Last year, a friend of mine made it a goal to run in a Father’s Day triathlon. For the past year, he woke up early to work out, watched his eating, and stayed up late to catch up on work. After a solid year of sacrifice, he achieved his goal and ran in this year’s triathlon.

I was inspired to take on my goals with the same kind of dedication and sacrifice as he did. But when I looked over my list of goals, I realized that none of my goals involved a physical activity that I needed to “work out” for. My goals are just as lofty, but are more mental than physical, such as raising $1,000,000 for great student projects on AlumniChoose by July 1st 2013.

So that got me thinking…what is the mental workout equivalent of a physical workout for a triathlon? Is it waking up early? Going to bed late? Cutting all distraction out of the work day? Setting aggressive goals and doing whatever it takes to reach them? I don’t have the exact answer yet, but I know that if I’m going to hit my goals, I need to tackle them the same way my friend did with his triathlon.

I’ve been doing Dance Floor Theory Leadership Trainings since 2004, which is a long time and a lot of students. Any good speaker knows the feeling of getting off stage to a whirlwind of buzzing students excited to talk. Many students energetically say they will follow up later, but sadly most don’t. Every so often, however, an email comes in, like the one above, that warms my soul. I spoke to her group 4 years ago and to know what I said, and how she received it, still sticks with her today. That’s a special moment for me. It’s an honor for her to let me be a part of her journey.

“Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting. The theory of evolution claims that “only the strong shall survive”. Maybe so, maybe so.

But the theory of competition says, “just because they’re the strong doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked”.

That’s right. See, what every long shot, come from behind, underdog will tell ya is this: the other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough. But what the odds don’t know is, this isn’t a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion, has a funny way of trumping logic.

So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows, and the clocks start ticking just remember: out here the results don’t always add up. No matter what the stats may say and the experts may think and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on, all bets are off.

Don’t be surprised be if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling “Uncle”. And then suddenly as the old saying goes, “WE’VE GOT OURSELVES A GAME”.”

Speaker friend, Jon Vroman, asked me this question on Facebook, and since it’s something I’ve actually thought about a lot, I knew it needed more than just a Facebook response.

Going back to the beginning of my college career, I had this idea planted in me that I’d find “the one.” Not in terms of love, but in terms of mentors. I’d have “the one” teacher that, almost like an awe inspiring alarm clock, this person would show me a whole new world I’d never seen before. I waited, and waited, and waited, but “the one” never happened. Well it almost did.

He was an older adjunct teacher for my intro to entrepreneurship class at Aurora University. He’d created and sold multiple companies. He truly seemed like my “something from nothing” hero.

On the first day of class, he filled us with motivational war stories from the front lines of entrepreneurship. I couldn’t get enough, I was in awe and knew there was no where else I was interested in being. Then it happened…

We were in a discussion about who should sit on a board of directors and my newly minted hero said, “for me it was always filled with men because there just wasn’t a need to have women in the boardroom.” My head sank. The whole class went up in arms.

Turns out his views on women were from an era gone by and no one told him. To his credit, he did actively listen to the criticisms of the class and by the end of the term he had changed…a bit. But the damage was done. My hero was no more.

Beyond him, no one else came close to being “the one” for me.

I continuously hear people talk about how a specific person changes their life forever. As if it were some magical moment where this perfect image of a person came down from above and it was meant to happen. Maybe I need to keep waiting because it makes me feel like I missed out on something in my life.

In the mean time, I’ve built up an amazing support group of people, and networks, around me. Theses are people who individually each have something that is awe inspiring to me. But as well have flaws and things that I know I don’t want to emulate. Put each individual piece together and then I’d have “the one.” It’s piecemeal on my part and maybe that’s ok, because no one is perfect by themselves. We all have our flaws.

Which brings me to my final note on this topic. I know some people I’ve connected with look up to me in awe and use my life as inspiration (or maybe I just think they do). And I’ll do my best to be their “the one,” but they should know that I come with my flaws too. I hope that what you like about me doesn’t blind you from my flaws and you piecemeal the best parts for your life instead of an all or nothing approach.

I lied, one more thought. This is also why I don’t find myself gravitating to any one religion or way of life because in each I find the pieces I like and pieces I don’t.

“When you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”

Hat tip to Nate St.Pierre (though don’t know where he got it from). Reminds me of a previous post I did in 2009 called The Vision Gap.

Instagram Photo by @AnnieColbert

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

RIP Steve “THE Crazy One” Jobs

K´naan – Wavin’ Flag