My 3P's

These are 3 words I carry on my heart and in my mind in all things that I do, my life with Christ, my racing and my business. They are Passion, Persevere and Persist. It's hard to put these in an order of importance but I truly believe that together they form a winning combination for success in anything.

Passion is defined as an emotion so strong that it overpowers a person. You think about that definition, those are strong words. Overpower a person. That means passion can rule you, good or bad. I've met and read about people with passions for wrong things. Luckily I know personally many people with passion to achieve great with all that God has given them. What are the things that drive you or fuel your heart to change. I'm passionate about living a life of excellence. I don't want to waste a single day. Standing for truth and freedom or some things that drive a lot of what I do. I also have passion for teaching our next generation and being an example of a life well lived for them to see. A great example of a passionate life to me is a man named Chris Brady. That man strives like no one I've met to learn and teach truth to people. He has so much drive to become all that God has created him to be, his passion for life is so strong that I can truly see how it can overpower a person and change him into something great.

Persevere is to keep on doing something in spite of the difficulty or obstacle. Theres a whole different word right there, obstacle. We all have those. Most of us tend to let obstacles stop us right in our tracks, where we sit and wait till the day we bury us. Random few find ways to get around, go through or climb over obstacles. Personal examples to me would be friends like Lisa Buchanan. Watching her grow has been amazing. She has every reason to give up right now, her husband died a year ago, her house can't sell in this market, having a hard time finding a job, and trying to build a leadership business while being a person who comes off as shy. Through all of this I have never seen her use any of these as a reason to not succeed. Change is never easy, but to persever change is necessary. Believe me she's changing. She's becoming more and more comfortable around people. Realizing that to be a champion she will have to keep pushing through these difficulties, and I have no doubt I'll see her on stage as a Black Diamond. Jeremy Auld is another example of perseverance. This is the guy who inspired me to run my first marathon. He's a heavy set man who has ran many marathons, done century rides and whatever crazy thing he can come up with. About a year ago he had a health challenge that threatened to stop all of that, but for some reason it didn't. He fought through that challenge and by the end of the summer we were doing another 100 mile bike ride. And through those health challenges he just finished a week ago running over 200 laps at some indoor track, thats a ton of circles! These are the people I look up to and admire. The ones who look at their challenges and become stronger instead of going home to sit on the couch and just ignore them. This country needs more men and women like Lisa and Jer.

My last P is persist, to refuse to give up. To keep going when everyone else has gone home. I would say this is the hardest. This country seems to applaud quitters these days. Well it just wasnt' meant to be we tell them, or well thats just for those kind of people. Hogwash! Honestly who are you feeding that crap to. If that were my kid or my sister you were feeding that to I would honestly have to tell you to shut up and stop brainwashing my family. I mean if you wanna quit then fine but don't try to build an army of quitters, you'll never get anywhere! I love people who keep going, who push through the barriers. Those are the people we need to model. My friend Victoria is a great example of persistence. She set out to do her first half ironman back in the summer of 09. Swimming was and still is her weakest link. She never gave up though. I remember being with her in the water a couple weeks before the event, and let me tell you she shouldn't by any stretch of the imagination be ready for a 1.2 mile swim! But she absolutely refused to let that control her or allow her to give up on the goal of being a half ironman(woman). She did that race and now with swimming being still a huge challenge is pushing herself to do the full ironman, 2.4 mile swim! Churchill once said in front of a group of kids, never, never, never give up. Then he left the stage, I think he though to persist was important!

These 3P's are thrown together at the moment. My notes are a mess right now on them but they have been on my mind long enough where I thought it was important to mention now. Write out in your life where passion, persevere and persist can be applied. We need more people like you in our country who will be those champions.