Ready Steady Go and Go and Go!!

Today marks the start of the 2015 Cape Epic and it brings back memories of a time in my life, when I managed to commit and complete the event.  It took me to a place where I experienced an amazing sense of accomplishment and completion and I was amazed at the strength that a person can muster in a  time when a goal has been set and you have an accountability to another person, to ensure that you not only hang in, but support and encourage your partner, every step of the journey.  It reminded me so much of business and the challenges faced every year to succeed and grow a practice, while all around you the odds continue to mount against you, for success.  It started for me with an sms to say " look at this event - maybe we should enter it" and 8 months later, we were lined up at the ultimate mountain bike challenge.  We were out of our mind like the John Legend song says and we looked at each other and asked of each other to give each other all of the heart and soul we could muster, to complete this event.  Finding any such challenge in life, whether a friendship, a marriage or a partnership is an incredible challenge and when you back over a lifetime those decisions and commitments are the things that matter the most in defining who and what we are.  Choosing the correct partner in the Epic is probably more important than the equipment and the training, because that person will see you in your darkest times and at the pinnacle of joy and success.  Similarly, if you find a business partner or a life partner, with whom to traverse the epic journey of life, then it is best to take a moment every day and give thanks for what you have and protect it no matter what obstacles the course of life, sets out for you.  The course designer at Epic was known as Dr Evil and he had the habit on each day (like the Evil we face every day) of bringing you close to the finish, so close that you could hear the crowd at the finish and then took you on a loop away from the area, just far enough, so that all went quiet and your spirit was ready to break, before bringing you to completion of another stage, broken, but not defeated.  This is so similar to life and business and relationships, many times you cannot think that you would get through a time or season and you struggle to come to terms with the challenges you face, but when you look to your left and see the person by your side, you know that though they too may struggle, their eyes tell you that there is still an expectation and an encouragement in their voice to keep going.  Celebrate every day when you have those close to you, who are still committed to you and where you feel like you can also give more, no matter if it hurts.  Be unrelenting in the search not for perfection in those closest to you, but rather the simple ability to say I'm in till the end.  Be impatient if you need to make sure that your partner is the one who will be with you at the finish, but once you have assured yourself of the fact then trust with everything you have, that the finish will be a matter of time.