12Mar

Run you race as to win

March 12, 2020 Anthony Fisher 25

Each of us has a story to tell. Our stories serve as the connection of our past towards our future. Our stories serve as the fuel and potential of our greatest impact to influence those around us. If I had to sum up my life’s story at this point and time of my life, I would have say it feels and looks much like a race. A running race.

I titled this article “Run Your Race as to Win” because I believe too many of us run life’s race to lose. We are in the race physically, but our minds are far from the expectation of competing with purpose and significance.

Realize it or not, you are in a race of life and only you can determine how you will end up at the finish line.

My question to you is:

How are you running your life’s race?

Many people run life’s race without strategy or goals. They simply run here and there without structure or a plan of action to accomplish what they want out of life. Some people have all the talent & natural ability in the world but lack self-confidence to break through the limits of negative thinking. Others run life’s race is if they are on autopilot. They have low expectations and do not expect much of themselves, therefore, handing over their rights and authority to someone else who will ultimately abuse them. And let’s not forget about the individuals who are running someone else’s race. These are individuals who are living life for the sole objective of gaining approval from family, friends, or co-workers. Their identity is wrapped up in what other people think about them. They lack self worth and look upon themselves with no-value. Lastly, there are individuals who have committed themselves to run with passion, with a clear sense of purpose and a road map to accomplish their goals.

My question to you is:

Who’s race are you running?

I believe we must run the race to win. Running the race has to do with an attitude of winning and serves as the framework for your success. As a high school, collegiate, and professional runner for many years, I have learned a few truths about running and how it relates to life. I encourage you to share in this experience with me as I’m confident your experiences may be similar. My goal is to give you a glimpse of what it takes to run your life’s race with success and fulfillment.

Stay in your lane
If you have ever watched the 100meter, 200meter or 400meter races in the Olympics, you may have noticed that there are lanes assigned to each runner. Each lane is defined by white lines that are equally distributed from left to right. The lane you are in represents the area that only you are allowed to run within. If you step outside your lane, you are disqualified and are no longer able to compete or complete the race. So how does this relate to you? Your lane represents your path to your finish line (your future and fulfillment of your purpose). The runner (which is you) represents your gifts and your talents. Only you can run the race according to what you have been given and if you step out or into someone else’s lane, you will be disqualified because you cannot reach the finish line using their gifts or talents. In other words:

“The greatest achievement you will have in your life is when you begin to utilize your God given gifts and abilities”.

You cannot win your race with someone else’s gift or ability.
Don’t look at your competition. Don’t compare yourself with others. When running, the goal is not so much that you are trying to beat the other runners, but you are trying to reach the finish line first. There is a difference! When running a race, you are so focused on sticking to your strategy that your efforts and energies should not be determined by what other people are doing. Running your race is absolutely critical to your success. Have you ever seen a race where a runner gains the lead quickly and shortly after begins to fade back towards the end of the race? Well, that happens for many reasons.

It could be strategic, but often, it’s not. It’s only strategic if the person who starts the race fast can maintain a certain level of speed to complete the race strong. Most runners simply cannot do this. The runner is so excited about running the race and competing with others that their initial strategy of running smart has been thrown out the window. These types of runners are like loose cannons. Their intentions may be good, but their execution is poor. They run too hard the first lap but their training could not sustain a level of consistency.

The race of life should not be about competing with your fellow man, but with yourself. Too many times we compete with others trying to do what they do or get what they have. Once you try to run their race, you will end up in total destruction. I have seen too many people; including myself at times, trying to be like someone else. Trying to be like someone else does two things really well.

It will cause you to forfeit your dreams because you are so focused on becoming someone else. You’ve put someone or something up on a pedestal and have made them your idol and measuring stick for success. That’s a wrong move.
It causes you to disregard, devalue, and not look within your own gifts and talents. This too is a wrong move. So many people look at what they don’t have that they miss out on opportunities that are available to them for which their own uniqueness fits like a hand in glove.

Be prepared to surge
If a runner is so focused on their competition he may allow the other runner to dictate the speed. In long distance running there is a term called “a surge”. A surge is a sudden burst of speed that can last from 10 seconds to one-minute. After the surge, the leader of the pack relaxes to the normal pace again. This can happen 4 or 5 times in a race depending on the event. The purpose of a surge is to not only frustrate your competitor but to tire them out quickly. Surges test and prove one’s conditioning level and strategic awareness within the race. Typically, those who do not run with the surge will be left behind.

There are times in our life where we need to surge. The type of surge that I’m referring to is when you’ve made up your mind that you are going to run the race in a competitive manner. It’s about making a committed decision and making the initiative. Your surge could be as simple as purchasing your first book in order to educate yourself on a certain business franchise or an how-to book that will guide you in starting your own business. It could be a phone call to your spouse saying I’m sorry and that I forgive you that will lead to a reconciliation of your marriage. It could also be something as simple as recognizing within yourself that you are not living to your full potential due to fear or anxiety and are now willing to step out of the boat to live the life you’ve always wanted. Whatever it may be, a surge is a good thing. Your surge may just be the spark you need to get back on your path and fulfill your life’s purpose.

Believe in Yourself
No person can truly run the race to win unless they believe they can. As mentioned above, running the race of life has nothing to do with others, but everything to do with self. Once you master who you are, where you are going and how you are going to get there, the chances of you succeeding are very high. Your success begins and ends with you. When pursuing a goal, (whatever it may be) it requires that you become a self-motivated individual. Self motivation cannot be taught. It must be birthed out of a passion. Self motivators don’t need much of anything to get them excited about pursuing their goal and taking action. They simply are that way because the desire of achieving outweighs the thought of failure.

Believing in yourself requires that you stay focused on the task at hand, but it also requires that you focus on your strengths. We are all born with different gifts and talents and it’s much easier to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves when we operate within our natural abilities. Finding success in what you do well will naturally breed confidence in you. It is this confidence that catapults you to another level of appreciation and success.

Believing in yourself is about attitude. Attitude is like a muscle. It needs to be developed over and over again, and there is always room for growth. Your attitude determines your altitude. Belief in yourself is also about perspective. Individuals who believe in themselves are a different kind of breed. A believer’s perspective is about self-confidence and making the decision that they want the best for themselves. They’ve put aside the negative talk, negative thinking, and the lackluster environment and instead surround themselves with people who are like-minded and are willing to share in their experience.

I encourage you to stay in your lane, do not compare yourself with others, be prepared to make a surge and have confidence in yourself. Do these things and be sure to know that your life race will carry you to the finish line with winning results.

07Mar

Are you existing or living?

March 7, 2020 Anthony Fisher 28

Are you existing or living? Do you know the difference between the two? Existing means you are here on this earth “drifting”. Drifting means you have no strategy for your life, no plans, no goals, no vision and you are just coasting through life without a purpose or reason for your existence. Living means you approach life with a passion and desire to live life fully. You respect your life and you respect others. You realize each day is special and you choose to live with a call-to-action for your life. Living is what a small percentage of men do. Most men simply exists. We settle in life and for many of us we don’t know how we got to this place in our life.

So what does existing look like? Existing looks like the work you do everyday. Your life is a pattern. It’s the regurgitation of the daily routine you are so accustomed to. It’s the predictable play-by-play of your life without any change-up. You settle for base hits. You’re okay with walks. You’re in the batter’s box, but you strike out more often than not. You no longer can identify who you are on the field of life and hitting a home run (living life) is a concept far from you. You yearn for something different in your life. You yearn for the opportunity to play again – to be in the game and make a difference where difference really matters. You feel stuck, trapped, shackled, paralyzed and incapacitated to break out of the chains of your internal frustration and misery to become who you know you truly are. You’re lost. You’re okay sitting on the bench. You’ve bought into the lie that your job represents who you are. You’ve played the game of trade-offs. You’ve gotten ahead financially, but at what costs? You stay long hours at work and substitute money in exchange for being home on time and spending quality time with your family. You’ve substituted moving up the corporate ladder rather than climbing the ladder in your backyard with your kids. You would rather purchase the new car with the new car small rather than spend time with your kids on the field smelling the fresh cut grass at the park. You are like a pitcher who gets substituted each batter trying to win in life, but winning eludes you. Instead of making strikes, you strike out. Instead of stealing the base, life steals the best out of you. Existing gets you nowhere other than the opportunity to live life safely, but as you anticipate your life on your deathbed you end up having regrets. The should of’s and could of’s of your life were never realized because life was passing you by and you didn’t know how to transition from existing to living.

So what does living look like? Living is the totally opposite of existing. Living is the audacious commitment to yourself to live life in a passionate and purposeful way by exercising your gifts and abilities to the fullest and showcasing them to the world. Living is the commitment to create a body of work with focus and intention so that people know who you are and what you stand for. Living is the understanding and personal conviction that you were placed upon this earth by God to create something, to communicate something, to execute something, to make a difference in someone’s life and to express that commitment in everything you say and do. Living is you not settling for less, but expecting more from yourself. It’s about leading yourself to the potential that lives within you. When you live, you create a strategy for your life. You are intentional about your decisions and you are in the game. You are the quarterback. You are the leader, you call the plays, you direct the routes, you make audibles when necessary. You have coaches and mentors in your life guiding you through the game of life and they help you navigate the pitfalls that so easily entangle men of all ages. When you live, you win and you share that winning experience with others on your team. When you win, you teach other men, your wife and your kids on what it takes to win and you help them through their own problems, challenges and fears. You are the spokesperson for your life because you understand and realize that you are a brand – a unique, special, one-of-the-kind, gifted, talented, blessed man who has great potential to change the world. Living looks like taking the bull by the horns. Living looks like taking the driver’s seat of your own life. Living looks like spending time with your family and investing the best of you in them. Living is a choice. It takes action, a commitment and a response to owning your performance and your results.

Some people believe that your destiny is 100% predetermined and that the Hand of God has 100% control over your life to place you into your destiny regardless of your actions or inactions. I don’t believe that. I think your actions and inactions play a direct role in rather or not your will achieve your destination. If you have identified your life plan, worked that plan, recognize your gifts and talents and work smart and hard, the high probability of you succeeding outweighs than not succeeding. I do believe your destiny (your ultimately place of fulfillment and purpose for living) was divinely selected and entrusted to you by God, but it is still up to you to go after it and achieve it.

So what does success look like to you? Have you defined it for yourself? No one can tell you what success should look to you and no one should paint that picture for you. Only you know what you want and only you can determine the paths and routes you need to take in order to accomplish the success you want. The reality of a man is that we say we want success, but we haven’t defined what success is. We haven’t qualified it and when you don’t know what success looks like for you, you will attract what you may not want simply because you haven’t identified what you want. You can’t hit a target you can’t see and if you aim at nothing you can be sure to hit nothing every time. Aim at target and you will eventually hit it.

I believe that true success is not always about money and as a man I know that can be hard to swallow sometimes. For years I put too much thought about money and became anxious about my salary and I realized in my own self that it was never enough. A little more money would always be helpful and although that may have been true, I’ve come to realize that money isn’t the end all to be all. I know men who are extremely wealthy, but they have no joy in their life. I know men who make lots of money, but they are not fulfilled in the work they do. They are always missing something. I believe that true success is doing what you love to do – doing what you were born to do and being paid well to do it. For me, that gets me excited. It’s like seeing the work I do not as a job, but rather an opportunity to play and be creative and test my own limits. When you love what you do and you do it well and you get paid for it, it’s like hitting the lottery.

So how do you know when you are living and not existing? Glad you asked. You will know you’re living when you notice you are flowing in your gifts and talents and you can’t determine rather you are working hard or playing hard. When your life’s work becomes integrated with who you are and what you do, only then will you know that you’re living an authentic life. That’s when you know you’re living.

Did you know that average employee spends more days at work than sleeping. Did you know that many employees not only work their 8-10 hours per day, but they also bring work home for an additional 2-3 hours. As men, we are constantly working unable to detach ourselves from our jobs. Some of it is our doing and some of it is the expectations from the employer. I know this to be true because I worked 12-13 hour days for years for my job on top of running a design and coaching business all for the sake of bringing in an extra income and thinking that the extra money is a means to financial security. I’m a go-getter and striver by nature and have always been blessed to have work find me, but I also know there were many nights where family activities and husband-to-wife and father-to-children communication opportunities were lost all because of work. My point is two-fold, if you’re not “living” the life you want or doing the work that excites you and brings fulfillment to you, then why are you doing it in the first place? The second point is that as men, we must come to grips with how much time we spend outside of the home. I believe being an example at home is priority #1, but if you’re never home because of work, how can you be an example to your family? How can you teach your kids about life and help them shape their identify from your perspective? Let’s go deeper. I’ve talked to many men and one area of contention in their family life is that their kids are undisciplined, unruly, lazy and don’t respect their authority. I believe respect should be given no matter what. You are their father. You are to set the example, be the leader, set the tone, speak into your kids life, tell them and show them that you care. Tell them you love them. Do what is necessary for them to see your love for them. The problem is that too many of us men are passive. Instead of having purposeful confrontation, we default to lettings things be and allowing the kids to figure things out on their own. This could be why they don’t respect you as a man and why you are struggling trying to get your house in order.

Men, we are living a life of quiet desperation. We assume that our life and the work we do to be a struggle. We have it in our mind, that if we’re not working hard and long, then we’re not working at all. That’s not true. We are suppose to do work that we love. Work that uses our natural gifts and abilities. For crying out loud, that’s why we have them. The very things we want to do in our life are right in front of us and we are missing it. We’ve made the job and work thing too complicated. Let’s simplify the work we do and began to make a difference by way of our personality, gifts and talents.

We live in a society that tells us that working for someone else is the best thing to do if you want to be successful. We live in a society that values money more than meaning and purpose. We live in a society that pushes us to pursue a paycheck rather than looking within ourselves to learn how to create wealth and opportunities for ourselves. We live in a society that promotes spending money on cars, houses and other material possessions rather than using that money towards our kids needs and their education. We live in a society that teaches us to be selfish and compete for what we want rather than working together for the common good.

Living, rather than existing is a decision to be made by you. No one can make that decision for you. You must decide what you value more because no matter who you are or what you do, you are paying the price for something. Listen, we get one shot at this thing called life. Life is meant to be lived – that’s why they call it “life”. If you are not living, I pray that God stirs your heart and begins a process within you to create a vision for your life. I then pray that you would be attentive enough to recognize what you love doing in the marketplace. I pray that your desire for more out of life and what burns within your heart. I pray that the seed of potential with you becomes a spark and that spark into a flame, and that flame into a torch and that torch into a burning call-to-action for your life.