HOW can they not matter?
The answer, simply put: Because YOU are DOING it. You are not playing the role of armchair QB, the guy at the far end of the conference table, the dude at the end of the bar. These people LOVE to watch people try things, because they get to, on occasion, watch people fail at things. Then comes the smirk, the "knowing" nod, the snarky comment. It's simply amazing how many people KNOW things are going to go badly, right AFTER they do so. And I know I am yelling too much in this post, but it is necessary to combat the legion of naysayers we encounter each and every day.
When I completed my first (only, to date) marathon, I had a two-month brain cramp, where I did not realize that they had portable music players (this was 2001, so no iPods, and I know how crazy that sounds). To push through the tough stretches, I would recite a passage attributed to Teddy Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” (thanks to Goodreads.com for the text of the quote)
In his book Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales studied people who survived extreme situations, and others who did not. He identified a trait common to many of the survivors he referred to as "PMA", Positive Mental Attitude. Simply put, people who believed they COULD do something, by and large, DID that thing.
This is not, however, irrational confidence; I'm not saying you should sign up today to run a marathon next week (though it's not too late to register for the Urbanathlons in NYC and San Fran!). This is believing in yourself; believing that your training, your preparation, your plan, ARE good enough, and WILL BE on the big day. This is me, when the Whatifs crawl into my ear, ushering them out with answers I built pounding pavement on runs and blasting through circuits at the fitness center.
Because there's always that guy at the end of the bar, the back of the boardroom, and there's NOTHING better than looking him in the eye, KNOWING you did what he's afraid to do. Trust me, he'll look away first, and then it's your turn to smile, my friend.
Until next time,
Tom
2T4:7
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