Dream Big and Go For It!

Last weekend I ran my 10th marathon.

Not only was it be my 10th in total but it will also be my 4th in the last ten weeks. I ran West Palm Beach Dec 6th, Disney Jan 10th, Miami Jan 24th and I will run Fort Lauderdale on Feb 14th.

Now the reason I tell you this is not because I am looking to impress you, or to request that you donate money to charity or anything like that. No, the reason I mention this is because 3 1/2 years ago when I decided to run my first marathon my two best friends told me, “you’re too fat, you’re too old, you’re too unfit, why not try something easy like a 10k”.

And I have to say they were not alone in their thinking, many others said the same thing. I’d even thought it myself, and it was this thinking which had stopped me from even trying.

But doubts, whether they are our own or those of others, are the things that stop us from reaching our full potential.

No one, not even me would have thought that I had ten marathons in me. I thought at best I would be one and done.

But yet here I am, I have run over 3800km in training, I’ve completed nine marathons and will make that double figures by midday on Sunday.

We are all capable of so much more than we ever dare dream, and it doesn’t always take great talent either. I say that because in spite of the achievement I am not a great runner, I am not even a good runner, I just set the goal and then was persist and consistent, and surprised everyone myself included.

My wish for everyone in 2016 is that they can look to achieve something amazing, their equivalent of running a marathon.

So dream big, ignore the doubts, and go for it.

My marathon journey started with a 15-minute run, it was only a small step, but it’s small steps that accumulate very quickly to become big achievements.

To further illustrate this point, I started writing at the same time as I started running, and now I have written over 800 leadership articles, I’ve published three books and been accepted as a contributor on some amazing platforms.

I don’t see myself as a great writer, but i am prolific, writing 3-4 articles per week, and its this persistency and consistency which has helped me gain visibility and I would say exceed my writing potential.

Don’t tell me you don’t have the time either, that was the excuse I had used before I started running and writing, but that’s just a case of us prioritising other things ahead of our goals and our dreams.

Don’t do that, it only leads to regret!

Everybody has the same 24 hours a day. Some of us, like me didn’t make the best of that time, others such as Barbara Cartland used it very productively writing over 23 novels in a single year which is the Guinness World Record, and 720 books in her career.

So I give you the challenge dream big, ignore the doubts, starts small, be persistent and consistent and if you do that maybe you will achieve an amazing goal.