I was at a bike race this weekend. This is not a bike race as in motocross, this is a bicycle race. Not just a little 10 mile course either, a 60 mile round trip trek across the Ouachita Mountains. Not a race for the faint of heart I can assure you. The furthest I have made it on this race is 30 miles. As these guys and girls were crossing the finish line, I started wondering, what drives them to go such a distance over some of the roughest terrain for biking just to cross a finish line, with no prize at the end? The first place finisher made it in 4 hours and 50 minutes. The last person to cross the line was at about 8 hours and 30 minutes. So 239 racers started and 189 finished. As a matter of fact, the person that finished 189 also had bib number 189, I thought that was interesting. So what drives em? Certainly not fame or money. What can cause people to dig to the deepest part of their physical and emotional beings to run this race and get squat for it? Why are some so disappointed when they do not reach the cutoff in time or have a mechanical breakdown that causes them to drop out of the race? Some collapsed at the finish line exhausted with muscle cramps from dehydration and fatigue. Some popped wheelies across the line later to find out that it was not such a good idea as their legs seized up as they stood there waiting on their finishing cards. Some crossed and kept going and probably could have done it again. When you are out on this type of race it is you and the trail, you reaching down into the depths of your soul and trying to talk yourself into not dropping out at the next checkpoint. Isn’t it like that in business sometimes? When times get tough, we have to talk our way through not just dropping out. No one knows what is really going on deep down inside because their tails are not on the line. With the uncertainty in the economy and the strife that is going on around the world, you as a business owner have to know what drives you. No one will care as much about your business as you do. No one will work any harder than you do. So what drives you to continue when times are tough? The hug from your kids or grandkids when you get home? The quick peck on the cheek you give your wife after a rough day? Money? If it were money, you would have been out of it a long time ago. Obligation? Fear of failure? What drives you when there is no prize at the end? I do not know how you would choose to answer this question, but for me, family and friends are what drives me. There is nothing more important to me in this world than my family and friends. They will always be there at the finish line waiting on you. So why do you do it, to show your family that you can, to show your kids that you can do anything? Guess what, your family will be there if you do not make the finish line, to them it is all about you, and to you it should be all about them. Also, pay if forward, be a part of something that is greater than yourself. What does this have to do with trucking you might ask, nothing, it has to do with life.
When times are tough, Keep Peddling!
By Jeff Lovelady, CPA
