Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Quality OVER Quantity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having just registered for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Phoenix, AZ on January 19, 2014, it got me thinking!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):) I get asked a lot "how many marathons have you ran, what's your fastest, etc." and when I respond at this point I honestly (off the top of my head) do not know the exact number of marathons I've ran, it's either 8, 9 or 10!!! And it gets me thinking, does the number of marathons I have ran really matter when my overall goal is running THE Boston Marathon??!?! No.  It does not matter!! I don't run marathons to say, oh I've done over 50 marathons in my life, I run marathons to achieve a lifelong goal of qualifying and running in THE Boston Marathon!!!!!!!!!  Now if you ask me what is my first marathon's time I'll say instantly 3:48:32 and what is my fastest 3:06:24, because A. everyone who has ran multiple marathons will ALWAYS remember their first finishing time!!! That's a milestone for anyone!! B. anyone who is going towards a goal time will always know what time they have achieved and how much they need to take off, BECAUSE it relates to their goal!!! But that quantity of marathons sits behind all of those other things!!!! Which brings me to the point of all of this:

Here at Woodstock, we are trying to change the lifestyle of students from doing AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE and being excellent at almost nothing, but being okay at everything, to really focusing on a couple of passion-related things and EXCELLING at them!!!!  If you go through life and NEVER truly focus on one thing and try your hardest at it, well I think you're missing the point in life!!! What makes you the happiest is when you achieve something fantastic!!!  Even when you fail at that one thing you've been working hard on, it's still a great feeling, because you know you've worked your butt off at something!!! And if you really love that thing then you'll learn to try again until you succeed!! A WIN WIN!!!!!!!:):):):)  AND not only will you learn determination but you'll learn perseverance as well!!! You'll learn what it takes to really excel at something you love, AND if you work hard enough, to see you improve over time is the BEST thing ever!!!!:):):) I think back to my very first days of running and thinking how I had stomach cramps and muscle aches after a 1/2 mile run!!!!  Now I use that 1/2 mile to warm-up my legs for an ultimately longer run!!!  And you want to talk about perseverance, I'm on year 7 of running and it's now that my warm-up 1/2 mile is equivalent to my "race" pace long back!!!!!!:):):)

So no, it doesn't have to be running, or anything physical that you want to be good at!!! All I'm saying is to choose a couple of things that you TRULY love and GO ALL OUT with them!!!!!  See what it takes to go from good to GREAT or from bad to AMAZING!!!!!!  Yes, there will be times when you feel like you're destined to always fail or you're not progressing like you wanted to!! Guess what, if you truly love it you'll suck it up and continue down the hard road!!!!!!!!  Quality over quantity will win any day of the week!!!!!

Find your passion, chase after it, and don't let anyone or anything get in your way of achieving GREATNESS!!!!!!!!:):):):):):) HAPPY SMILING!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):):)