Find A Way
Like so many of us, I was really captivated, mesmerized,
and flat out astounded by the outrageous accomplishment of Diana Nyad earlier
this week to swim the 110 miles from Cuba to Florida. The tremendous and herculean physical effort and
mental concentration is more than I can even comprehend. I’m reminded of a quote from an article written
by Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent for the Telegraph in 2009, “There is a fine line
between genius and madness because they share the same genes, scientists have
found.”
Diana may have crossed this line
to some extent, however her determination to achieve this goal (for whatever
her reasons) is what so fascinates, intrigues, but most of all inspires me.
For
better or for worse, we live in a world today where ‘instant gratification’ is
the norm – we wait for nothing. We buy
things we can’t afford with borrowed money; e-mail and social networks have created
an expectation of immediate response by both sender and receiver; smartphones
are increasingly replacing human interaction; and worst of all is that this
creates a false and highly inaccurate sense of expectation for success.
It would be easy to blame our youth for all
this, but the truth is, my generation created this, and has simply passed it
down to our children.
For Diana, this swim was a long-awaited triumph and was her fifth
attempt since
1978, and her fourth since turning 60.
Through it all, Diana held her mantra close:
"You don't like it. It's not doing well. Find a way."
Find a Way
For
me, as a professional sales person, one of the biggest goals I had was being
Rep of the Year. What makes this such a
special award is that the winner is chosen by their peers.
It took me 11 years
to finally achieve it, and the irony is after about 4 years I stopped
trying. What I didn’t stop was trying to
be the best damn sales person I could be.
Many times I was overcome with mind numbing detail work; soul killing
loneliness from the nonstop travel; and there were always the steep and
seemingly unachievable sales targets.
Find a way.
I have never been one that feels the need to
have to ‘prove’ something by undertaking some incredibly difficult and
punishing physical endurance challenge.
However, having said this, I am one that regularly chooses activities
that can and often are physically challenging and punishing.
The difference is probably somewhere in the
goal(s) of why we do what we do. Many of
us simply cannot achieve extreme physical challenges because of limitations of
our bodies. For me, the arthritis in my
knees and herniated disc in my lower back insures that I’ll never be able to
run a marathon, but I have come up with other activities that still give me the
cardiovascular and muscular workout that I want.
Find a way
To my beautiful and talented daughters, both
of whom are on very different paths with significant and seemingly overwhelming
challenges in front of you:
Find a Way
To my wonderful and loving wife Cristin, also
on her own uncharted and challenging journey, let Diana’s words ring loud and clear:
Find a way
Finally for anyone reading this, set your
goals, seek your fortune, pursue your happiness, and when shit happens,
Find A Way
