This is the start of a new decade! A new era of technology! And blah blah blah! But you have to start somewhere.
Carpe Diem! Cry the go-getters from their towering blogs of blah blah blah. Seize the day! Easier said than done.
I am not tearing down those who laud excellence and encourage ingenuity but sometimes I wonder who set up the track. In the not so distant past I worked as a race organizer. Setting up 5k’s, 10k’s and the like. Sometimes running, sometimes cycling, sometimes swimming, sometimes all three. The tracks weren’t start whenever you want and finish whenever you want. They were properly marked and well lined with traffic cops monitoring the intersections and timing systems attached to your ankle to mark your laps. Everyone started at the same time and the winners win and the losers, well they lose.
Why is it than that we take this Start Somewhere mentality and use it to paint a broad brush of Sucess is Yours! across the minds of society? There will always be clear winners and clear losers of every race. Unless of course you never enter the race. I never did. I have always been the utility guy, setting the course for other peoples success and failure. Marking the trail for them to carpe diem. Maybe instead of Start Somewhere it should just be START.
I’ve come to realize that not entering the race is still losing. The ones who have tried and failed know more about themselves and what they are capable of they I know of myself. For too long I’ve monitored the snack table and stacked cones while others have tried to accomplish. Start Somewhere means Start Sometime with the where (Where?) and time (Who has it?) never coming.
This is the time and this is the place to start. Take that tax check and start an investment account. Plan for success and train for it. Don’t show up on race day with a hangover to cut the bananas in half (what’s with that anyway? Who eats half a banana?) Be the one stretching and striving and hugging those turns. Push yourself further into the realm of success and just START.
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Comments
01.05.10
Interesting blog. I'd say that even though there are people in the race who finish last and people who finish first,there are other ways to win and lose. Perhaps the most important race to run is the one with yourself. I think where a person places in relation to they intended to place is really what determines whether someone is a winner or not. Great post!
01.05.10
Thanks Kim! I think you are very write. It's the matter of setting your goals and entering yourself into the mindset that takes some doing. The "getting started" as it were. It's time to START!
01.07.10
Here's the thing: the beginning of the race is not the beginning of the process. If I want to compete in a triathlon, then, yes, I have to start at the designated time and complete the designated course.
But that's not where I start. For example, my odds of completing that course--whether I win or come in dead last--are greatly increased by training. Of course, training isn't the beginning, either. I can't compete in that race if I don't enter.
So "start somewhere" actually works an awful lot of the time, because it's not all about racing. Or, at least, it's not all about a particular format of racing.
The real alternative to "start somewhere" is "start nowhere." And that will also get you nowhere.
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