Hey, I'm not in a collared shirt today. I typically would never do a fast tip Friday or a business thing in a t shirt, but I just thought that my topic today reminded me of a journey I was on six years ago with a friend. I am wearing a t shirt that is for the great Allegheny Passage.
It's a rail trail that goes from Pittsburgh, P.A. to Cumberland, Maryland, and it's a beautiful ride. This friend and I took a weekend, a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and we rode from Pittsburgh almost to well beyond Cumberland, actually had to stop because I got saddle sores on my bike, but that's just not the right thing.
This shirt reminded me of what I hope everybody's doing out there and in their business development career. It's about a journey and a destination. On the back of my shirt, there's the road map that we followed for three days to complete our journey and have a successful experience on the great Allegheny Passage.
There's the start and there's the end. In between, there's a bunch of little way stations or places along the way where you can stop and refresh and re-nourish. You can rest. You can just enjoy the scenery and the experience. You can talk to other people. You can enrich yourself along the journey, and this shirt is just special to me because of that experience.
Every now and then, I'm out and I'll have it on and someone will say, “I did that ride. It's awesome”. And you know what? It was awesome. I just think that if we look at our life plan, this shirt kind of epitomizes that to me. There is a start and it is what it is. It was what it was. But where are we now? What's what? What little town are we in and what's our final destination?
I just want to encourage everyone, first of all, pick an epic journey. Everybody's life should include at least one epic journey. This was an epic journey, and I'm proud to have done it. And I'm proud to share it with people, but also know where you are on the map and know what the conditions are that you're going to deal with.
Know whether it's going to be rocky or muddy, dry or wet, whether it's uphill or downhill, whether there's a lot of water stations or few water stations. Where can you sleep? Where can you eat? What do you need to successfully complete your journey? And so I just want to use this memory, this memento of that experience in my life, and share it with all of you and ask you to find that kind of course and that commitment that you can make that will leave you with this same wonderful experience that I had. It was with a really good friend. I met some great people. I saw some amazing things, and I was more capable than I thought. I was riding 285 miles in just over two days. It was a wonderful experience.
I wish you all the best. Have a great weekend. Go do something new and exciting that will challenge you and have a wonderful time doing it. Take care. Fast tip Friday. Enjoy life.
