I LOVE the story of Cliff Young. It is a story of audaciousness… but even more than that, it is a study in tenacity… stick-to-it-ness… something that all of us can use sometimes…
Cliff Young was a 61-year-old potato farmer who had never run a race before. He decided he wanted to run the Sydney to Melbourne, Australia Ultra Marathon… 543.7 miles! He arrived at the starting line wearing overalls and gumboots. The race officials wanted to deny him entry to the race fearing that he would collapse and die. Bad for publicity, they thought.
Cliff argued that he really did have experience. He told the officials and the press that he had previously run for two to three days straight rounding up sheep.
The race officials eventually relented. At a loping pace, Cliff ran continually for 5 days, 15 hours, beating all five of his competitors. He won. And not only did he win, but he beat the course record by two days!!! Because he didn’t know he was supposed to stop and eat and sleep. 
He just kept going.
That’s the lesson. That’s the secret.
It’s mid-September. It’s easy to feel frustrated with how fast the year has flown. But there’s still time to push those projects forward, to achieve those goals, to finish those projects, to make those dreams come true.
So maybe it’s that running program; or pushing forward with your fitness and weight loss; maybe it’s a fresh commitment to networking and business building; or a relationship that needs to be strengthened; maybe it’s a trip you’ve been planning or a degree you’ve been pursuing; or perhaps there’s that product launch that’s been sitting on the back burner; or that soul-sucking job that just needs to be replaced. Whatever it is, get to it. And just stay at it.
Don’t quit. Just keep going.
Be Cliff Young.
Loved the article. The are lots of messages. Here’s mine.
I felt an uneasiness and a frustration that I’d given up on a few projects that needed to get done. I realized that my lack of restful sleep and the ache in my gut were unfulfilled dreams. I’d put everything off for 3-4 weeks except the essentials. I hadn’t ridden my road bike for several weeks. I jumped on it this morning and rode 34. It was uncomfortable and I want it that way. I was able to come up with a book title and put together numerous other things. Nothing really happen until we get out of our comfort zone and take decisive action. We humans are strange creatures, we won’t take any action until we’re miserable and we’ve made everyone else feel miserable too!