10-10-10 & Crazy Goals

Yesterday, my brother in law, Pat, ran the Chicago Marathon. So we packed up the family and went up to watch him run.

I learned a couple of things that I thought I would share.

The first thing I learned is that this attitude stuff works. When Meaghan reminded me that we were going to the marathon last week, my first thoughts were negative. I thought of dragging the kids around, long car rides, long train rides and my ever growing to-do list that wouldn’t get done while we were gone. I decided I would change my mind and have a positive attitude about it. Guess what, instead of all the negative stuff I was expecting, I received a great day with the family that I won’t soon forget. I also return inspired to tackle the never ending to-do list.

A lot of people were wearing shirts that said 10-10-10 on them. At first, I thought to myself about how interesting it is that some people must believe that there is some god of numerical symmetry that will swoop in anytime the numbers line up and make that particular day magically better (or worse) than any other day. But then I realized something. I realized that 10-10-10 was special. It was the only one I will ever get. Think about it. Every day is the only chance you will ever get to live that day. What are you doing today to not waste it? What are you doing to live a life of meaning and purpose each day?

The marathon itself was inspiring to say the least. Close to 50,000 people ran in the Chicago Marathon. Let me repeat that. 50,000. For most people, running a marathon sounds impossible. But for 50,000 people yesterday, the impossible became possible. The vast majority of the people running the marathon were average people who set a crazy, impossible goal of running marathon and then went out and made it happen.

Think about that. I am not going to suggest that we all sign up for a marathon tomorrow, but I am going to suggest that we all have a crazy goal out there for our selves. One that seems impossible. Want to save a million dollars? Quit smoking? Lose some weight? Take control of your life? Get organized? Save for a new house? Shatter the Mavidea quarterly revenue record?

Whatever your goal and how crazy it might seem, it can be done. Even better, YOU can do it.

If you have a positive attitude and live every day to the fullest; you can set and accomplish whatever crazy goal you can imagine.

Jake