I’m an athlete. I’ve competed in at least a hundred races in my life, and at the starting line of any given race my internal dialogue might sound something like this:

“I didn’t train enough. I have to go to the bathroom. Where is the bathroom? The line is too long!!! I can’t remember the course map—how long is the first hill? My shoes are too tight. I don’t have time to re-tie them… what if my foot goes numb? My goggles might come off. This field looks tough. I don’t belong here!! I got up early for this. Other people are still in bed. I could be in bed!”

The inspiration to sign up for a race—a new event, a longer distance, a more challenging course—always lights a spark in me. The inception of a goal is powerful because it is generative. It challenges the limits you’re willing to place upon yourself, and in doing so, sharpens your personal edge of growth. “That’s is going to be a hard one. Other people do it…. How far? And not in a car?”

The act of actually racing is exhilarating—it is the place where your intention meets your action, and even on a bad day, you are ALIVE with their synergy. The simple act of taking that first step across the starting line is a bid for power—you are staking a claim on your goal. It is now yours to take.

Thinking about the race—fretting if you prepared well enough, wondering how you stack up against everyone else, anxious to know if you’ll finish or set a personal record—is not an act of internal power. It fractures attention away from your goal and dissipates the energy you would otherwise channel towards achieving it.

The journey of a thousand miles does not begin by thinking of the first step. It begins by taking the first step. What goal of yours is waiting to be claimed?

The race only begins when you step across the starting line.

Let the journey begin!