Living like an Underdog

Birthday's are another great excuse/opportunity to re-evaluate yourself and your life's direction (like I ever need an excuse to do that). As my loyal readers would attest, I always encourage self-evaluation and the consistent check into your progress towards long-term and short-term goals. I also encourage constant "tweaking" of said goals. If something isn't working, change it. No need to keep a molded strawberry in the refrigerator, if you know you will never use it. Throw it out and go buy some more fruit.

This week was my 43rd birthday. On the morning of my birthday, I took the family dog, Holly, out for a long walk. With the weather being so cold and snowy, we have been taking shorter walks or I'ver been letting her out in the backyard to "do her business." January 11, however, I decided to bundle up and go for a walk in the 15 degree morning air. I ran into a neighbor, whom I regularly exchange the latest news and sports talk with, and continued on our way. We discussed the amazing weekend of NFL playoff games and how the underdogs won 3 out of the 4 games. The Seattle Seahawks beat the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints, after being 10 point underdogs going into the game. That got me thinking.

Nobody gave them a fighting chance to win, but they showed up and did just that. They believed in themselves and their chances for victory, and it didn't matter what the rest of the league thought. Sure their fans showed up and were making all kinds of noise, but I would have to think that they were just thrilled to have their 7-9 team hosting a playoff game. This game was gravy to them. . . but not to the players.

I think that there is a lesson there that can apply to our daily lives and the reaching for our goals and dreams. Saints fans must have been blow away by the fact that this team, who only won 7 games during the regular season, vanquished their reigning champions.

This is a big build-up for a simple lesson that I would like everyone to think about. I believe the day you wake up and do not have the fire of an underdog, the desire to become better than we were the day before, the confidence to move forward when the rest of the world may not be paying attention to you (or seeming doesn't believe in you), that is the day you will begin your decline - your spiral toward the end. . . when your life will have "Jumped the Shark" so to speak. Just look at Mike Tyson's life after he took Buster Douglas for granted, and believed he was no longer an underdog - believed his own reported invincibility.

The old saying is that "Everyone loves an underdog." I believe that is true because the underdog has the spirit, energy, and drive to continue to move forward and create something unexpected.

Live like an underdog, and expect the unexpected.

Peace,

Randy