Tag: perseverance

Categories
motivation

How to Succeed by Disappointing Someone

Cartoon of a man pointing his finger at a cat. He says, "Why must your species be so perfidious?" When is saw this on the word of the day for dictionary.com, I thought of cats. Not my cat, mind you. But everyone has seen a deceitful, treacherous cat. Thank heavens my cat thinks he's a dog.

Over the years, I have owned cats and dogs. Dogs can be easier to handle because all they want to do is please their owner. However, I have admired cats over the years because of their determination. If they want to climb the drapes, they are going to do it, by golly! If you don’t want a cat on the table, just watch them try to get up there. They’ll find a creative way to sneak up there. Dogs are people pleasers. But cats are goal-setters.

There are times when we need to do both. However, if you have a goal that is going to ruffle some feathers, you will disappoint someone. Some people don’t like change no matter how beneficial it could be. Others are simply not going to see things your way.

In order to make effective change, you are going to disappoint someone. There is no need to be perfidious, but there will be a need to hold your ground when you have a goal or initiative that will bring great results in the long run.

Be like a dog when you need to be friendly and social. Be like a cat when you have a goal that you know must be attained.

Categories
motivation

How to Be Authentic Without Whining

Cartoon of a runner shouting, "Just keep running!"
Copyright ©2017 Kevin Spear

We all go through stuff. We all struggle once in a while. When we do, the temptation is to put on the facade and smile. We say we’re fine when we feel like we’re dying inside. We don’t want to burden people with our problems.

As a result, we may project this image of being a super person when we struggle just like everyone else. Then when someone else has a problem, they feel they can’t come to us because we appear too perfect.

Yet no one wants to stay in the struggle, right? No one wants to announce to the world they are a hot mess. What is the right balance?

Be authentic with your weaknesses and diligent in your training.

Be Authentic

It’s okay to admit you struggle with something. Every one of us has a weakness. Each one of us is in the process of improving. It’s okay to admit you don’t have it all together. We are all human. It’s okay to admit that is the case.

Train Diligently

Keep training. Just because you’ve had a setback doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. Press on! Give yourself some grace and get back into the training. When you admit you struggle, you give yourself the grace to strive forward.

After all, if you’ve already arrived and are already perfect, what’s left? Be honest with others, and diligent with training. You’ll get there!

Categories
love

What is Love?

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:6-7

The kind of love the Apostle Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 13 is in short supply but so needed in the world. It reminds me of a Burt Bacharach song. It’s the kind of love every person hopes they find, but can be so difficult to show to others.

It’s the kind of love that is the only hope for humanity. It takes humility and a higher power to give. Every time I feel selfish, disgruntled and entitled, I know I have fallen short and need a heaping dose of it to I can give it out once again.

It is why I will be in a house of worship this morning. Because I need to feel it in order to give it away.

Categories
motivation

Why Give up Too Soon?

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Thomas Edison

Could it be that tomorrow is the day you will succeed? Could it be that the only thing keeping you from success is your temptation to give up?

I ran my first marathon in 2016. I was tempted to give up in the middle of my training because my shoes gave me heel blisters. I was also tempted to quit during the race on the twenty-first mile when my hamstrings gave out.

Each time, I was determined to keep going. It was only because I had faith I could finish the race. In spite of the obstacles, I reached the finished line.

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas Edison

I like Edison’s quote with one exception. People are not failures. People take actions that either succeed or fail. But as long as an individual keeps going, she cannot be considered a failure.

I don’t know what you are going through today, but I encourage you to have faith to keep going. You may be surprised and grateful to find your success is just around the corner.

Categories
motivation productivity Running

Lessons From a Seventeen Mile Florida Run

August sunrise at Juno Beach, Florida
I took this photo when I was into the third mile of my run.

Seventeen miles wasn’t my goal. I was determined to get nineteen miles in. But after seventeen miles, there was a drawbridge between me and my goal. It looked like a mountain. I had been training in Ohio. But now I was in Florida. It was 10:00 AM and 91° Fahrenheit. My water bottles were nearly empty. I decided to call it off and get a ride.

Next month (September 2017), I plan to run The Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio. It will be my first marathon and I have been training for the race. I was determined to keep to my schedule despite the change of locale. 

Three days later, I am thinking about what the run taught me.

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