Quick Clarification on Chicken Excrement

Just to be clear, Without Limits is my third, all-time favorite movie, any genre.

My all-time favorite scene, from any movie, is with Steve Prefontaine and Bill Bowerman (Prefontaine’s coach).

They are having a heated discussion about Prefontaine’s need to take the lead.  Front-running is what Bowerman calls it.

Bowerman tells Pre he could run faster times if he’d let someone else take the lead.

Pre says, “I don’t want to win that way”.

Bowerman, “What’s the point of racing”?

Pre, “To win”.

Bowerman, “So you don’t want to win”?

Pre finally says, and I quote, “I don’t won’t to win unless I know I’ve done my absolute best.  And the only way I know how to do that is to run flat out until I have nothing left.  Winning any other way is Chickenshit”.

What a Chicken$#it

What a chciken$#it.

My friend couldn’t wait a few more seconds to finish watching an inspiring, one-minute You Tube video.

It was 62 seconds long.  Come on.  Seriously?

It didn’t reach him emotionally, I guess.  Didn’t engage him, perhaps. Maybe I’m a sap for thinking these things are inspirational.

I asked, “Did you see the guy with no legs running at the very end”?

Maybe the focus on athletics was a turnoff.  Maybe not.  It’s a complete mystery to me.

But you know what?  I really admire this person and think I can learn as much from him as he can from me.

The man with no legs, he runs the same race as me – 400 meters – he almost made the South African Olympic team.

The Olympic Team!!!!

Are you kiddin’ me.

How is that possible?

Anything is possible.  But you have to believe it.  I believe he’ll watch it this time.

But then again, I’ve been wrong before.

Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Most Worried About?

What am I the most worried about, when it comes to writing five blog posts every single day?

Content.  Quantity. Yes, quantity over quality at this point.

Why?   I’m really in the infancy stage of developing these blogs.

The concept is easy for me to understand, but not so much for others.

Take running, reading, writing, or even cooking.  What is a simple, fundamental concept to be good at these?

Want to be a good runner  – run a lot.

Want to be a good reader – read a lot.

Same with writing.  Condition yourself first, before you start the “race”.

I compete in Master’s Track & Field at 400 meters.  That’s one lap. Done in less than one minute.

In training for this, I run 4-5 miles each day.  That’s 16 – 20 laps.  But the race is only one.

Do the quantity first, to lay the foundation for quality.

At least that’s what I do.  Carpe diem,  jeff noel 🙂

Guilty As Charged?

Guilty As Charged?

Probably.  Maybe?  Maybe not?

If someone thinks you are a “jerk”, because you never call, email, write – it could make you feel really guilty.

The antidote?

Remind yourself that it’s a two way street.

And that what the other person sees in you and is unhappy with, is the same thing you see in them and are unhappy with.

While this doesn’t completely wipe away my guilt, it certainly helps.

Old habits of dysfunction can be hard to break.  Hard to change.

My biggest struggle?   What’s the process to start the change.  And then, how do we keep the positive change alive?

Carpe diem, jeff noel  🙂

Bring It On!

Bring It On!

What a glorious day to be alive.

Just finished six blog posts.  This is number seven this morning.

Now, I get to go to Disney World for the day, and attempt to teach smart, experienced, professional  people something new.

I love the challenge.  And so does my colleague.

Nothing is impossible for us.  Why just last night, my colleague bowled 150.  It’s a new PR for him.  His old PR was 138.

Nothing is impossible, unless you believe it to be impossible.

Carpe diem, jeff noel  🙂