Seth Godin on Taking a Short Cut

In this post, I am quoting a blog by Seth Godin.  We all like to save time - but in health and fitness, as it is with many things, the quick way is not always the best way...


All of us are willing to spend a little time and a little money looking for a shortcut now and then. A quicker, more effective way to lose weight, make friends, earn money and get clean, fresh breath. Sometimes, one of those shortcuts pays off and it reinforces our belief that there might just be a better way.

It seems, though, that those that spend the most effort in search of shortcuts are often the most disappointed and the least successful.

This entry was reposted from the blog of Seth Godin

Running My Own Race

Life can feel like a competition.  Sometimes we find ourselves wanting to climb over another person to get ahead.  And even though we only have our two feet to put in front of us, we often look over our shoulders to see who's chasing us, rather than keeping our eyes fixed on where we are going.

I love to run and I love to race.  But the more I think about it, the more I realize that when I train for a marathon, I'm not giving any thought about trying to beat someone else.  When I'm running with a friend or a race with 40,000 other people, the only person I have any say over is me.  And whether that person finishes in front, behind or beside me, I am still running my own race.

Life for some reason, can cause me to think differently at times.  Suddenly I care about what other people think, how they look, how they are doing and how I stack up next to them.

I have to remember that I am not better than someone else if I finish ahead of them - and I am not inferior to someone who finishes in front of me.  I am here to do I was put here to do and at the end of the race, I just have to know that I did my best.

Get back up!

One of the hardest things to do when reeling from a loss, is to get back up.  We are tired and we feel sorry for ourselves – and it’s just comforting to lie on the ground rather than to stand up on our own two feet and risk getting hit again.

Falling down happens in many different ways.  It could be missing a workout or two or seven, binging on unhealthy snacks, turning a sugary snack into a meal in itself – or just giving up on ourselves for a period of time.

So as someone who has to pick themselves up over and over again, I’m writing this to encourage you to stay in the fight.  The only way to lose is to give up – so stand up one more time.  It’s in the times when we least feel like we can go on that the greatest victories come.