Be Crazy Dedicated
Note: This was originally started on November 9, 2020. I didn’t have much self-confidence at the time. So, this piece sat for over a year. Yet, I’d see it every time I logged into my Medium account. Whether we see them or not, unfinished goals taunt us. I keep being reminded that finishing what we start is wildly important. Take action. Regardless of the outcome, finish!
I got the email on Sunday night:
“We’ve been watching the developing Topical Storm Eta, and we have decided that we intend to be open tomorrow morning. As we continue to monitor, it may be such that you hear from us again before morning. If we need to cancel, we will send you an email by 4:45am. If you don’t get an email, we will have practice unless, obviously, there is severe wind or lightning in the area during practice.”
“Well, I guess I’m going to practice tomorrow morning,” I said to my wife, Julie. “It will be fun to tell people in Minnesota that I swam during a tropical storm.”
I felt a bit crazy going to bed on Sunday night knowing that my alarm would go off at 4:45am and, pending lightning, I would drive 4 miles to swim practice so that I could swim 90 minutes in an outdoor pool.
But, I also felt dedicated.
In fact, I felt crazy dedicated.
A BIG, SCARY, HAIRY GOAL is amazing.
When we have our sights clearly set of where we want to go, we look at things with different filters.
Excuses disappear.
Barriers are opportunities.
Challenges are chances to improve.
Embracing crazy becomes status quo.
Take a BIG, SCARY, HAIRY GOAL away — for me at the time breaking 5 minutes in the 500 free and training for my second Ironman in September 2021 — and there isn’t a chance that I’d be contemplating a swim in the midst of a tropical storm.
That would be just plain crazy.
And certainly no fun.
With no goal, after reading the email, I’d likely be saying to my wife, “Sweet, I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow morning.”
But, I did wake up.
I did maintain my routine.
I did drive the 4 miles to the pool.
I did swim 90 minutes with a few other brave souls.
And, in reality, it wasn’t too bad.
Excuses do that: create an imaginary future world that is far worse than what we experience in reality if we simply see things through.
Being unclear on your goals allows excuses to dictate your story. A story you likely don’t want to be telling. A story that you’ve repeatedly told.
Having clarity around your goals, though, allows your goals to dictate your story. A story that you set out to tell when you decided to go after those goals.
Walking out of practice that day, I held my head high knowing that I put in a bit more work toward my BIG, SCARY, HAIRY GOAL and, in doing so, I was adding to the story that I wanted to be telling.
And, that’s all it takes to tell the story that you want to be telling: showing up regardless of the circumstances.
There is always going to be a tropical storm.
The excuses are always going to be there.
Sometimes they’re small.
Sometimes they’re large.
Regardless of magnitude, they’re lies about an imaginary future world.
And, the more you see through the excuses—the more you challenge them—by seeing the opportunities in them, the better you will get at pushing through the hard that is inevitable when chasing after your BIG, SCARY HAIRY GOAL.
Be crazy.
Be dedicated.
Be crazy dedicated.
It makes for a better story and you’ll likely accomplish things you always knew were possible.