By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy
Here’s an idea to help you keep your commitments. Reading time: 4:11
I was shocked when I walked into his beautiful condominium in Pompano Beach, Florida.
The view of the Atlantic Ocean through his living room window seemed shrouded in a mystery. In fact his entire living room seemed shrouded in a conundrum of sorts.
In the corner of the his beautifully appointed living room were two huge tanks of oxygen. Six foot tall tanks.
And there’s my conundrum: how do you run a marathon if you need oxygen tanks just to breathe?
At 80, Tom had already traveled plenty of miles down life’s road much like this. Now he was going to run marathon!
Back then I was a reporter for The Miami Herald, researching a story on an 80-year-old planning to run a marathon.
That turned out to be Tom, the wiry guy who at 80 was more than three times older than I was at the time. Tom said he had a lung disease that necessitated those oxygen tanks in his home.
When Tom told me he was training to run a 26-mile,385-yard marathon, I laughed. And then-about a year later- I cried.
I cried tears of joy and amazement as I ran with Tom as he finished his marathon. Tom taught me a critical leadership skill: the power of commitment quite literally step by step, day in and day out.
LEADERSHIP MINTS PUBLISHING 