The Olympics are on right now and I absolutely love watching them. How about you? The other night I watched the 100 meter freestyle swimmer and gold medalist for the 2016 Olympics, Simone Manuel miss making the final of the same race 4 years later by two hundredths of a second. Two hundreths of a second. What? That’s crazy. Her race is over and no chance at gold again for that race. What in the world?
I began thinking about how many long hours Simone had worked to get to the Olympics. She has probably spent hundreds and thousands of hours in the pool, training, and working out. She’s probably spent a lot of money to get where she is at, and she has also probably traveled all of the place to make sure she is ready for these games and she lost by two hundredths of a second.
Here’s the reality, she could have won that race. Two hundredths of a second is nothing. She has the ability to cut 2 hundredths of a second off somewhere I would think. Was her swim cap on right, what was the one stroke that could have been more efficient, or could she have gone a little harder. That time difference is so little that it could have been a number of almost immeasurable things. One droplet of water could have slowed her down by that amount of time. (Not scientifically proven, I’m just making a point).
I am highly competitive myself so after watching this I began thinking about how this situation applied to my own life. Where at am I being slowed down by two hundredths of a second? Now you may be thinking the only reason that, that amount of time is important is because it is an athletic event at the highest level. I would agree with you, but what if we have hundreds or thousands of inefficencies throughout our day and weeks those can add up. Or where at in our life are we not efficient, and it’s leading us to not be successful or win.
This year, I have been focused on redefining what winning looks like in my life. Therefore, I’m trying to reconcile being ok with not being the best or having to always be first or at the top. I’m focused at winning with the relationships that are around me, with my marriage, my family, my friends, my team, and my church. I also lead the LifeGroups/LifeMissions Ministry at Life.Church Norman. I have high expectations for myself, for my team, and for those I lead. I only expect the best. As I’m redefining what winning looks like, I haven’t lost my competitive edge. I’m unwilling to compromise expectations. I may not always have to be seen as the winner, or the most successful, but I do expect the best, because I believe that the best honors God and inspires people.
So, the question I’m asking myself is...where at in my life could I be a little more effecient, not to be the seen as the best, but to expect the best? What fluff in my life do I need to get rid of because it is slowing me down? Join me? Let‘s do this.
