Stop Envying People's Outputs. Start Imitating The Inputs.

​I do a lot of reading. Almost all of it is non-fiction. If I had to break it down even further - I'd say the biggest chunk of it is autobiographies or memoires.

I love learning how people have done life. My own life has told me we all have complicated stories we've had to navigate - complicated stories we continue to have to navigate - well, I love reading how other people have navigated their stories.

When I first got interested in distance running, I was drawn to the stories of runners who've run 100 miles in one event. That seemed unfathomable to me. (I've since learned there are far longer unfathomable distances runners run - but 100 miles was the first unfathomable to capture my attention).

I remember thinking, one day I'm going to run 100 miles.

It remains a goal.

I've started following these runners, talking to them and reading about them, and I've discovered that 100-Mile Runner might be their headlines, but if I ever want that to be MY headline, I need to start memorizing the stories these runners live before the headline is ever written.

Stories that speak to the mundane runs that happen day in and day out that come with no headlines - the runs that spark no envy.

Stories that speak to how they eat, how they prepare their bodies to run in ways that don't involve running.

Stories that speak to giving up nights out at the bar and watching the latest Netflix series in one sitting.

It's easy to read the headlines in life and think, I want that to be my headline, without ever reading the story that took place before the headline was written.

But that story IS the story. Without the inputs in the story there is no headline to output. Without the tiny and often unenviable steps to the highlight reel, there is no highlight reel.

More and more I want to know the unenviable steps. I want to memorize them.

You know, Jesus knew one day there'd be a part of the world reading his headlines. There'd be a part of the world wanting to be like him. That's why he found 12 guys and told them to "follow me".

Jesus knew one day the cross and the resurrection would steal the headlines. So he found 12 guys to memorize the steps he'd take on the way there. He found 12 guys who lived the inputs with Jesus so they'd one day be able to tell the story beneath the cross.

I want to encourage you as you scroll through life and get captivated by the headlines, and maybe you read some that you want to become YOUR headlines. Go follow those people. Walk in their shoes. Live the day to day mundane that comes to life long before the ticker tape parades.

If you follow enough of these people, if you read enough of their stories and their books, you'll discover these people actually found more life in the mundane than they ever found in the parades.

More and more - that is where I too want to look for life.