Do what you know until you know what you don’t

Mondays make for great days to procrastinate.  To think about all the reasons why we can’t do something, shouldn’t do something, and would fail if we did do something.  They seem to be the perfect days for looking at the end of a road and convincing ourselves that we could never get there, even if we gave it the old college try.  They are great for sitting at our computer for hours and hours working on pretend budgets that we just might need if we ever actually do win the lottery, which, of course, we won’t.

Mondays, it appears, are perfect for wasting.

Unless you’re sick and tired of the normal Mondays.  In that case, Mondays may just be perfect for starting.

It is so easy to focus on what we don’t have: money, energy, time, knowledge, the perfect networking connection.  But have you ever thought about what you do have?  Here’s a list: money, energy, time, knowledge, the perfect networking connection.

“Wait!  You just used the same list for both what we don’t have and what we do have!  Is that a typo?”

No.  It’s the truth.  When we talk of what we don’t have, what we usually mean is that we don’t have enough of what we actually already have. Think about it.  It’s not that we don’t have any money, or any energy, or any time; it’s that we feel as if we don’t have enough.  “If I had more energy, I’d start down that road.  If I had more money, I’d pursue my dream job.  If I had more…….”

This thought came to me as I was running a week or so ago, and having a terrible time of it.  The seasons are now transitioning from cool spring mornings to blazing summer mornings, and the energy had been sapped out of my legs.  As I moved along (barely), I kept thinking about how far out of reach another marathon felt, or for that matter, another 5k.  It was as if the length of the journey overtook me and I suddenly felt overwhelmed with the thought of trying to reach my current running goals, such as running a marathon in under 4 hours and eventually – someday – qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

In that moment I lost sight of the fact that I have actually run 2 marathons, 4 half-marathons, and a butt-load of assorted 10Ks, 8Ks and 5Ks, not to mention the fact that over the past 3 years of training I’ve run enough miles to go from the Outer Banks to San Francisco, and then back to the Arizona/New Mexico state line on the return trip.  I’m not bragging, because there are plenty of people who have run a lot more miles than I have, but I am trying to point out that many times we allow the length of the journey before us to blind us to the strength in the journey behind us.

Unless you were born yesterday, you’ve been walking.  You’re not at the starting point.  That was years ago, and even if you’ve made wrong turn after wrong turn, you’re still not starting over from scratch.  You have what it takes to continue doing what you know, and if you’ll do what you know, in time you’ll come to know the things that you don’t.

The man who does things makes mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all – doing nothing.
– Benjamin Franklin

We are so easily given to paralysis.  We can have all the confidence in the world and still be turned into a deer in the headlights at a moment’s notice when the road before us takes an unexpected turn.  And just like me on that run, it’s easy to feel like the miles and miles you’ve already come did nothing but wear you out and set you up to fail now.

But in that moment, it’s time to remember what you know, and do it.  I don’t know how to run a marathon fast enough to qualify for Boston, but I do know how to run, and I even know how to run a marathon, and if I do what I know, my body will grow stronger as I run, and will eventually know how to run farther, faster, and stronger than it can now.  How can I be sure?  Because 3 years ago, I couldn’t run 2 minutes without sounding like a seal who had smoked 4 packs a day for a decade!  The road behind me reminds me of the strength I’ve gained, and reminds me that I’ve learned all I need in order to continue down the road before me.

Paul understood this principle, too.  When he was instructing the believers in Philippi on how to run this race we call faith, he summed it all up with these simple, profound, and life-altering words:

Only let us live up to what we have already attained. (Philippians 3:16)

There is hope in those words.  Hope of a future that is brighter than the past.  Hope of dreams coming true, goals being reached, and hands being raised.

There is freedom in those words.  Freedom from the length of an overwhelming journey.  Freedom from the overly-critical family member who only points out failures and never celebrates wins.  Freedom from the weight of what we don’t know, and freedom to learn it on the way.

And there is strength in those words.  Strength for another step, another mile. Strength for another stab at a goal that still seems so far away.

Strength for turning Mondays into the perfect day for…

…continuing.

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