...finishing lasts forever!

My Dearest Readers,

after returning from the Chicago Marathon I want to use today’s words to re-establish what I formerly said about finishing, because one thing I knew and realized right after the race was over…that you have no idea what finishing is unless you do finally finish. In today’s discourse I want to use all phrases, all textuality that is available to capture this overwhelming feeling of finishing something, I will try to put this incredible feeling into words, for you to grab it, to grasp it, to touch it, and to feel it!

Before the race I was filled with a mixture of anxiety and excitement, inter-woven, I could feel the time running out slowly, the race approaching more and more every second; but one thing I never thought about: that I would enter and not give it my all, all that I have to give. I always knew it was going to be hard, and tough, and painful, all that I was aware of; but one thing filled me with subliminal delight and eased my fraught mind: that I do face this big task, that I do rise to this challenge, and that all preparations, all training, all this hard work has finally brought me here, not just to a race, but a damn test, an epitome of a statement I wanted to issue.

When I was running my thoughts were wandering from one place to another, it was an emotional turmoil in which I tried to keep control over myself, because I knew that today was not practice, this was real…and it was on. The people cheering for the runners did a great job reminding me of that all the time. As I kept running I enjoyed the excitement of being in this race, when my eyes caught a poster with inscribed words I will never forget in my entire life; it read:

“Pain is temporary, but finishing lasts a lifetime!”

These words still have the ability to make me tremble like an aspen leaf and shake the depths of my body and soul. They ultimately and permanently reminded me of the one thing I came for, of why I was here: to finish!

Through the entire race these words were running through my mind just like I was running through the streets of the Windy City, they reverberated, echoed in my brain and would never leave me. They reminded me over and over again to never stop, to never give up in this long lasting fight with myself. They encouraged me to remain strong, to overcome the pain that penetrated my fatigued legs like an acute but somewhat steady twitch…but I knew that this was going to be temporary; I wanted what was persistent, nothing evanescent but what is there constantly, for a lifetime, I wanted what lasts forever…

…and after an awful long time I finally realized and knew, what finishing really meant; it is not just the act of bringing something to an end, it is not crossing the finish line itself, no…it is everything in between, from the initial moment you made your decision all the way to crossing this finish line…it is the strongest of all will to never give up, to never stop; it is the persistent will to complete, to not drop out halfway when you begin telling yourself that it was probably the best idea. Finishing is the blood you sweat, the fight with yourself, it is when you continue regardless of anything that could stop you from going, when you go on, when you march on, with your head held high. It is endurance, perseverance, it is competing, completing, and it is succeeding; it is when you overcome all entities that tell you to stop, all the burden, all the pain, it is when you never yield, when you’re still doing when others don’t.

To sum it up in one little phrase: Finishing is when you desire nothing more than to bring things to an end…then you will endure and persevere , then you will fight and approach all the pain with a smile, because then you know what you are: a f*cking finisher!

...and now I am here!

My dearest readers,

now that I have arrived in Madison and am enrolled in my courses of choice at the wonderful University of Wisconsin I want to provide a sequel to the last blog I wrote in Germany about seeing the end of something; now I am, apparently, beyond the point and at a new stage in life, at a new beginning, but is it really a new beginning? I mentioned in the prior blog, how “the end of something depicts not only the end of a period but further marks the beginning of something new”; and this is what eventually happens here, a new chapter is being written...for here I am.

I want to begin today’s discourse with a quote by Mark Twain who said that “[t]here is no security in life, only opportunity.” Beginning a new passage in life is always a new opportunity and shalt be perceived as such. One may be discouraged by the respect someone has for the uncertain, the novel, the unknown, but that should be an additional inspiration to make something out of this new-found opportunity. A new opportunity, is that not a great endowment in life? It surely is; and it is further a reward, a prize, because opportunity falls into the hands of the one who has done his or her work; opportunities are generated and earned by a person willing to make an effort, therefore: get back to work and draw something valuable out of the endowment you have created! It will be worth it, and you have proven that you got what it takes to process this opportunity and eventually progress in life as well as your occupation. “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing” (Theodore Roosevelt), and that is a prize that has been offered to me—and also to you!

Does not this new opportunity make you reminisce, ruminate, and remind you of all you had to do in order to get this novel opportunity? And you are right...you have earned it, you worked hard, you succeeded where others failed, you moved on when others quitted, you passed the finish line, you went beyond it...and are now here—at a new spot in your life, a spot you earned, a territory you have claimed and conquered. A new opportunity does not only make you aware of you being now here (whereas you were there before), at a new point in life; it is an indicator of how you have achieved a goal and in doing so paved the way for achieving new ones; you are the bearer of a sustainable life, initial goals have been achieved, news ones are ahead.

Being at a new point in life is therefore not something we should be afraid of. We shall see the opportunity it contains; and considering it the result for hard work in the past makes it more an inspiration of confidence than an uncertainty one may fear, right? Approach it with the right mental attitude, that of a winner, that of someone who finishes what he or she has started, someone that brings things to an end and is then not afraid to face new challenges in life...and that is the spirit!

Note one thing: “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal” (Thomas Jefferson). Thus, I want to encourage you to be that person, achieve and finish...and further, once you are here, stare the next opportunity dead in the eye with the passion and confidence for another step.

When your days are numbered...

My fellow readers,

today’s discourse is on finishing and therefore an enhancement to what has already been said, but this time in a different manner (based on me running out of time prior my year of studying abroad at the University of Wisconsin). This time subject is not a mere enrcouragement to finish strong, but what to do with a shortage of time left, the clock ticking, tick...tock...tick...tock; your days are numbered, and a good thing will come to an end; this is what to do, when your days are numbered...

I know you all can relate to the situation in which you are working on something big, a tough challenge, a goal you set, maybe even further a dream you are to make come true. You got used to working hard, work has eventually evolved into fun, and you do it with passion. You are at course to achieving, you are at course to finishing...but what fulfills you is a subliminal fear of what is there to come after. What will happen once you finished? What will await you in the end, or after the end?

What we often experience is a (w)hole lot of emptiness, for we perceive there is nothing in the end, and further nothing after the end. No wonder, when you fulfill something with such an intense passion and dedication, with determination, with pure love for it; but what is there left for us in the midst, or in the center of destined desolation? There lies a lot for us in the end, all we have to do is identify it and draw something out of it. The end of something depicts not only the end of a period but further marks the beginning of something new, remember: the world keeps spinning, and so is your life. Just because we perceive the end of something does not mean there is nothing left for us, even though we may feel like that; there is more out there for you—as well as there is for me. Let us not see the end as the mere end and eventually fall back to reminiscence, to our nostalgic notion in which we cling to the achievements of the past. Draw a perseverant spirit out of it, be aware of a great goal you have achieved, inhale the feeling of success and let that be the encouraging spirit to move on. Help yourself and move on.

The author Dave Pelzer once said that “[t]o help yourself, you must be yourself. Be the best that you can be. When you make a mistake, learn from it, pick yourself up and move on.” That also applies to success and achievements, learn, take the experience of finishing towards the next achievement, let it be your engine, or more the gasoline to run your determined engine of self-awareness and confidence; pick yourself up and move on to the next goal. There lies your time to shine...again...and again!

Then you are at your best, one to reverberate confidence and the ability to move on, to never stop—and as I wrote at some point: to never yield. Your days are numbered? Keep your smile up at the goalline ready to finish and move on, no emptiness will await you, be the one to maintain confidence when things are coming to an end, be happy and thankful for going down that road, and filled with heart and self-esteem to move on, do what you do best: polish and shine...and move on...and be one thing: the best that you can be!

...on being modest!

Dear readers,

with reference to the last blog on deferred success and further encouraging everyone to remain strong and never to yield I want to convey a peculiar essense in this discourse that defines the successul and defies the conceited, a little feature that prevents a personal hamartia from happening while riding on the wave of success, a trait that makes you stay down-to-earth, where you belong: genuine modesty!

You may wonder how I portray success, how I present the ways to it, how I promote perseverance, how I proclaim the strong heart and now all of a sudden decided to write about modesty, for the so often preached confidence seems like a tremendous opposition to modesty; especially when we, once we are successful, let the sweet scent of success get to our head and lean towards conceit. Modesty, however, is a virtue everyone should remain in times of success in order to keep fortune from distorting who you are, from corrupting your character, from poisoning your heart. Be modest, but do not lose your confidence…or maybe the other way around: “Stay confident, but be modest as well.”

Oliver Herford, whom some consider the American Oscar Wilde, once said:  “Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.” Well, isn’t that somewhat funny? What I intend to tell you is that modesty is a great virtue every successful person is ought to follow, ought to live by, because in modesty your real heart of success is presented to your fellow people and everyone else to be around you. Isn’t your success the result of a whole lot of effort you put into it? Isn’t it the just reward for your hard work, the extra mile you were going, the minute you invested more than the one who failed? Is there a need to be conceited? If there is, then you have success only in your head, but do not have it where it’s supposed to be: in your heart!

How many have we heard of that had success get to their heads and that way sealing their nemeses…how many made it to the top and were then destined to fall; you have seen those antiheroes, you have heard of their fates, their doomed destinies, and their downfall...so be aware! Your successful drive remains as long as you handle it with care, as long as you are appreciative, as long as you stay focused—make use of it as long as you have it, for it may not always be there. The Swiss philosopher Henri-Frédéric Amiel phrased it perfectly: “Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.” Make use of it as long as you have it, while there is still light. And it is you to make something out of it, and it is you who will, that I am sure of. Keep the drive alive, but withstand all sorts of conceit, because not only will you ruin your character traits, your reputation, you will further ruin all you have been building up on your way to success, you will tear down all the pillars you erected through hard work. You don’t want that to happen? Then remain modest and refrain from conceit; if you are successful in your heart, you will be modest, because then you will see your success as the just reward for all you have been doing to achieve it, no need to brag about it or to lose grip, the reward for hard work to be proud of, to enjoy with modesty...you are the one responsible for the talent and the success that comes with it...that has been entrusted to noone...but one person: you!

...on deferred success!

My dearest readers,

in this discourse I want to go back to the very first blog I wrote, to Langston Hughes, to holding fast to dreams, and to dreams deferred. Do you know after a great achievement the pleasure you feel, the deep satisfaction, you are at ease and peace with yourself? Everything seems perfect, and then…all of a sudden it vanishes; you intended to suck confidence out of your achievement(s) and move on to higher heights…but you find yourself facing grit in the gears, stagnation, deferment; do not bow down, be encouraged to stand up, head held high, and move on.

When all of a sudden the drive, the momentum stops, when success and dreams are deferred, do not be discouraged. Especially when you come out of achieving something great it is common, almost natural to feel that way. The achievement as a result of long and hard work is the counterpiece to all the effort you have put into it, see it as the final piece to the puzzle, the concluding segment to close the circle; when you now start something new you begin a new phase, a new task, you begin a new journey…on a new path! Give it time to develop, don’t expect it to be easy from the start; but out of prior achievements you should have learned something: to be confident that you can master this next step as you mastered the one before.

The Irish scholar C.S. Lewis once said that “[w]hen things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right they often go on getting better and better.” It may take a while, but if you stay focused, ready and inspired for a next step, a new goal, you will get momentum (back) in no time, you will rise again, will ride again, and drive again. If things don’t work good in the beginning, be inspired to make them work, stay on it, show how much heart you can put into it as an act of defiance, act, act in spite of deferred success, for “[s]uccess seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit” (Conrad Hilton)—and neither shall you!

You know your strengths and weaknesses best; and you know how to diminish your weaknesses and have your strengths prevail...be confident and remain strong in will...and never yield. When your day or week starts weak, weary, and whacky, be aware that a new beginning, here to a new goal, may always be a little rusty, success may be deferred for the moment, but with a strong heart you keep up your effort regardless of anything, you keep driving despite of development hiccups, you accept the fact that beginnings aren’t meant to be easy as you have to get something going and moving first, that, as Mark Twain said, “[t]here is no security in life, only opportunity”; and that opportunity is one provided to you...an opportunity for you to rise again, to ride again, and drive again; and why do I put so much emphasis on the word again? Because you’ve done it before, because you know how to get momentum, how to make things work, how to make use of your perseverant heart in order to achieve something, to stay on the path to success, and to finish—and further you know another thing of utmost and ultimate significance: never to yield!

Don't talk about it – do it!

My fellow readers,

today’s discourse I want to dedicate to a person who once told me I will not make it very far, because I am too calm and don’t talk about what I do; and by indirectly addressing this person I further want you, my fellow readers, to get something out of it as well—this is about the juxtaposition of talking and doing.

I had been thinking thoroughly about opposing both concepts, talk and action, and by doing my research, regardless of what I was doing, I came to the same conclusion: talk and action are irreconcilable differences; if you want to achieve anything, these two concepts just don’t go together, for there is obviously a reason they say “actions speak louder than words.” So why is it that people pay so much attention to the talk rather than to taking action? Is it for popularity purposes, for boasting, amusement, entertainment? Over all, talking is definitely one thing: easier than taking action—and this is why we all pay so much attention to the talk; talking is so easy that everyone can do it. It is, however, not what makes us achieve our goals, what makes us successful, what makes our dreams come true. We have to be willing to do an extra step, a step away from the talk, a step towards taking action; therefore don’t talk, do!

Gary Ryan Blair once said: “Don't talk about it – just do it, there is a time to stop talking and a time to take action and that time is right now.” Stop the talk, start the doing! People who talk can be found anywhere, ad infinitum, but how many do you know that really do all the things they talk about? Well, the ones I met that actually do all the things they talk about are so few that they can be counted on the fingers of one hand, because the people who do, the people who take action don’t talk about it, they get their things done. They are engaged with achieving their next goal constantly wondering what the next step is or may be, they are focussed, they ain’t got time to talk about it, they are busy doing it...and the person who confronted me with talk or do I can merely tell one thing: there is no need to run the mouth when there is a life running at full speed.

Gary Ryan Blair further said: “Don't tell me what you’re going to do, show me what you’ve already done.” Show me! Why is there a need to run the mouth when you can have actions speak for itself? Let the actions speak, let your achievements be your poster child, your walking advertisement, refrain from senseless talk, but turn towards doing, towards taking action. The athletic apparel brand Nike uses the slogan “Just do it” and not “Just talk about it,” it’s about doing, not talking; and don’t be discouraged, if people miss the talk you do about things, you know once you’re doing something there is no need to talk, you’re doing, you don’t need to talk...and by doing you’re on the main road to success, to big achievements, and not least to making dreams come true.

...and concluding I want to share a final Blair quote with you and not talk about it, but have it speak for itself: “Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.”

Love what you do!

Dear readers,

in this discourse I want to add a valuable endowment to my 2012 April blog on Energy and Enthusiasm in which I proclaimed the enthusiastic heart; I now want to encourage you to add another ingredient to the recipe of success: love!

Enthusiasm about your dreams and deeds is indeed closely tied to the love for your dreams and deeds, but somehow a bit different—I surely see both as complementary, where enthusiasm is the outer element with love being the inner part. You can spread and show enthusiasm about what you do, but I would like to encourage you to neither neglect nor diminish the inner part: the love for what you do.

Love for your dreams and deeds is the foundation, the fundamental core for all enthusiasm, because all enthusiasm, if it is real, comes from within; and love is its big bang. Before all enthusiasm can be seen by your fellow friends the love for your deeds and dreams needs to be there—glowing at the bottom of your heart: from within. When the love for your dreams and deeds is fully and entirely established it will shimmer and glow and slowly drift to the outside where people can see you shining and spreading joy and love; but in order to radiate this love you need to have it inside. With the love for your dreams and deeds you will constantly be fulfilled and it will be easy to pursue your deeds and chase your dreams, for you simply enjoy what you are doing...and “[p]eople who enjoy what they are doing invariably do it well” (Joe Gibbs); and when you do things well, you will be damn good at it. Love from within is an indicator, an insurance, a warranty for a successful outcome of whatever it is you do, anywhere, any time; as phrased by the entrepeneur—and founder of NBC—David Sarnoff: “Nobody can be successful unless he loves his work.”

Meaning: love what you do—and by implication: do what you love. When you do what you love, you will enjoy it, and you will then do it with heart, with an unstoppable inspirational flame you have inside your heart, with a relentless passion that then can shine through to the outside, resulting in enthusiasm to be seen by your fellow friends, by other people, enthusiasm to inspire other people, to attract other people all by itself.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell once said that “[t]here are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure,” which is nothing but true. Let the love for what you do come into play here, where learning from failure, hard work, preparation are all parts of the love you have for both your deeds and your dreams, where you stand and fall with the love for your deeds and dreams, where the love for your deeds and dreams makes you forget, how hard the work for it is, how long learning from failure can take; let the love and passion for what you do slip and slide into your heart, love what you do…and then nothing you do is work, you merely do what you love!