Stubbleblog

I liked this article on Tiger Woods’ work ethic and dedication to improvement.

“I view my life in a way … I’ll explain it to you, OK?” he told his small audience in Florida. “The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today. And that’s how I look at my life. I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend. That’s the beauty of tomorrow. There is no such thing as a setback. The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better.”

There’s something very fulfilling about dedicating yourself to incremental improvement. I still have my training log from the first summer I decided to take running seriously. On my team, running over the summer was rare, and the people who did kept it to themselves, as if they were embarrassed to be spending so much time chasing such small improvements. I caught on though, and over time it added up to huge personal best times and a trip to the State championship.

I think a lot of that experience translates into my approach to running CrowdVine. It’s certainly a lot more complicated now. Instead of focusing on improving one thing, I’m trying to improve a hundred things. And there’s a much bigger element of luck (I never believed in luck as a runner). But everyday I’m looking for and celebrating the incremental improvements. As Tiger points out, it’s actually a pretty optimistic way to live.