My good friend and mentor Michele is a remarkable person. You see, it’s almost unthinkable for everybody else I know to even consider attempting to run a marathon, but she has finished the 26.2 mile race on many occasions. I am not suggesting that you must finish a marathon to be called remarkable. There are plenty of other goals you can reach in life that will make you remarkable, this is just one of many.
Building a successful business is very much like running a marathon.
1. Everyone knows how to run, and with very few exceptions, everybody can run.
2. But most people don’t do it — most people are out of shape and usually are incapable of finishing a 2 mile jog.
3. Out of those who run regularly, most won’t even think about attempting a marathon.
4. A small portion of those runners finally decide to give it a try, and they start to learn about the race.
5. All the information of running a successful marathon is available to you online, free of charge. You just have to look for it.
6. You then join training programs (strategies) and buy equipments (tactics) to help you.
7. Some may even hire a coach.
8. Most people who start a training program won’t stick to it, or go on to sign up for a race.
9. Out of those who sign up, some fail to finish the race due to lack of preparation or readiness. Some may not even show up.
10. Two things will happen after that: you either quit for good, or learn from your failure and keep trying.
————————— Here is the “cutoff line”. Most people who have ever finished a marathon race will tell you that it’s a life changing experience. —————————
11. In the end, you are left with a tiny tiny fraction of “everyone” who has accomplished their goals. They are the ones who had the passion, determination, and work ethic to finish the entire 26.2 mile race.
12. All of the sudden, your goals change. Some aim to run more races, others, longer (ultra) or faster (Boston).
13. Out of those, an even smaller fraction will end up finishing the amazing 100 mile ultra run and/or qualifying for the prestigious Boston Marathon.
Like I said before, I don’t believe Twitter will save your brand. I can explain better now. There is a reason why I put so much emphasis on passion and purpose. When you are running with fancy equipments (tactics), it makes life easier. When you stick with a good training program (strategy), you are much more likely to succeed. Strategy outweighs tactics by a wide margin: a well-trained person with a pair of average running shoes beats a person wearing $500 worth of running equipment with no training anytime.
But theoretically speaking, you can reach the finish line of a marathon with neither. There is no way on earth for you to ever finish a marathon, though, without a) knowing why you are doing it in the first place and b) having the heart to push through all the obstacles during a race.
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