Effort and Concentration ... Make Life Worthwhile

I just saw the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" starring Anthony Hopkins the other evening as suggested by Keri, a friend of mine. What a wonderful against all odds account of Burt Munro, pictured above, who set the under-1000 cc world motorcycle land speed record, which still stands, in 1967 at Bonneville Salt Flats with a self-modified Indian motorcycle.

In the special features part of the DVD Burt was quoted as saying that "it is effort and concentration that makes life worthwhile" and that "if a thing's worth doing, it's worth finishing." This past weekend my brother and I entered a tennis tournament in Waterbury. Considering that we had a 2 hour window to complete the match it took a lot of focus and effort. Recently we have been playing tournaments on the weekends...but what's the most stressful and challenging is that due to our respective work schedules and family situations we have very small windows of playing time. And thanks to several fortunate set of circumstances, not only were we able to play in the tournaments but won both of them.

It goes to show that sometimes when you focus on the task at hand, while blocking out everything else, you can perform at a high level. This is exactly what Burt Munro was able to do when he set his world record. He had so much against him - his finances, his countrymen, the officials - but with determination, a friendly and enthusiastic attitude and a high level of concentration he was able to achieve his dreams.

Life is like a breaking a world record or winning a tennis tournament - effort and concentration make it more rewarding and worth reliving.

Suggested Reading/Watching:

The World's Fastest Indian 2005 Magnolia Pictures
One Good Run - The Legend of Burt Munro by Tim Hanna