Are we too old to pursue dreams? The Iron Nun says NO!

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Are we too old to pursue dreams? The Iron Nun begs to differ. You don’t know the infamous Iron Nun? Sister Madonna Buder is an 83-year old Ironman triathlete who holds the distinction as being the oldest woman to complete an Ironman – a 2.4 mile open water swim with 2,000 of your closest friends, followed by a nondrafting 112 mile bike ride with a 26.2 mile marathon to finish it off, all within 17 hours. Sister Madonna started competing in Ironman at the ripe age of 55, an age when many are considering retirement options and dreaming of playing multiple rounds of golf during the work week. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Sister Madonna at multiple triathlon races; her personality and spirit just radiate life. I’ll never forget her comment at the prerace dinner at the 2012 Ironman World Championships when asked why she was still racing. “I couldn’t let the men go unchecked (referring to Lew Hollander, 82 year old male racing). Someone had to represent the women.” Can you imagine your grandmother talking trash? That was AWESOME! I want to be competitive like Sister Madonna when I get that age. How many 83 year old people would be happy just to walk around the mall, much less complete one of the hardest one day endurance events in the World?

Pursuing our dreams

As kids, we all had dreams and everyone encouraged us to pursue them. I wanted to be a professional athlete and play for the Steelers – loved Mean Joe Greene. We were asked constantly “What do you want be when you grow up? What are your dreams?” Many of us had posters in our rooms that said “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them – Walt Disney.” If pursuing dreams were so important as a kid why do we suddenly abandon those pursuits when we graduate college, get married or have children? Who said achieving those milestones and pursuing your dreams are mutually exclusive? Why can’t we have our cake and eat it too? I believe we can if we have the dedication to commit and the perseverance to make it happen. We should pursue our dreams even if we will never hit them.

It is the pursuit that motivates us, gives us the energy and zest to welcome the challenges of each day.

We all know paychecks don’t always make us happy, although they sure help relieve stress. How much more complete would your life be if you were successful at work and pursued childhood dreams at the same time?

We all have excuses and that’s just what they are. I didn’t say it would be easy but I guarantee it will show you a life you never imagined possible. If there’s one thing I love about Ironman it’s that everyone has a story and you meet some of the most inspirational people in the world. Rajesh Durbal is definitely one of those people. He was born missing bones in both legs and partially developed in one arm. At the age of 1, both legs were amputated, rendering him a triple amputee. It didn’t stop Raj. At the age of 30, he became the first triple amputee to complete an Ironman and beat many full bodied athletes. He is a competitor at heart and you can see in his smile that he is pursuing his dreams daily. Don’t even get me started on the Dick and Rick Hoyt story. If you need motivation, just look around. They’re out there every day beating the pavement, making their dreams come true.

I have always been competitive in sports but I too gave into the worldly belief that I had to sacrifice everything to be successful at work. My fitness morphed even further after getting married and having kids. I had a great excuse… I was busy. Who isn’t? I was busy… busy wasting time that could be diverted to feeding the competitive spirit I craved and the completeness from pursuing something bigger. I can personally attest that my life has never been the same since I completed my first Ironman. I am in better shape at 40 than I was at 22 – I weigh less now that I did at 19 (we won’t talk about hair lines). I am more successful at work now than ever and feel the secrets of success have slowly been revealed the more I pursue my dreams. I have made some tradeoffs to achieve my triathlon goals (mainly tv) but my marriage of 11 years and 5 kids have never been sacrificed. I get up every morning at 4am and complete my workouts before work and during lunch breaks. I keep a workout bag in my trunk and never turn down 20 minutes to work out. I also travel 2-3 days a week for work and have never found a hotel I couldn’t get in a solid workout.

We’re never too old… anything is possible! Did I mention I have never beat my 60 year friend in a triathlon? He is #1 in his age group in the World though. My goal is to beat him before he turns 83.

ABOUT SHAY

Shay is an All American and World ranked triathlete, burn survivor with scars over 65% of his body and is a sought out national motivational speaker. Despite being told he’d never compete in sports again at the age of 8, Shay is living testament to “Anything is Possible”: 4x Ironman, 4x member of Team USA, ranked top 1% of Ironmen worldwide and has competed in 9 triathlon world championships, including the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. His mantra has always been to not merely be a “finisher” but to be a “competitor.” If you enjoyed this article, I encourage you to check out my other posts.

Permission to be Excessive. Pick something you care about…go all out.

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Not everything we do has to produce a ROI. Not everything we do even has to make sense. That’s the beauty of life. As long as our actions don’t negatively impact the lives of others or break laws, we have the ability to fully pursue our own happiness, however trivial or grandiose it may be. The history of the world has forever been shaped by people who did things to the extreme, not out of necessity or financial consideration, but because they were passionate about their work and making a statement to the world. Money was obviously a consideration, but it was not the driving or limiting factor. We studied these people and their works of labor in detail in history class – Roman Coliseum, Renaissance paintings, Egyptian Pyramids, the Great Wall of China … They wanted to show the world their work was the best and never to be outdone.

Imagine if you committed the same level of excellence in your profession. If you did, I promise you’ll never go back to your old way of doing business.

In today’s view, these “over the top” projects don’t produce a solid ROI and are never undertaken. One challenge of producing a ROI is it often breeds mediocrity. Sadly, many temper their risk aversion by sacrificing quality and it shows in their work. Much like their work, many have played it safe their whole life and yet question why their life feels average or void of purpose. Regardless of your opinion of pro athletes, musicians or actors, as a whole, these are people who committed early in life to their passion. Can you put a price on pursuing excellence? Can you put a price on leaving a legacy? Can you put a price on happiness or fulfilling one’s calling? If you were to pursue a passion with relentless focus, what would it be? Don’t make the mistake of confusing a hobby with a career. Hobbies lose their enjoyment once they become careers.

Ever since I was a small boy I wanted a tree house. My parents attempted to build one and the end result was an 8’ x 8’ shed nestled on the ground against the back-yard fence. As an adult, I use the word loosely and it’s often debated by my wife, I decided to give my kids the tree house I had envisioned as a child. Remember, it’s always for “the kids.” Being a smart husband, I asked my wife for her blessing before committing our hard earned money to this venture (trust me, she knew full well what she was in for by saying yes). Little did she know I had already been researching for over a month the best tree house builder and had conducted multiple phone interviews with custom tree house builders/general contractors all over the country. With her approval secured, I selected a tree house specialist out of Philadelphia, who was an arborist and had been building custom tree houses for over 20 years. Besides his expertise and portfolio of final products, I loved the passion he exuded over the phone about building a one of a kind experience…and he was “within reason” of my budget.

Fast forward 6 weeks. Like most custom projects, we exceeded our budget and had some challenges but nothing we couldn’t overcome with a commitment to see the project through to completion. Besides, how do you tell your kids you can’t finish what you started. There will always be bumps in the road on the way to fulfilling a dream. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Surprisingly, I was having my house painted at the same time and learned my painter used to paint army jeeps back when he served in Vietnam. Coincidence? Personally, I don’t believe in coincidences. If you put yourself out there and often, you quickly learn you are constantly surrounded by people who can and will help you achieve your dreams. The key is to share your dreams…with everyone. You never know who you are talking to (see my article on guy at Starbucks who wrote me check for $10,000). It didn’t take much persuasion to convince him to paint the tree house and I can assure you he lost money based on the hours his crew invested (he never complained and apologized wishing he could have done better).

The masterpieces visionaries leave behind don’t produce a solid ROI nor do they improve the quality of life of society. They do something even grander. They encourage people to take risks. They give people a sense of pride in doing something no one else dared to do. They dared to be excessive and pursue their passion with no limits. I challenge you to leave a masterpiece in your community, whether it’s a treehouse, holiday decorations or the greenest lawn in the neighborhood. I’m a firm believer in anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

Pick something you care about and pursue it with all your heart…permission to be excessive.

About Shay

Shay is an All American and World ranked triathlete, burn survivor with scars over 65% of his body and is a sought out national motivational speaker. Despite being told he’d never compete in sports again at the age of 8, Shay is living testament to “Anything is Possible”: 4x Ironman, 4x member of Team USA, ranked top 1% of Ironmen worldwide and has competed in 9 triathlon world championships, including the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. His mantra has always been to not merely be a “finisher” but to be a “competitor.” If you enjoyed this article, I encourage you to check out his other posts.