Do You Have a Cheering Section?

Do you have a network of people that help shape your goals and ultimately carry you to the finish line? Can you name five individuals who have actually taken the time to invest in your future and continually challenge you to be better?

I can not begin to tell you how much of a difference a cheering section makes when you want to achieve a goal or conquer a difficult task.

In his book, "The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", the late Randy Pausch describes a peewee football coach who tested and criticized him throughout an entire practice. After practice and feeling somewhat worthless, the assistant coach verbalized to Randy that it was a GOOD thing that the coach corrected him over and over again. Randy states in his book, "When you are constantly screwing up and no one is there to correct you, that means they have given up on you and that is not a good place to be."

How true is the above statement? Can you look back at moments in your life where the right person approached you, helped you, and then provided you with the tools and information to be successful?

Why is it so important to have a cheering section?

1) Reality Checks. By nature, humans have a defined sense of being self righteous in moments where we want to prove that what we are doing/saying is absolute truth. I know I do. However, this attitude tends to lead us down a road where we can not get over certain brick walls. To overcome, you need some one that can provide you with honest information to help you climb over the wall to the other side of reality.

2) Motivation. I ran my first 15k with my dad yesterday. After mile six, my mind started to play mental games with me and I began to question my endurance. My saving grace was my Dad. Along side me, he coached and pushed me all the way to the finish line and furnished me with the motivation to accomplish the race. We all need our motivators.

3) Feedback. Where would we be if the outcomes of life decisions where never filtered back to us in some kind of way? We need feedback to help redirect us.

I appreciate my cheering section.

This week, challenge yourself to invest in some one's future.