Finish Well! (Final 100 Days)

Hi Fam!

It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from me here. LIFE has been in full swing, 100 miles per hour. All is well!

I woke up thinking about marathons and a sheer urgency to encourage you to finish well!

Kenya’s Caroline Rotich wins 119th Boston Marathon 4/20/2015 (c) Matt Stone

I looked up what a few master marathon athletes have said about their experiences, and this one stood out:

“It’s been said that there are two halves to every marathon: The first 20 miles, and the last 6. The hardest part of running a marathon is that final 10 kilometers, when you’re running on nothing but will power.”

We are 100 days to the end of the year!

We’re at Mile 21 of 26 in this Marathon 2018, people.
If ever there was a time to feel like giving up or going on auto-pilot, it would be now. I get it. I do. ‘Dialing it in’ until the end of the year sounds very tempting. But how will that help? This is where we need to dig in. This is when I need you to look at how far you’ve come, how much you’ve invested, and how capable you are of finishing what you’ve started.

You can do this!
You can finish well.
You can reach your goals for the year.

If you can, visualize me now, running alongside you with a bottle of fresh water, coaching: “You got this! Just take the next step! Come on! Just one more step!”

Identify every obstacle and look them squarely in the face now and decide they will not derail you This Time. Call out every distraction by name and choose to overcome.

A runner who has completed 31 marathons gave this advice:
“You MUST put in the training miles if you want to run a marathon. You cannot fake it or phone it in. It takes dedication to training, otherwise you will face disappointment – or despair – IF you cross the finish line… Training is tough, but the toughest part is inside your head. What is INSIDE your head will get you through the last few miles of the race.”

God says it this way:
“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 NLT

What are your thoughts today?
What’s in your head?
Any negative self-talk? i.e. I’ll never get this done, I never do this right, I should just give up now.
Pull down every thought that is not in that Philippians list. Speak truth to yourself.

I CAN do this!
I CAN finish well!
I CAN reach my goal.
I am setting a new standard for myself and my family and my legacy.
2018 is my year of CHANGE!

And know that you are not alone.

BOB LEVEY/GETTY IMAGES

Go get your tribe! Connect with your tribe of brother/sister-warriors who are rooting for you and want you to succeed! Say good-bye to the naysayers and critical-at-heart! Find the folks that WANT you to win! We are all in this together. When you cross the finish line, we all cross the finish line!

So what’s it gonna take? I need you to have a real moment right now and figure out:

“What’s it going to take for me to finish well? Finish strong?”

What do you need?
Talk to me.

I leave you with this quote from Dr. ML King Jr.:

Flying, running, walking, crawling! Whatever you have to do!
Let’s cross this finish line.
Just take the next step.
Can you do that?
Do we have a deal?

Dr. Naima Lett
The Hollywood Christian®

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