ABSTRACT
In my high school days, I was selected to be part of a team of athletes to represent our school in the inter-school athletic events. I participated in the heptathlon events, with the 100-meter and 200-meter sprint events being my favorite. The spectators in the crowd, the expectations of the coach, the atmosphere in the stadium, while exhilarating on the one hand, was at the same time nerve-wracking on the other. And in order to calm the athletes, our coach used to tell us to “focus” and think about breaking the tape at the end of the race. He would want us to think about the race before we even took our starting positions. I must agree that while I first thought that it was quirky to think of
a race before it began, every time I played the race in my mind as I assumed the crouching position in the starting blocks, it helped me ease up and focus on the task, which was to complete the race victoriously. Every time I felt the spikes dig into the starting blocks, I used to think of the final step I would take in breaking the tape and winning the race. Not to mention my best timing for the 100-meter dash was a little less than 13 seconds, which earned me the title “The Wonder Boy” in high school. I wonder today as to how I pulled that off. Reminiscing on those glory days, I realize now that our coach had instilled in us young athletes a very valuable principle, which is to begin with the end in mind and to run the race with a plan, not aimlessly.
