This quote reminds me of the beginning a of fitness program I started years ago. At that time I could barely run around a 440-yard track at my local Civic Center. If you are assuming that I was in terrible shape you would be correct.
At the end of that small 440-yard run I would be huffing and puffing as if I'd run some incredible distance. Basically, my goal was to run around the track….once. Each time I made it around the track I would stop as that is all I had set out to do. Then one day as I was running I realized that I was at the end of 440 yards and I wasn't tired. At the end of 880 yards I was winded, but decided to keep running anyway. In the end I ran 1 mile which was a lot for me at the time.
From then on I increased my distance more and more to 3 miles, 5 miles, 7 miles, 10 miles and so on. So what was my secret to increasing my distance? There was no secret. Something happened the first time I ran a distance that was beyond my comfort zone. I realized that I could go past my comfort zone and run longer distances. I learned that just because I was exhausted that didn't mean I couldn't go farther. At that point I discovered my “second wind”, “third wind”, “fourth wind”, and so on.
It is true that most people will not wander outside their comfort zone and as a result they will never know how fast, how far, how high they can go. Remember that right outside your comfort zone there is another faster, stronger, smarter, more amazing you waiting to be discovered.
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second – William James
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