Lessons from a high school cross country team

Achieving success comes from within. We read books and listen to CDs which give us the opportunity to motivate ourselves. These ideas from others encourage us to create our successful universe. I believe in creating our own destiny, of visualization, of ‘seeing’ our success. But no professional speaker or author proved it to me more than 7 young men who ran high school cross country.

They taught me that visualization is a 3-way process. You can’t just have a goal and expect to achieve it. There must the goal, of course, but then the ability to see it happening, and finally the motivation to make it real.

My son was on that cross country team. They were rated in the top 10 in the state, but certainly not number 1. They could have paid attention to the newspaper articles, the buzz about other teams being better. They could have seen themselves as a 4th or 5th place team. But the strength of visualization gave them permission to see themselves differently. It allowed them to see themselves as state champions. And that vision gave them the stamina to train like champions.

The team worked hard, running 2 times a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. It didn’t matter if it was 95 degrees or 0. They were good and this intense training made them even better. They saw themselves winning it all. The key is they didn’t just see themselves on stage receiving their blue ribboned medals; it was much more than that. They saw each step, each race, each victory one at a time.

Before each meet the team formed a circle, each mentally ran his own individual race. Their eyes were closed and their heads moved as they saw themselves maneuver a curve or push up a hill. The entire team saw every detail of every race - from a perfect start at the pop of the gun to crossing the finish line.

Did each race turn out as they envisioned? Absolutely not. Sometimes they didn’t place where they expected. Other times they didn’t run the pace they anticipated. But they always visualized themselves coming in strong, arms in the air in victory … In reality, we saw wobbly knees carrying sweat-soaked bodies, each struggling to breathe as they often staggered to the finish line.

And at the end of the year, does it really matter if they won the state championship or not? Isn't the important thing being that they learned to believe in themselves? Absolutely!

What happend that crisp, fall morning in Indiana? Part 2 tomorrow.