
THE FALLACY OF THE STARTING LINE!
Up until yesterday I had never heard the name Katie Ledecky (I know it sounds ridiculous, please don’t judge me. 🙈)
A simple tweet on how she had to wait at the finish line for 97 seconds before the world championship ended was enough to catch my attention.
To me, whoever was capable of achieving that was worth knowing.
Before you jump to any conclusions, this is not just another write up about the supremacy or dominance of Katie Ledecky in the world of sport. There’s a million and one write ups out there that talks extensively about her. You should definitely read her up though if like me and you’re just getting to know her.
This is about something else, something bigger, something that has radicalized my mindset and I believe it can do same for you.
This is about debunking a fallacy. Yes! "The fallacy of the starting line"
For a few days now I have been playing, around in my head with the idea of 'Starting '.
As an entrepreneur who started her business this year, I have experienced a number of highs and lows that have made me second guess the decision to go down this road.
- I needed to know that the crooked path I was threading on was going to lead me to my destination,
- I needed to know I wasn't alone, and most of all,
- I needed to know there was going to be light at the end of the tunnel
✔Getting to know that Coca-Cola in its first year sold only 25 bottles gave me a glimmer of hope,
✔Getting to know that the first 72 hours(3 days) of Alibaba as institution saw zero transaction &that it’s employees were the only buyers during its first 2 months was a major relief,
However, I did not fully come out of my pensiveness until I read about Katie Ledecky.
What caught my attention is beyond the fact that :
- she has a swim stroke cycle of 1.36" seconds,
- She keeps a gruelling schedule of waking up by 4:05am daily and spends 5 hours swimming between a total of 13,000-14,500 yards daily (12 kilometres or 7 miles at least)
- She’s a five-time Olympic gold medalist and twelve-time world champion
- She won her first gold medal at the age of 15 ( don’t even want to think of what I was doing back then. 🙈🙈)
- She is the current world-record holder in the women’s 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle (long course). And
- She holds the record for the fastest-ever times in the women’s 500-, 1000-, and 1,650-yard freestyle events.
(see, I told you she is one of a kind👆)
What caught my attention was her beginning; before the the fame, world records or gold medals.
Watching a video where she swam competitively the the age of 6, Katie’s past was no indication of what her present looks like. She stopped many times, holding on to the ropes to enable her catch her breath.
There’s was nothing extraordinary about her back then that gave any indication as to who she would be today.
And that’s where I found my anchor. The starting point, or how we start out is mostly never a good judge of how things are going to pan out.
Imagine for a second if Katie Ledecky 🏊 had given up when things seemed hard, would She ever had become the most dominant female in athletics?
Imagine if Coca-Cola had shut down because they made a sale of only 25 bottles in their 1st year, would they ever have become the number one beverage company in the world selling 1.8billion bottles daily ?
Imagine if Alibaba had closed shop because there were no buyers or sellers, would it ever have become the famous buy & sell marketplace with 279 million active buyers & 8.5million annual active sellers?
All of these tell me that whatever things look like at the starting line is nothing but a LIE!
A lie that has scared many people into giving up, running towards the other direction, thinking they are never going to be good enough, thinking this is not for them.....
A fallacy that shortens to your sight, & keeps you from seeing the big picture
A fallacy that attempts to define your tomorrow using the now as a yard stick.
A fallacy that creates FEAR.
Now that I know what I know, I have decided to call the bluff of this 'starting line fallacy' and take strategic steps to close the chasm between my dream and its reality.
It doesn't mean I'm now without FEAR, it simply means that instead of Forgetting Everything And Run (F.E.A.R), I have decided to Face Everything And Rise(F.E.A.R)
I sincerely hope you do same.
