The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.
~Author Unknown
On Sunday morning Shawna and I met on City Island to run the Harrisburg Half Marathon, a beautiful 13.1 mile course along the Susquehanna River. I'll be honest - we did NOT train well for this one. Yeah, we would get a long run in most weeks, but our longest distance before the race was just under nine miles. Yet there we were (along with close to 1,000 other runners) heading toward a distant finish line.
We started strong using the time to gab (as normal)! We were excited to see friends and family cheering for us along the route (Thanks Bob, Alex, Chrystal, Vincent, Rebecca, Danielle, Jodi, Nate, and all who came out)! But around mile 11 we hit a long stretch of silent pavement - no homemade signs to distract us, no people cheering - and we began to get TIRED.
Mary Kay Ash, the brilliant entrepreneur behind Mary Kay skincare and cosmetics often quoted E. H. Harriman when she said, "Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more." Could it be that our dreams are within our reach if we only give just a little bit more?
Mary Kay gives the example of height. Let's say you have a man of average height (5'8'). If you take away 10% (a small amount, right?), he is now just over five feet. If you add 10%, he's (as Mary Kay would say) "A GIANT."
Now let's think of our own lives. What difference would 10% make for us and our goals? What could we accomplish by giving just a little bit more?
When Shawna and I hit mile 11, we couldn't see the finish line. We were tired, and it would have been so easy to congratulate ourselves on what we had done and just stop there. BUT - all we had to do was give a little bit more and we could cross the finish line!
And so it is with so many of our goals. We get to a certain point and say "good enough." But let's not stop there! It's that final 10% - that final two miles - that can take us from "good enough" to GREAT. The finish line is right around the corner just waiting for us to arrive!
What goal are you working toward? Where could an extra 10% take you?
We started strong using the time to gab (as normal)! We were excited to see friends and family cheering for us along the route (Thanks Bob, Alex, Chrystal, Vincent, Rebecca, Danielle, Jodi, Nate, and all who came out)! But around mile 11 we hit a long stretch of silent pavement - no homemade signs to distract us, no people cheering - and we began to get TIRED.
Mary Kay Ash, the brilliant entrepreneur behind Mary Kay skincare and cosmetics often quoted E. H. Harriman when she said, "Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more." Could it be that our dreams are within our reach if we only give just a little bit more?
Mary Kay gives the example of height. Let's say you have a man of average height (5'8'). If you take away 10% (a small amount, right?), he is now just over five feet. If you add 10%, he's (as Mary Kay would say) "A GIANT."
Now let's think of our own lives. What difference would 10% make for us and our goals? What could we accomplish by giving just a little bit more?
When Shawna and I hit mile 11, we couldn't see the finish line. We were tired, and it would have been so easy to congratulate ourselves on what we had done and just stop there. BUT - all we had to do was give a little bit more and we could cross the finish line!
And so it is with so many of our goals. We get to a certain point and say "good enough." But let's not stop there! It's that final 10% - that final two miles - that can take us from "good enough" to GREAT. The finish line is right around the corner just waiting for us to arrive!
What goal are you working toward? Where could an extra 10% take you?
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