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Olympic Runner. Internationally acclaimed motivational speaker and writer. Ground-breaking coach with an innovative and controversial approach to distance running. Personal friends with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as a consultant for Run Disney. As we introduced Jeff Galloway to receptive audiences here in Missoula last week, his credentials always impressed. Jeff is up there on a pedestal for many of us to admire and to emulate.
Last week, I reflected on the inspiration of Lance Armstrong's fall from the pedestal of denial, admitting at last to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. While writing about Lance, I was enjoying Jeff's visit. The comparison and contrast inspire me to continue reflecting.
Lance has long served as an icon of the goal-directed life. He overcame cancer and repeatedly won the Tour de France because he was driven to win against the odds. The same drive led him to drugs that would improve those odds. I have learned from his story that goals are a double-edged sword: they can inspire us to greatness, and they can push us past the edge. The ego can be both friend and enemy on the journey of achievement.
Jeff inspires me in an entirely different way. He, too, is goal-oriented. He, too has experienced visible public success. But he takes the ego with a grain of salt. The goals he embodies and advocates have little to do with winning; surely not winning at all costs. Jeff inspires us instead to finish the race, upright and smiling, physically intact with energy to live a well-rounded life. Jeff takes less pride from the athletic victories of his youth than from a track record of 30-plus years free from running injuries. His run-walk run approach is easy on the body, and at the same time it can be hard on an ego that equates walking with failure. Nevertheless, It can prepare us to run a marathon if that is what we want.
Goals inspire. Goals blind. The ego is motivated. The ego is dumb. It wants to win at any cost. It sometimes takes legal and ethical risks. It often takes physical risks, pushing past the body's potential to adapt and hurting itself over the long term. It is big on denial and does not want to hear about the consequences.
With Jeff Galloway as inspiration, I resist the ego's craving to run faster than my peers, or even faster than my past-best self. At my best, I run for joy: loving the buddy time, savoring the solitude, and appreciating the opportunity to be active in the Medicare years. My short-term goals aim for the long-term vision of joining Jeff in Running Until You're 100.
Where in your life do a vision and goals inspire positive results over the long term? Where do immediate goals activate the ego and make you stupid? Who is your hero, and why?
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