Dependant on if you like red or not, I guess that picture could either be a dream or a nightmare for you. Either way, the heading for the post relates to both topics, either to stand on your own, or move with the crowd.

I like a combination of the two, almost to be a ball in a crowd that helps people improve their lives. I mean, otherwise, why would I keep writing here? Its certainly not for ego value or because Urban Ninja is a sustainable lifestyle.

I enjoy making a difference, albeit quietly.

Whichever ball you choose to be, the ball that mingles quietly, the ball that’s loud and dances on the tables, or the ball that stands to one side, make sure that you are comfortable being that ball, and make sure that you just be that ball.

The present is a gift, and I just want to be.

More than a few times I have repeated that in my life. I struggle with who I am quite a bit, so for me to just be what I am is harder than for a few people I know. Under the calm exterior there is a moving sea, but my ball would be happiest if:

1. It could wake up to fresh brewed espresso scented alarm clocks that play angelic baroque music where a bicycle awaits for a morning adventure, in no wind, with the sun on my back.

2. I got back and could complete my work before lunch, where I did my work well, whatever I may be doing at that point.

3. I could devour lunch with someone special to me, every day.

4. I could have my own time in the afternoon, devoid of responsibilities. That mornings are planned and afternoons are not.

5. I could watch the sun set every day, but those sunsets we had in Bakoven.

The list goes on, but I have accepted that being the ball is a lifetime process for me.

What does it mean to you, to be the ball?

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Look at the work horse in front, and Contador in background (drinking calmly)

Since my earliest days of racing, I found the role of domestique oddly sexy. The nearly behind-the-scenes efforts of a leadout rider to ensure the team’s success was a part I was born to play. Watching stylish riders like Ron Kiefel and Sean Yates do their work with pride made those silent efforts even cooler.

In watching other riders play the role of draft horse, I was filled with a sense of nationalistic pride; as if taking a bullet at the front of the field was an act of patriotism. The more ignominious the finish, the more self-confident and solid the ride was. Seeing a rider finish five or ten minutes down on the field, but roll in relaxed, without the frantic pedaling of someone showing off for the cameras is large-scale PRO. Soft pedaling across the line means you are secure you’ve done your job well, very well.

There is a flip side to the role, though. There are those episodes when the rider is treated more lame mule than valued draft hose. It might be something that I alone am sensitive to, but I took it as a point of pride that when I rolled up to a rider with pockets full of bottles, I had one ready to hand off. If a rider grabbed a bottle out of my pocket, I was a mule.

Similarly, I loved nothing more than finding my team leader buried in the field and giving a tap on the ass to say, ‘Hop on, I’ll take you back up front.’ If someone tapped me on my butt to say, ‘Take me to the front,’ I wasn’t really doing my job.

Being asked to do the role of a domestique diminishes that role. The value of a great domestique is the ability to read the race and watch the time. Providing bottles on a schedule, keeping the boss out of the wind, fed, hydrated and near the front is the job. Do that without someone asking and you’re valuable. It’s not much different from the jobs we all do by day: The most valuable employees are the ones who know how to jump in without instructions. It’s what made Radar O’Reilly’s character on M*A*S*H* so funny: He had paperwork filled out before the colonel asked for it. The best domestiques are as strong as two men and smell need like bees smell fear.

The height of PRO is watching a rider kill it at the front with the team leader sitting on his wheel, mouth closed—both relaxed and silent. Silence is the truest test of a great domestique; the best one is the guy no one needs to talk to.

story courtesy of BKW

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Fresh out the door and ready to rumble in the jungle and tumble, even if I fumble. Dressed to kill and operating with a dim wit & a haziness from the stresses of a young life, what’s a guy supposed to do?

Unexpected catastrophic events are there not to test us, but to tell us we lost our way, along the way, through a concentration of off decisions. Each on their own, not so bad. Put together, a clusterbomb of irrevocable personal and emotion hurt.

I know of so many people who got tired this year. Tired of fighting for The Man. They took risks. Some smarter risks than others. There is just something honorable about being that guy or girl who’s willing to create their own destiny, even if they make mistakes along the way, instead of letting others dictate their lives.

Some people are amazing corporate people, and indeed, they have huge influence over 1000′s of people in their lives. Others work better on their own, and best they make good decisions that affect the lives of 10′s or 100′s of people in a positive way than being corporate and negatively affecting 1000′s of people.

If you manage to be corporate and do an amazing job and can change the world that way, I salute you.

If you have gone on your own and choose that route, I salute you.

In the end, it all comes down to choices, and the clearness of mind you can create to make choices, in whatever environment suits your personality best.

Its been a long year. A crazy year. One to NEVER forget. One to learn from, to take wisdom from and one to fall back on when the chips are down. How we drag ourselves out of a hole is as important as how we got into the hole in the first place.

Now let’s get up, and do it again, just better, with more panache, and maybe with a little more wine…

This is just a random musing, brought on by choices, and inspired by you.

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Play these as needed. Warning: you might be inspired to greatness, so use with caution.

1. Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Watched by over 6 million viewers, this video of a Carnegie Mellon professor who is dying of pancreatic cancer contains more inspiration and wisdom than almost anything else you can watch online. Watch it!

2. A Father’s Amazing Love

Unless you’re a cold-hearted bastard (and none of you who read this blog are, I know), you will get teary-eyed watching this video. You can’t help it. There is no more powerful demonstration of a father’s love than this. There is often controversy surrounding the Hoyt team effort, but its commendable on any account.

3. Steve Jobs’s Stanford Commencement Speech

I admit, I’m a Steve Jobs fanboy — the guy invented the Mac, the iPod, and Pixar for goodness sake! He’s also a minimalist, like me, and in this speech he shows the power of pursuing your dreams, something I fervently believe in.

4. Will Smith – Running & Reading (The Key to Life)

Will Smith is right on in this speech. As an avid runner and reader myself, I’ve noticed these same phenomena have changed my life, and I recommend both to anyone I talk to.

5. Free Hugs Campaign

I’m a big fan of the Free Hugs campaign. Such a simple yet profound and revolutionary idea — offer free hugs to strangers and change their lives in small ways. I love it.

via

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