If you ever wanted to compare the journey of success to a race, then you know that it’s not a 100-meter dash but more like a 25-mile long marathon. In New York City, we have the annual New York City marathon. There are different points in the city that you can watch the race but the overwhelming outpouring of support is at the end of the race because running a marathon is no easy fleet and neither is your success.
I’ve never ran a marathon before but I’m sure that starting the race is way easier than finishing it – just like with anything else. But then you have to keep running and keep running and keep running until you cross that finish line. I’m sure that those last few miles are perhaps the most grueling moments on your mind and your body. The only thing that keeps your body moving at the point when you feel like giving up is the training that you’ve endured to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Your muscles are aching, your feet are stinging, your throat is drier than the Sahara and your heart is pounding but you know that you’re only a mile away from the finish line so you persevere through the most intense, excruciating part of the race to cross that line. You start to recall ever strategy you learned in training and you apply them so that you finish your race with elation.
This is exactly how it is when you’re going through those tough seasons in life. It’s usually right at the end of your trying season (when things are usually getting harder) where you have to look back at what you’ve endured, what you experienced, what you learned and apply it to the end of your season so that you can finish this season with a great sound of victory.
The best way to build your character is in those challenging seasons. What is the lesson that you’ve had to learn during this challenging season? How can you start to apply that wisdom to the end of your race?
The end of your race is where you must learn to apply what you have learned. Wisdom is applied knowledge so decide how you can apply what you have learned from all the setbacks, failures, and disappointments to the end of your race. Once you do, I am fully convinced that you’ll be doing your victory dance a lot sooner than expected. You are at the end of your race and you probably don’t even know it!
Some of us keep going around the same mountain over and over again because we haven’t applied the knowledge that you’ve learned.
Consider where you want to be five years from today and ask yourself what it is that you need to stop doing or start doing in order to get there? What have you been doing that does work or that doesn’t work?
Once you decide what you need to do, then start doing it. If you need to start exercising your faith, then do it with complete confidence that what you hope for is going to happen. If you need to let go of bitterness, resentment or rage then let it go now, not tomorrow but now. Unforgiveness, bitterness, rage, and pride are some of the greatest enemies of your success. You’re carrying those negative emotions with you and they will totally block your success. If you need to need cut off your credit cards, get on a budget, get a new business partner, severe ties from unfruitful relationships, get a mentor, move into a new environment or change jobs then do it now.
It’s time to start applying what you’ve learned because you’re at the end of your race. You can tell that you’re almost there because the pressure gets thicker. The pressure has come to challenge you to fight back with what you’ve learned so that you can win!
Apply the knowledge girl!
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy