You Always Have (a little) More To Give

I literally just got off the treadmill a few minutes ago and let me tell you, I pushed it HARD.

I have a race coming up this Sunday with my sis and we have been training “together” all summer.

We have a common goal that we working to achieve this year and whether we get there or not, it doesn’t really matter.

What matters most is process; what matters is simply getting little bit better each day.

The best part about running (for me at least) is that fact that you can see measurable progress over time.

You can slowly see your distances increase and you can see your times start to decrease.

It’s incredibly rewarding.

But one thing I’ve always found interesting is that you almost always have more that you could’ve given in any race.

I don’t know that I’ve ever ran a race where I didn’t have an after-thought of “man, maybe I could’ve pushed that second mile a little harder”, or “I really didn’t start that race off fast enough, I left too much in the tank at the end”.

There are always opportunities in every race to “give a little bit more”, but sometimes what stops us is not knowing if we will be able to finish the race.

We think if we push too hard, we might not finish…

Is that the worst thing in the world though?

I remember when I was playing baseball in college, we did a timed 300-yard shuttle.

You basically had to run a 60-yard sprint, touch the line, change directions and do it again (5 times).

It truly was a brutal run, and all the older guys said that you wouldn’t be able to finish the race if you sprinted the whole thing…

It was their friendly warning to all of us freshman.

It went in one ear and out the other for me.

I don’t know if it was my ego or what, but I was determined to sprint the entire race.

Well, all I know is after I changed directions that last time, I knew I was in trouble.

I’ve never felt that kind of burning in my legs before and I was pretty sure my legs weren’t going to get me to that finish line.

In fact, with about 20 yards to go I started stumbling and I knew I was coming down like a big oak tree…

My only thought was “you have to make it to the finish line.”

Well, I made it to the finish line…with my face; I literally collapsed and hit my face on the finish line.

But I learned something that morning…

I learned that THAT was my edge.

That was literally EVERYTHING I had to give in that run.

I couldn’t have given an ounce more or I wouldn’t have finished.

Now it’s one thing to be able to do that in a sprint, or even a shuttle-run like that 300-yard shuttle, but long distance is a whole other animal.

I have never been able to push myself to that same point in a long-distance run.

But what if I did?

I think about this in every race I run.

How much more could I have given?

Now this doesn’t mean you need to push yourself to the point of exhaustion in every facet of your life because that’s not healthy either, but in so many areas of life we have a lot more to give than we think.

This doesn’t just apply to running either.

I know my latest disciplines in starting my financial business have been writing a blog and creating 2 new videos every single working day.

So many days I finish my blog and videos for the day and wonder “what will I ever have to write about or talk about tomorrow?”

But miraculously, every morning I wake up with new ideas for content.

I never “run out” of material… it’s like a never-ending supply.

But, at the same time, I’m sure there’s more I could be doing every day…

I’m sure there are ways I could be adding value to the world with my work and I’m determined to figure out how…

I think this is such a great lesson for all of us.

We have SO MUCH to give the world and so many of us place limitations on that.

We don’t give every ounce of our energy to our passions and our disciplines every day.

But what if we did?

How many more people would we inspire?

How would many people’s lives change because of our example?

That’s my challenge to everybody this week…

Find a way to give just a little more than you otherwise might have.

Maybe it’s at work, maybe it’s in the gym, maybe it’s giving just a little bit more of your full, and undivided attention to your loved ones…

Give just a little bit more than you thought you could.