Notes on the Run

One of those epiphany moments came in running my first 5K (3.1 Miles) this last Saturday, May 25th in the Brentwood 5K/10K. I don't yet consider myself a runner in an athletic sense -- but anyone who knows me, knows that I've been running in a single direction for most of my life.

I definitely had an inspiring thought towards the end of the run. In that last stretch there were two street lights ahead of us before the finish line that kept changing between green and red. We had the right of way to run through the red light. Nothing was stopping us. I checked myself for any physical pain and there was none. The only thing between me and reaching the finish was a a certain amount of patience and necessary strides. However, the thing that was going to make all the difference was the conversation in my head that said although it'd be easier to stop, that I must keep going.

Of course, I was running with one of my personal heroes, long-time Hollywood publicist Julian Myers of Julian Myers Public Relations and fellow EPPS (Entertainment Professional Publicists Society) member. He's a marathon runner and earlier this year to celebrate his 90th birthday he ran a mile for every year. Over the course of a week he ran 30 miles in Los Angeles county, 30 in Orange county, and 30 in San Diego county. Wow, I was impressed!!!

So here I am running with Julian who is 90 years old. I'm thinking that if he can do this -- then there is no reason that I can't do this.

And that's my other thought on success -- we set our own goals. So yes, there was a specific course that was set up for the run, but my only goal was to jog the entire thing. I wasn't particularly interested in my time. I was only interested in holding a steady pace and never breaking stride. And that's true for you as a content creator. Keep setting small but achievable goals that challenge you where ever you are in your process. How you define success is clearly of your own making.

Another analogy that applies to writers, authors, experts and content creators is that this is a marathon, not a sprint -- and you certainly don't need to do it alone. Having Julian alongside made it fun, served as inspiration, and kept me going at a steady and consistent pace.

As I reached the finish line I had a moment of strong emotion well up as I thought, "I've won in life because I don't ever stop even when it's been really hard."

In other news,

Thanks again to everyone who joined me on tonight's call.
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