“I look at you and I see two men. The man you are and the man you ought to be. Someday those two will meet. Should make for one hell of a football player!”
I’m quoting from The Replacements again. In the movie, the quotation is gender-specific and sport-specific.
But consider taking a moment — right now — to ask yourself, “Who are you?. . . and “Who are you destined to be?”
Once you get a nice visual of the two, re-complete the quotation so that it reads: “Someday those two will meet. Should make for one hell of a ____________”.
You might fill in that blank with Parent, Husband, Wife, Student, Musician, Athlete. The options are endless — and so are the possibilities.
Once you allow yourself to begin visualizing who you can become, life enjoys an exciting renewal. You can transform.
What is more exciting is that you can work toward daily transformation or something a bit more long-term. (Often they are not mutually exclusive).
One example comes from my first attempt at public speaking. I was an 18-year-old Assistant Manager who was asked to give a 10-minute speech on goal setting. I prepared for the speech, delivered it to an audience of maybe a dozen sales reps, and then enjoyed the compliments I received afterward — until it was brought to my attention — quite embarrassingly I might add — that I said “umkay” 114 times during my speech. (One of the audience members decided to start counting, as I was saying it with such frequency!)
I wanted to be a dynamic public speaker. I wanted to mesmerize audiences. I wanted to choose my words with tact and with great precision. But I had a LONG way to go.
There were, in other words, two speakers: the one I was, and the one I ought to be. I worked tirelessly — for years — until the two finally met.
So I suppose in that example, two major transformations should be identified: the long-term transformation into a public speaker. But also the daily transformation that is reliant upon the process of becoming better at something (in my case, it involved getting onto the stage again and again — and then listening to my tape-recorded speeches over and over in an effort to keep the good stuff and, of course, expunge the bad).
In athletic pursuits, there is also a daily transformation that can eventually lead to something great.
I am focused on that daily transformation. And while I haven’t yet met the triathlete I’m destined to be, I believe that he exists. I’ve seen him. He swims with great form, stretched out above the water — long, fluid, and fast. He bikes with great power, intensity, and focus. And when he runs, he looks like he’s gliding. (I am not him. Not yet. But I know what he looks like. And I hope to meet him soon.)
So this is the exercise: visualize who you’re destined to be.
How do you look? How do you speak? How do you move? How are you different than you are right now?
Then take the daily steps to arrange a meeting between the person you are today, and the person you’re meant to become.
Traveling Wherever 