December 23rd 2023 also became the day on which I could celebrate another running jubilee: Since June 23rd 2023 I've been running every day, regardless of wind, weather, energy level, other important time-consuming tasks and social obligations.
And I can assure you that I will keep up my streak. Come hell or high water.
Today I know that you have far greater potential than you and others around you think. I recognize that you can move infinitely far, both concretely and figuratively. But I also know that it requires you to do the work and stand up for your goals and what you believe in every day.
Allow me to celebrate.
If anything, my daily running practice has taught me how cruelly big, ambitious goals can be broken down into small daily actions. The repeated runs have shown me how things accumulate over time; how the principle of compound interest applies to both running and a whole lot of other things in life.
I was in a different place 13 years ago, still wandering around and imagining that the things I did one day had no consequences the next. I somehow had the idea that talent was the only thing that mattered and great works would just magically appear by themselves.
The world doesn't quite work that way and while today I can be happy to be healthy, fit and in much better shape than I was 13 years ago (when I had to take several blood pressure-lowering preparations every day), I have to admit that the biggest difference is not the physical but rather the mental . . .
Today I know that you have far greater potential than you and others around you think. I recognize that you can move infinitely far, both concretely and figuratively. But I also know that it requires you to do the work and stand up for your goals and what you believe in every day.
There are simply no reliable and easy shortcuts.
And yes. There are days when you feel like you are standing still or even sliding backwards.
But what you have to measure yourself against is not your notions of your perfect future self.
What you have to measure yourself against is who you were yesterday or last year.
Therefore, it is also with a certain serenity that I now enter 2024 and tell myself that things are going in the right direction.
Because I do exactly the work. Because I just get up every morning and pick up where I left off the day before.
This will also be my New Year's wish for you: Don't make it harder than it is, but take one day at a time and trust that the universe wants you well. Be assured that your daily practices will accumulate over time exactly like compound interest, where a modest 3 percent per year actually adds up to (not only 30 percent but) more than a third over a 10-year period.
May you have a good and prosperous 2024 ✨
