What are you running to?

Like many, I watched with great excitement and pride yesterday as Noah Lyles won the men's Olympic 100 meter dash.

After his victory, Lyles said, "I have asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and depression, but I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become.”

I thought about his words in a little bit of a different way reading them through the lens of my own life. I thought about just how limited Lyles' ability to run would be if he wasn't completely focused on what he was running to.

I thought about just how much slower he'd be if he was focused on all he was running from instead of what he was running to.

The last several years of my life, I have run into some of the most meaningful moments of my lifetime at a speed I never could have imagined. But it's not my speed that's improved, it's been my aim.

It turns out when you own that you've spent a lot of your life aimlessly running from things you didn't even always know you were running from, you then realize how aimless you are running toward things you've never really articulated you're running toward.

It turns out that we are all running one way or another, but the folks who are actually getting somewhere know what they are running to.

Lyles was not shocked by the 100 meter finish line yesterday. He's known for a long time that's what he was running to.

Reporter William C Rhoden said about the Olympic champions, "of course, this is what the Olympics are about. An athlete trains for years to be able to compete at the moment of truth. We saw Simone Biles do it in gymnastics and Katie Ledecky do it in swimming. On Sunday, the world saw Lyles do it on the track."

Many of us don't ever get to our moment of truth. Not because we aren't capable of getting there, but because we've never really defined what our moment of truth is.

What is your moment of truth?

What are you running to? What are you aiming at in this life? Only when you define that will you ever be able to know when you get there.

Some will say it's pretty difficult to know exactly where you want to go in life. Noah Lyles might disagree. I guess I would, too. Or, at the very least, I would offer that knowing exactly where you want to go is far less difficult than having absolutely no idea.

It's Monday. Maybe start out slow. Maybe you don't know where you want to go in life but where do you want to go by Friday? Maybe you don't know what your life is aiming at, but what are you aiming for with your week?

If you don't know, then where you end up Friday will be a total surprise. Noah Lyles was not one bit surprised by the 100 meter finish line yesterday. It's what he was aiming for.