Working hard to achieve your goals
Tom Watts,
28th Apr 2018
Tags:
Life
Blog
Adventure
Dreams
Education
Exams
Success
When you hear “Aye! Aye! AYE!!!” from behind you as you’re skiing, you know you’re in trouble.
I’ve just returned from a week in the Alps, skiing in some of the most beautiful conditions you could imagine: perfect snow, perfect sun and very little wind.
The little incident you read at the top, ended with me laid across the lower branches of a nearby tree. I don’t need to go into too much detail - me + out of control snowboarder + tree = a bad time.
Needless to say I was alright, no broken bones and I was able to ski on after a few hours of rest, (ironically though - this record was not set to last - I broke my thumb later in the week).
The other person was also fine, but definitely not ready for any slopes tougher than the little ones. I like to think that this girl had watched the recent Winter Olympics and thought she was the big shot, choosing this slope to test out her snowboarding abilities asking “how hard can this be?"
This reminded me of the story of another Winter Olympian who asked the question “how hard can it be?” only to find out it was really quite tricky.
If you know the story then you’ll know what happens next.
Up to this point, Eddie has only dreamt of becoming a Winter Olympian. He persuades a former ski jumper Bronson to give him ‘permission’ to do the jump and as you saw, Eddie heads out onto the slopes.
He is determined to succeed and willing to do anything to make his dream happen, but he’s not ready at all for the jump that follows; he’s not put in enough training to succeed.
As you saw, Eddie’s jump goes disastrously wrong and he ends up in hospital having broken pretty much every bone you can break in your body.
Have you ever had an experience, where you thought you knew what you were doing, but painfully found out that you didn’t?
Have you ever had an experience, where you thought you knew what you were doing, but painfully found out that you didn’t? It might be because you’ve not done enough revision for that all-important exam, or maybe taken your driving test before you were ready.
Failure is something we all know and find hard to forget, but thankfully it doesn't have to always be that way.
Failure is something we all know and find hard to forget, but thankfully it doesn't have to always be that way. The Bible has this advice in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, "I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.”
We need to be tooled up, ready to fight long and hard, and we need to be confident that we have everything we really need to run our race.
We need to be tooled up, ready to fight long and hard, and we need to be confident that we have everything we really need to run our race.
Ultimately, despite finishing last in the 70 metre jump, with 60.5 metres (198 ft.), Eddie the Eagle set a new British record, and his amazing celebrations won the crowds over.
He ran the race to win and whilst he didn’t win the event - a total failure compared to everyone else - he did achieve far more than he ever imagined was possible and it was his attitude that got him there: “I’m giving it everything I’ve got.”
So as you get ready for your exams this year, remember, give it your all, work hard and be the best that you can be!
