Confidence is contagious

Have you ever been told by someone that you can't do something or that you aren't ready to do something yet? I'm sure we have all been put in this position and when that happens you only have two options.

Option one would be to accept what others are telling you and allow them to dictate your thought process. The second option, and the one that I try to use more often, is to use their own negativity as motivation.

I know that there are things that I have been able to accomplish with regards to my running, that I probably wouldn't have entertained had I listened to outsiders. How do you know that you are ready to take on a challenge? I think the bigger question is how do you know that you are not ready? Some of the most positive people I know are the ones who don't think too much about what they want to do. Instead they just live in the moment and visualize the steps needed to achieve their goals.

This doesn't mean that they are successful each time they try something but they are not afraid of what they want. They are relentless in their pursuit of their goals and will not let anyone invade their positive thought process. Each milestone they pass their confidence becomes stronger and stronger.

If someone would have told me that I would be running Marathons two years ago I would have called them crazy. You never know what you can accomplish until you start to believe in yourself. Nobody ever said that reaching your goals would be easy and I don't think you'd appreciate them as much if it were easy.

Just as there are negative influences that surround us daily, there are positive ones as well. Sometimes it just takes longer to find them. The best place to look, though, is in the mirror!