Healthy Chasing

The Lesson of “The Chase”

Chasing goals gets you Going, Chasing inspiration keeps you growing

When you have something worth chasing, people start moving.?

In June of 2006, I was driving from work one evening, sitting at a red light on my way home from a night shift to my young wife, the new mother of our first daughter. The red light was significant because I felt like my dreams of playing college football were over.

I spent a year as an infantryman in Baghdad, Iraq, and saw life and death. It was the longest year of my life. I came home and married my high school sweetheart, Allie.?

We would eventually have six children together in love. People always tell me, “You must love kids,” I always respond, “No, I just really love my wife.”

Growing up as high school sweethearts, my wife, Allie, and I shared a special bond that carried us through tough times, like when I was deployed to Iraq. Even though we were miles apart, we stayed connected by spending lots of money on sim cards to talk to each other.?

Allie has striking green eyes that make her stand out, and her family is successful, which sometimes makes me feel a bit intimidated.

When I returned home, I chased this girl and didn’t care about anything else. Accept what I was chasing inside.

Life wasn't easy, especially since I was trying to attend college and work full-time, but having Allie by my side made it all worth it.

One day, while driving home, I had a moment to think about everything we'd been through. It made me realize that true inspiration comes from wanting the best for others, just like Allie always did for me.

As a young, married college student with a newborn, my drive to pursue outcomes occasionally made me overly focused. I still struggle to switch gears and be involved during essential moments in real life.

Have you ever struggled with being so driven to succeed that you find it hard to connect with and have deep relationships with your spouse or children?

Here’s this lesson’s simple truth: chasing your potential has no end.

You will have ambition, goals, desires, passion for results, and times that you will need to chase after your goals because that is the nature of the chase in life and work. Your potential and ability lids. Your growth and capacity do not!

You will always have unknown capacity and settle for less once you chase your best.?

Some people do that—they never discover their capacity. In order to learn your best, you must de-stress. Settling for less hides what you can master. Chasing perfection is about you; chasing excellence is about why you fight for your craft.

If I could help you find one thing in your life, I would teach you to chase who you can become when you see your purpose for mastery, career, and goals—not just chasing goals with endless perfection.

Who do you know who tries to chase perfection? Do they ever arrive? It would be best if you were committed to the relentless pursuit of excellence so that who you become inspires others. Inspirational people chase something inside them for a cause. You must chase the time required to improve in some way every day.

Excellence is about inspiring others; perfection is about ego

With that in mind, here are three virtues to the fearless pursuit of success:

1. Humble Confidence—Being self-aware that there are always areas to improve in your life and craft is everything. Humble confidence is the balance between knowing you are good at a task and not letting the craft or task make you prideful that you don’t seek feedback. When it comes to your gifts, being humble, hungry, and confident allows people to be inspired to chase mastery as well.?
2. Curiosity—Being willing to see how highly skilled leaders in your area of expertise master their craft will inspire you to find your voice, but never be so insecure that you lose your edge of curiosity about what you can master. Be authentic about what is possible when collaborating with people who may not even be in your expertise. Innovation and ideas are all around you.
3. Persistence—Consistency. Perseverance. Patience. Endurance. Longsuffering. Enduring. Many words could go here, but persistence is significant in remaining steadfast in what inspired your chase. It’s also what comparing strips away—constantly watching others create content, for example, in the spirit of “best practicing.”? Because failing forward is an inspirational part of chasing worthy endeavors, you and I must learn to be inspired by it, watch it in your life, and give yourself grace. It’s what empowers you to remain strong in the long run.?

I wake up each day with a sense of awe and wonder, knowing that I’m not who I want to be, not who I was, and I’m never going to be who I am chasing. But it’s inspiring: I don’t have to be like everyone else. I have to chase who I can be with one more piece of effort.?

Tension of the Chase

There are two types of tension when chasing mastery in your endeavors in life:?

Tension you feel

Tension you apply?

Author Brene Brown writes in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection: “Healthy striving is self-focused. Perfectionism is other-focused.” If excellence is about crafting your work so it helps people, you will stay in your inspiration zone. You become unhealthy when you start fearing what others think about you or your work.?

The fear of man has killed many of countless dreams in graveyards buried all over the world.?

Don’t chase perfection in life—chase healthy striving. Make today a gift, a choice not to fear other people, so your future will be impacted today. The relentless pursuit of the chase is constant mastery that will take any leader further than before.

Personal Reflection Questions

• What is my gift?
• What is my hangup?
• What are untouchables that I am afraid others will touch?
• What is my lowest low?
• What emotions can I control with motions and actions?
• What are fears that prevent me from healthy striving?
• What type of perfection might I be stuck hiding behind?
• What is it I am chasing inside?
• What is most fulfilling?
• What do I cry about?

Ask yourself questions in the area you want to reflect on so you can chase inspiration to keep growing.

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