Who Cares What Others Think?

I was literally laughed at when I started coaching distance runners.  My only coaching experience was an "interesting" experiment coaching sprinters.  I remember at one point I had a successful fellow coach and a pretty decent collegiate runner look at my training program, both enjoying it like a page off the Onion.  I took over a program that had not been previously known for distance runners and only inherited one returning varsity runner, a sophomore.  There was no girls distance program to speak of. Yes, I was destined to be a joke of a coach according to the critics.  Well, if acceptance is an important part of success, I guess that would be true.  Good thing is that it isn't.

Honestly, it didn't take much time to reverse my supposed fortune.  I was coaching one of the best road runners in the state after just a few months of serious training and I was building a top ten program from the bottom up with just the faith that God would help me and that hard work would pay off in the end.  But this isn't a story to illustrate that I am some amazing coach because I'm not.  I'm just here to illustrate what hard work can do for you.

Do you have goals that others think are insane?  That's a good start.  Follow those goals.  If you have a bunch of people behind you, usually you aren't thinking too far outside the box!  A lot of the people who are controversial and successful are so because they dared to think outside of the norm.  They pushed against conformity and what others thought were possible.  Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have what it takes to reach the top of the sport because the truth is, despite talent playing a part, most people still never reach their physical peak.  Use the critics as motivation to go out and work hard each day.  If you are willing to outwork everyone else, perhaps you will find yourself in a position on the podium.