Liberty Causes Prosperity

This, from my friend Dr. Tom Palmer at the Atlas Network –

“After tens of thousands of years on this earth, in our lifetime we have witnessed the greatest poverty eradication in human history.  In 1990 35% of humans or 1.85 billion were living in poverty.  Thirteen years later that number had fallen to 10.7% or 767 million people.

Liberty is coordinate with equality, with justice and with peace, for what we seek is equal liberty – under abstract rules that do not discriminate among persons, and that makes it possible for us to live in peace, each following his or her own plan of life, neither oppressing or being oppressed.

And what a world liberty has made possible!  A world of increasing prosperity, of rising dignity, of health, education, art, of wonders that previous generations would never have imagined, much less aspired to.  The poorest citizens of Europe have comforts no king or queen of old could have imagined.”

Thank you, Tom! Let us remember this, be grateful, and do our part to preserve liberty for the coming generations.

The Border

It’s the line between who you are now, and who you could be.

Between your being, and your becoming.

Between this version of you and the best version of you.

Sometimes there is confusion, friction, resistance on this border. It will take effort, intention, and even a little daring to push across it.

Mount your mental, emotional and spiritual resources in this front – and push into the best you. 

You are charged with caring for this person –

If you were given a person that it was your responsibility to take care of, how would you do the job?

Well, there is someone you have been charged with taking care of – it’s you.

Eat well, move well, sleep well.

You are responsible.

We all wind up somewhere…

Will you determine where that is on purpose?

You're not perfect

There are no perfect people and NEWSFLASH – you will not be the first.

This should be a relief!

However, recognizing when we are not behaving well, or acting with virtue and doing less than our best, and calling ourselves on it is an important part of being the best person we are capable of. 

Redemption

Today, at 4:30am Pacific Time, I will be given the green flag for the longest non-stop cross-country race in the world – the Baja 1000. This is my third attempt solo, which is called the Ironman class. My race plan for the 806-mile desert course on the Baja peninsula in Mexico is to finish in 32.5 hours (approximately 1:30pm PST tomorrow). There is a 36-hour time limit.

In 2015, my son and I were a two-man team. (See the YouTube movie “Into the Dust.”) In 2016, we decided to enter the Ironman class (ok well my son Tanner did, and I didn’t want to be left behind!) Tanner became the 13th rider to ever finish this race in this class, finishing 822 miles in 27.5 hours. In a bit of a freak incident, I sustained a neck injury at mile 200, but rode with it to mile 600 in 26 hours and could not go on.

I do not quit. I must finish this race. So last year we were back, lining up for the Ironman start. The problem is it was 1134 miles that year! Tanner was leading the class for 205 miles, but 19 hours in at mile 607 he could not go on. I made a mistake by missing a gas pit and ran out of gas at mile 634 in the middle of nowhere! Dang! I got gas 7 hours later and continued to mile 831, where I could not go on after 37.5 hours.

This year I decided to race all four races in the SCORE desert racing series. I am one of only two riders in the Ironman class to have finished all three races so far, and I am in second place in the points. Racing the other three races (320, 542, 136 miles respectively) has given me even more valuable experience.

One more. The big one. The reason I have come. I have finished the race in my mind already. Now to do it today and tomorrow. As you read this, I am on course. It’s rocks and sand and whoops (look it up) and cactus and silt. The course traverses from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Cortez; from dry lake beds to sand washes to silt beds to mountains and even on the beach. 

It sure is beautiful, and hostile and unforgiving. It’s 100 degrees in the day and 40 degrees at night.

I am ready. I have trained all year. I have prepared and planned and have a great support team. I will become the oldest finisher of the Baja 1000 Ironman in history – and that’s just how it’s going to happen! (public declaration – can’t back out now!) 

Live tracking at scoreinternational.com. My race number is 714x. (Tanner decided not to race this year.) X after a number means motorcycle. A number beginning with 7 means Ironman Class (Solo, no teammates. Other teams have multiple riders and they switch off after their turns).  

I will report on the race when I get back from Mexico!  

Your friends lead you

Often your greatest regrets were things you did with friends – people who supported you in doing that. 

This is why you need to have friends with the values that will take you to where you want to go.

Get support in your own self-leadership.

The right kind of friends

We often pick friends with common interests – ones who are about our age and like to do the same things as us.  But we can be lead in the wrong direction by some friends if they don’t have the same values as us. 

Your friends will determine the direction of your life.  Don’t just pick friends with common interests, pick ones with common values.

Who are you to others?

What do you want people to say about you in the end? 

How about next week?

Keep that in mind today.

What do you value MOST?

“I will prioritize what I value most over what I want right now.”

What you want now is rarely what you value most. 

Most people never discover what they value most until it’s too late.

Where are you leading yourself to?