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Week 14: Starters vs. Finishers & Why the Story of Sisyphus is the Realist Thing in Greek Mythology

No preamble tonight, let’s get to it!

Philosophical Dad Stuff

Tonight was Halloween, my kid’s Superbowl.

Naturally it was snowing when we started trick-or-treating in our Mario-themed costumes earlier. Welcome to Ohio.

The little one lasted only a handful of houses, but the older one was in it for the long haul of course.

I love the excitement in the streets as all the kids come out in costumes. The laughing and shouting and dogs barking and dragons roaring.

As my child worked off his sugar-high, I sat down to write without a plan as usual.

And was overwhelmed with memories long stashed-away. I thought of the houses, decorations, and traditions I loved a kid. I thought of the route I took when trying to break the world record for Halloween candy collected (not a real thing but I tried my darndest anyway).

Being a parent is weird sometimes, it’s like a time machine to places we longed to return to without even knowing it.

Life is funny that way.

Leadership

My team just wrapped up another outstanding month of results, continuing a string of recent victories that pulled us ahead of annual goals despite being a rep down all year.

This morning, the scoreboard rolled back to zero.

Time to do it all over again.

Usually, I allow myself 24 hours of contentment, but this time it didn’t happen. No satisfaction, no self-indulgence. There would be no joy in Mudville.

After some thought, it became clear the reason for my discontent.

A good month is no longer good enough. A good quarter is no longer enough.

I’m no longer looking for moral victories or simply settling for stories of forward progress.

No, I’m looking to finish the job.

A few short years ago, I was the type of person who started a lot of things. I had lots of grand ideas, but I was absolute trash when it came to execution and action.

And even worse when it came to finishing.

I’m less like that discount version of myself, but that person haunts me.

Starting is great.

But finishing is what people remember.

Couch to Ultramarathon

What if Sisyphus was happy?

He was condemned by the gods to push a boulder to the top of a hill, only to see if roll down to the bottom again, cursed to never to make it to the summit.

Did he fail the same way every time?

Did he wake up each morning thinking “Today is the day I make it to the top.”?

Did he know he was so accursed?

What if he didn’t care?

Philosopher Albert Camus posited such an idea in his seminal essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” in 1942, writing “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

Well...Shit.

Maybe I am Sisyphus. The gods put a burning desire in me to find out what lies on the edge of the possible for me, to see if I’m all talk after all.

So I run up these hills, day after day, getting a little bit better and a little bit faster.

But here’s the most amazing thing about this journey; it’s forcing me to become a better version of myself. Zig Ziglar once said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as who you become by achieving your goals.”

The “struggle itself towards the heights” is spurring me to learn more, connect more, write more, think more, reflect more, and sleep more interestingly enough.

Perhaps I am Sisyphus indeed.

Time to go back to the bottom of the hill, as in the words of Rocky Balboa, “I didn’t hear no bell.”

Live triumphantly. See you next week.