Plodding Along

Somewhere behind the north end zone (which is about mile 3.5 of my 6 mile loop), I wanted to stop. This sometimes happens – the wanting to stop running – especially when you're trying to run a half-marathon each month in a single year. Come Saturday, I'll be halfway towards that goal when I cross the finish line in Kansas City.

But that's then. And this is today. And today, I didn't much enjoy putting one foot in front of the other at 7-something in the morning. Even though it was relatively early by many peoples' standards, it was already warm. And that told me that it would be warm for all of my upcoming training runs until October. In between now and then, I'm supposed to complete half marathons in San Francisco, New York, and Disneyland.

So you can see why I wanted to stop.

But I pushed on. As Ira Glass carried on about classified ads in my headphones and traffic was picking up heading into downtown on Woodland Street, my shirt was getting heavier and I wondered who would really care if I just walked the rest of the way home?

I even could cut the route short and shave off a mile or so. No one would have to know.

Running analogies don't work on everyone, and I don't really have the time to wax theatrical (or poetic) about what happened next, so the point is this: sometimes you feel like quitting.

Don't.

Seth Godin calls it The Dip. That makes sense if you're an entrepreneur. But what if you're not? (some days I don’t feel much like one)

It means this:

• You keep applying to jobs. All 94 of them. You just have to.
• Even if you haven't made a sale in months, pick up the phone. Again.
• Your daughter never listens. Check that – she seems to never listen. But she really is. So keep talking to her.
• They're not returning your calls or emails. They may have a reason. Until you know what that reason is, keep trying to make contact.
• Your marketing plan isn't working. Get a new one, even if means getting a new consultant or firm or concept. Hell – you may even want to change your whole product line.

If you want to succeed tomorrow, you better get busy today. Sweat equity can never be measured. Thus, you can always put in more of it.

The first 16 months of Cool People Care were nearly embarrassing at times. But, now that we've been up and running for nearly three years, people that I tried to get a meeting with in 2007 are emailing me. That's just how it happens.

There is no such thing as overnight success. Unless you want to be a flash in the pan, too. That's the other side of that coin that no one talks about.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: If you want cathedrals of better tomorrows, her foundation must be laid today.