Welcome to the Channel [Better & Leading You]. In this video, we will be learning important life lesson from the journey of an hypothetical marathoner. We will be uncovering a secret that has sidelined many people across generations from becoming just like their peers. If you want to achieve success in your life’s pursuit, then this video is meant for you. So, let us go into it.
Listen To Podcast: THE FORGETFUL MARATHONER | FOR A BETTER LEADING YOU
In Marathon race, many people start out in competition for the prize. However, only one person wins. From many competitors to one winner, there are many other people who only make a good or reasonable attempt at success. In the long run, attempt on success is not what is really rewarded, but successful run. When you observe a marathon race, you would notice that while many people start the race, due to the duration of the race, there are some people who forget the purpose of their effort. Normally, every marathoner begins on a high spirit and some positivity. But as the race continues, after certain miles have been covered; some marathoners become distracted by the words, accolades or criticisms of the crowd watching them, which sometimes lead to the state of forgetfulness.
In that state of forgetfulness, marathoners often find themselves wandering off the path of the race into sidewalks and even wait on briefly to relax or tuck off their tiredness. The opposite of the forgetful marathoner is a focused marathoner – one who is fully conscious of the essence of his or her effort and the end prize to be won. Even though there may be many marathoners participating in a marathon race, only a few remain focused till the end as they started with. Most marathoners often lose their sense of purpose while enduring the long distance of the competition.
Like the forgetful marathoner, many people are living life from that state of forgetfulness. Since they have been around for so long, they simply do not have any more sense of prize and so, they while away their enduring time on other frivolous activities that has no bearing on their life’s purpose. You see, as it is hard to see a forgetful marathoner win any race he or she is enlisted for, you would hardly find a man or woman who live forgetting the purpose of his or her life, achieving long term success. I am sure you know that quite a number of people in the world today stumble on success. You don’t have to live your life stumbling on success. You don’t have to have occasional experiences of success. You must be able to have an enduring success, a success that lasts for a long time. That is what I am referring to when I mentioned long term success.
If you must achieve success over a long haul, then you must be daily conscious of the prize in view and the demands of the moment. For every prize in view, there are certain demands that are placed on your life that your life must meet if you would emerge as a winner of such prize. You cannot have a prize in view and then you are living in the state of denial, in a state of forgetfulness, not been mindful of why you are doing what you are doing and to what essence or goal are you laboring. There is a portion of the Bible that really sparks some light on this matter. It says “the labor of the fool wearies every one of them because they do not know how to enter the city.”
Don’t forget, that somebody is a fool does not mean he does not labor. I don’t want you to be among those who labor in vain. You must continue to be mindful, and another way we could put that is you must continue to have your mind full of the reason for your efforts. If you rise up very early in the morning and sleep late in the night, you must never forget why you do all that. You remember, when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse of that things is inevitable. If you will not abuse your life and your privileges, your opportunities and your placement in life, the office you are working in; if you will not abuse your vocation or your profession, maybe you are a chartered accountant, you are a engineer or a doctor, whatever profession that you are of, if you will not abuse the privileges that accompany that vocation; then you must always be mindful of the purpose of your life. Because it is the purpose of your life that must remind you of the prize in view.
You see, every prize is tied to purpose. If the purpose of a thing is small, the prize of that thing will be small. If the purpose of a thing is huge, then the prize of the thing will be huge. So, the prize is rooted in purpose. It is the purpose that influences the size or the magnitude of prize to be won. And so, if you will not also miss the prize ahead of your life, you must not forget your purpose as a man, as a woman. Why are you waking up daily? Why are you who you are? Why do you do what you do? Towards helping you to remain conscious of who you are, whether a forgetful marathoner or a focused marathoner, I found a few things that you must remember.
Number one, you must perpetually be conscious of your life’s main goal. What is the primary goal of my life? And again, you must always be aware, you must spend some time to review how far and how well you have gone. Don’t forget, the marathoners that become forgetful along the way did not start in that state of forgetfulness. They began fully aware of why they are running and to what essence or to what end they are running to. However, due to the duration of their activities, due to the duration or the length of their pursuit, they get to a state of forgetfulness. And so, they tend to go off the track. If you will not go off the track, you must always ask yourself that question. How far have I been? And how well am I going in this journey?
And the last thing you must ask yourself is; where am I at this moment? For every race, for every competition, there are landmarks, there are certain things that will point you to where you are and the more you focus on those things, the more you are able you are able to gain proper perspective, you are able to stay focused in that competition that you find yourself. Again, you must understand that while many people start every race, only a few wins. The ones who win are not those who are forgetful of the purpose of their race but those who are fully focused on the goal. They are able to endure, they are able to avoid distraction and so, they are crowned as winners in their generation. If you must be crowned you must remain focused on the prize ahead of you.
However, I want you to remember, if you will finish, if you will win; then you must be fully aware of how far you are going and how well you are going and the goal in view. There is a place you must get to and you mustn’t just get there, you must get there as fast as possible. Even though the marathon race is very long and difficult, you are still expected not to be behind your peers. In every generation, there are peer groups, there are peers, people of your range, people of your similar passion, people of your similar vocation, who are tending towards the same goal as yours. If you will win, if you will achieve success, you must be fully conscious of why you wake up daily and why you sleep late in the night.
It’s been a great joy to share these tips with you. I hope to connect with you again next week; till then, I want you to rremain in full focus in your race, fully aware of why you run, and to what end you are running to.
Thank you for your time.
