5 keys to Winning the Race of Life

One of my favourite sports is Car Race I could spend hours in a soft couch watching. It is a sport that has evolved so much with time. It is now a multi-million dollar industry full of hi-tech computerized equipments.  In the middle of all this high powered engine, fast turns, multi-million pay checks are some basic principles to winning your own race; life. 

Below are five of these principles, first explained in racing terminologies and then compared to life.

1. Mental Preparation

In a drivers mind the race has to start before he ever arrives on the track. The driver and his team have to be mentally prepared to endure whatever it takes to win. That is the No. 1 priority. No. 1 goal: Win!

In order for you to win, or overcome your everyday challenges you must be mentally prepared. I have found that mental preparedness and success in my days come from…

i.                    Preparing and planning the day before

ii.                  Expecting the best but being prepared for the worst

iii.                Remembering to keep God first in my day – long before my appointment and task.

2. Sound Car

Every racetrack is going to have its peculiarities and different set of problems to be solved, but the driver and the crew should identify them well before hand and factor that information into the set-up of the car. Adjusting the care to each track is the single and greatest challenge, week-in and week-out, for every driver and team. Every piece of equipment in the care must be thoroughly checked. The engine has to be lovingly massaged by every member of the crew that works on it. By the time the green flag drops, the car, the driver and the crew must be close to perfection.

The better we stick to our priorities the more successful we will be. If priorities are what keep us heading in the right direction, then our plans are the equipment that must be adjusted and analyzed meticulously.

3. Track Position

Track position is the key of keys when it comes to winning a race. The secret of establishing track position comes down to risk. While a crew chief can keep the driver posted on what his car can do, knowing when and where to do it is still left to the driver’s instinct. Trying to pass a car that’s going on the same speed is very difficult. You need the right timing combined with a good knowledge of the track and experience.

Track position in car racing is just as important as being in the right position at the right time in life. It has being said it is what you know, but who you know that count.” That may well be true, but if you are not in the right place at the right time it does not matter. So the question is “How can you be in the right place at the right time so as to capitalize on the available opportunities?”  The answer, at least for me, is to focus on preparing for opportunities instead of looking for opportunities. I am of the opinion that if you prepare well enough the opportunity will seek you out.

4. Pit Stops

Making up time on the track, only to give it back in the pits is one of the surest ways to stay out of Victory Lane. While most pit stop routinely take between 12 and 15 seconds, and might only occur four or five times in a race – they can combine to total the most significant minutes in a three hours race.

The pit stops in your life are R&R – rest and relax! Most of us live lives going like melting flow from mountain tops, and go sloppy like that all the way. However, pit stops are the key to life’s success. Just like in racing, the pit stops in our lives are short and few in number. But they are of great importance. Also, as in racing, our pit stops must be intentional, planned out, and effective. The goal of each pit stop in our life should be to refuel our thanks, clean our view of life, and provide strength enough to overcome life’s challenges.

5. Attitude

If luck is where preparation meets opportunity, then bad luck is where preparation meets circumstance. More times than not, cars often involve in accident did nothing really wrong. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is inevitable that a certain amount of bad luck will take place in every race.

I don’t know about you, but this sound like my life. I have found that bad things do happen to good people, and good luck shines almost as often. Many times it is our perspective and attitude toward things that makes all the difference.