Built For Speed

Dear Reader,
Do you remember the days you would run and race for fun? Those days are becoming a distant memory for me. As a freshman in highschool I was on the varsity track team. My specialty? The 100 meter dash.
As life has gone on, and I find myself looking back over the last 10 years, I wonder if I’m at a disadvantage. See, I was built for speed. Sprinting was fun. Jogging was a chore. And yet, the pace of life can be compared to a steady jog. It’s more of a marathon than a dash.
We can get excited about something new and we usually gain a great deal of moment the first few days or weeks. While a lot can be accomplished during that period, it is the time following that most of the progress is made. It’s when you stick to a task through the drudgery that things start to progress. It’s when you follow through on a promise after you find out what you’re really in for that lives start to change. It’s when you pass from the realm of fun and exciting into the realm of duty and responsibility that you find out what you’re really made of.
In my workout routines, I’ve implemented interval training for my cardio exercise. That technique can be applied to life as well. There are times when I am really into a task, so I take advantage of that and give it 70-90% of my effort. When the excitement wears off, I’ll back down to 20-50%. I stay away from 0-20% because momentum is a hard thing to gain, but it is also a hard thing to stop. Whenever I gain a dose of motivation, back up we go.
When it comes to achieving financial freedom and becoming debt free, the pace is the same. It is a marathon, not a sprint. When I seriously attacked the budget at the beginning of the month, it felt like we could get this thing done fast! A month later, I’m still enthusiastic about it but with the realization it is going to take some time and serious dedication-a steady pace. And it will be worth it because marathons are good for your health (so I’ve heard).
Over the weekend I will be analyzing our progress during the first month. From there, we can figure out what the pace will be like for the next months. Do we need to step it up, stay steady, or slow down? I’ll be posting those results next week, so be sure to check back so you can give us your two cents (make the checks payable to…).

Now that you’re in deep thought, what would you compare life to? And what inspiration do you gain from it? Please…no boxes of chocolates.

Photo by Hamed Saber