“Inspire people to do things that inspire them, and, together, we can change our world.”- Simon Sinek

“Oh shoot, I have a race in 3 Days, and I haven’t trained at all.”

That’s about what I thought to myself the Thursday before the Balboa Park 8 Miler – minus some expletives.

When signing up for the race, I had the intention of getting back in my running routine.

That didn’t happen, and now I’m 72 hours from starting the race, and I haven’t trained in months.

I seem to have a reoccurring event where my performance does not meet the personal standard that I set, and yet those around me praise my wonderful performance relative to the average.

Trying to decipher what to perceive about my personal performance and journey of progress are introspective moments. These moments often occur for me when performance doesn’t meet up with the standards, because of the preparation put in to the task.

This quandary seems to flow through many facets of life –

Physical endevours.

Social circles.

Career progressions.

Relationship building.

… and through the most precious moments of life.

For a long time, it would bother me when I didn’t prepare and my performance suffered, yet everyone around me congratulated me for doing such a wonderful job when compared to the average

I appreciate now the genuinely nice thoughts people are expressing. For those of you reading this however, I want to share another perspective that may lead to a deeper dialogue with those you want a more genuine interaction with:

Ask deeper questions that may help someone to truly unlock how they feel, and how they might do things different in the future. In doing this, you may learn something yourself.

Ask about the feeling about the performance. What worked well to prepare, what didn’t. What could be improved upon, and what results were better than expected.

These sorts of questions peel back the layers, and show something deeper about a person’s goals, ambitions, and future desires.

Let people inspire you. Ask questions that facilitate that.

Inspired People do inspiring things.

Grace & kindness are the thoughts that I look inside at myself with, but that does not do anything to help reset my directional focus as I do strive to head down a road of progress. I really do love the progress. The moments a little faster, a little happier, and a little bit better connected.

Growing bonds that are strong through the facets of life that we most enjoy is a wonderful journey. Growing closer physical bonds between each fiber and system of our body through mindful exercise and diet. Growing and deepening the social bonds with loved ones. Developing the systems and adopting the mindsets that result in high performance at work.

This is, in my opinion, the highest and best use of our time here in this universe.