#nexstep

Leadership: Stretching Allows Endurance

There is a benefit of stretching, so why do so many refuse to be stretched and stay average?

My Story: In my early teens, I was an average sports player and may be even below average when it was a competitive team sports like baseball, football, or basketball. Where I excelled though was in cross-country running. This is an individual sport, and committed runners always tend to exceed their personal best. My dad and I use to jog/run 3 or 4 times a week when I was about 13-14 years old. We had our favorite jogging road, Buttermilk Lane located in South Thompson, Maine. As I recall, that road was exactly 3.5 miles long. It would take us a little over an hour to complete the run. When we first started doing it, I hated it, my sides ached, it was hot, the road was uneven, always thirsty because we didn’t carry water bottles, yada, yada, yada. After about doing this for about month I was starting to look forward to it. And even if it was raining I didn’t care. What started out to take an hour and a half, got down to an hour and then down to 45 minutes  My best time running that road round trip (7 miles) was less than 90 minutes.

My dad got us both memberships in the New England District of the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) and we got to participate in 5k, 10K and 20K runs. I was fourteen when we entered our first 20K run. We arrived at the meet late and barely had time to get signed in and pick up our number plates and to make sure that they were positioned properly. Needless to say, I didn’t have time to warm up and stretch. I position myself at the starting line, the shot of the starters pistol sounded and I was off.

Eleven miles into this run I feel my legs starting to cramp up and within minutes I am in server pain and quickly losing my position to the back of the pack. I still had about 1.5 miles to the finish line and I knew I was going to come in dead last. I didn’t stop to rest but had reduced my pace to about 2 miles an hour . After I complete about ½ mile the driver of the spotter vehicle who had been right on my tail pulls up beside me, “Hey, number 123, let me drive you to the finish line.”  I thought for a brief moment, and said, No, I came to run, if you want to go on ahead, I’ll be okay.  The “spotter” stayed behind me until he saw the finish line up ahead and then veered off. There was no cheering for me, as I trotted slowly across the painted finish line. In fact the award ceremony had already taken place, my Dad had come third place. It’s important to stretch and be stretch, physically, mentally and spiritually. While I didn’t have time to stretch my physical mussels at the meet, I later thought, perhaps I could have at least started warming up while riding in the car instead of complaining and worrying about being late.

Some people don’t stretch because it’s takes too much time, too painful, or the environment is not right. The novelist Arnold Bennett said, “The real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who never in his life braces himself for his one supreme effort, who never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature.” If we are aware of the void that is between us and our potential, I am confident that if we have understanding existence of that gap, it would generate in us enough motivation to endeavor to be better. Jim Rohn observed, “Every life form seems to strive to its maximum except human begins. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. Human beings, on the other hand, have been given the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. Why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what all you can do?”

So, let me ask you this, where do you find the “all you can do” in yourself, and tap into the driving force for stretching? If you can figure out the best way to gauge yourself that will be helpful. For me when it was time when running, I could measure my progress and see that I was getting better. We want to keep using the methods that make us a success and getting better, those methods will allow us to develop healthy habits. As my mentor John Maxwell says, “measure yourself, against yourself.” Be overreaching, except on a ladder because your likely to fall. But, when it comes to personal growth, setting goals, even the work we complete, commit to doing everything in excellence and over deliver - because that keeps you stretching. “If you won’t be better tomorrow than you were today, then what do you need tomorrow for?“ - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav.