The Olympics are so motivating!

I’m not normally a sports fan. Jeff gave me a liking for hockey, but even growing up in Indiana didn’t make me a basketball fan. But come Olympic time, I love sports.

I love the stories of the athletes who have worked so hard for so very long to get to that medal platform. I find their lives and their performances to be very inspirational. Overcoming adversity such as physical injuries, lack of money, or a poor performance at an important event. Facing times where they feel like giving up. The sheer frustration of how high that mountain to success is to climb. Yet they climb it anyway.

Authors travel the same bumpy road. Rejections. Bad reviews. The intense difficulty of breaking into big publishing houses. We have to run on intrinsic motivation because we sure don’t find much in the way of extrinsic incentives. But most of us soldier on, hopes high, and hearts on our sleeves.

Albert Hammond and John Bettis wrote a song for the 1988 Seoul Olympics called “One Moment in Time.” I put it on my iPod to add to my other inspirational songs. I find their words comforting and uplifting at a time in my life where I desperately need a boost. Of all their beautiful lyrics, one verse shines for me like a beacon:

I’ve lived to be
the very best.
I want it all.
No time for less.
I’ve laid the plans,
now lay the chance
here in my hands…

All I want is a chance, just one chance, to show New York what I can do. Just like those Olympic athletes, I’ll continue working toward my goal. I’ll keep writing. And I’ll keep praying for the day I have my one moment in time.