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Powerful Thought
by John Bingham, running speaker and writer
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Run a marathon, tell a great story.
Was it a New Year’s resolution that acted as the catalyst for you deciding to run or walk a half marathon? For most of our team members, that played a roll in their decision in one way or another. The start of a new year makes us believe that it could be the start of a new chapter in our lives – one that is healthier, more adventurous, and maybe even more meaningful.
But I think what we long for most is to be part of a good story – a great story. Ultimately, that is what our New Year’s resolutions point to—we want more, from our lives, our experiences, our selves. We don’t want to just let the days pass by without living on purpose.
Don Miller wrote a paradigm-shifting post about New Year’s resolutions here. Stop what you are doing and read it now. In it, he explains that our resolutions need to find context in a larger narrative, a bigger story. In that bigger story, our goals have meaning and purpose that have the power to actually transform our lives.
Don says that every good story involves a person that wants something and is willing to overcome conflict to get it. Right now you want something—to complete a half marathon, to lose weight, to get healthy, to do something that seems impossible—and we promise you that you will have to over come conflict to get it. In fact, by Aril 24, you will have had to overcome all kinds of conflict to cross the finish line. Strangely enough, this is actually the good news, and kind of the point. The conflict is the adventure and overcoming it is at the heart of the story. Why? Because this experience is about who you are becoming! You will not be the same person on that day as you are today if you press into this experience fully.
The marathon is only a means to an end, and the end is a great story. In the weeks ahead, we’ll talk more about how you can leverage this experience to help transform your life into that kind of tale.
In the meantime, I encourage to you read his post and contemplate how running or walking the Country Music Half Marathon (or full marathon, if you are really hard-core) is part of YOUR bigger story.
Category Motivation | Tags:
by Powered By Hope » Blog Archive » Telling a Great Story: What do you want?
On January 27, 2010 at 11:46 am
[...] Run a marathon, tell a great story. [...]