How Aesop ruined my life

It was his fable about the Tortoise and Hare.

I had learned from this that Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

My whole life was based on this… seriously. This meme is something I learned back in Toledo, in my first few years of school.

I kept this story in mind for everything. When I started anything, I would think about the goal. I would plot a course, and know I would have to make corrections along the way. The trick was to begin with the end in mind. (Thanks for that Stephen Covey) As long as I knew the goal, I would get there… hell or high water.

When I started running in 10k races and marathons, I never really worked on speed.

I even thought about starting a running club – Team Tortoise, whose tagline was To Finish is To Win!

I had a patch on my backpack that had a tortoise on it and the words, “I may be slow, but I’m ahead of you!”

I never thought about coming in first place. I never thought about training for speed. That’s all rabbit thought. I only thought about continuous improvement. A worthy goal, indeed… but incremental, never leaping ahead. But, as long as I came out of my shell and stuck my neck out, I would make progress.

This mentality is deeply ingrained. It keeps me slow and sluggish in all things. Sadly, Team Tortoise does not a good Entrepreneur make! Agility and quick starts are needed.

Something must change, rather, somebody…

I think of the Bugs Bunny cartoon where no matter what Bugs did, the Tortoise beat him.

At the end, it was revealed that the Tortoise had a rocket under his shell. (Yay technology!) THAT is the Tortoise I need to become.

Gotta shift into a new paradigm.