Phil Knight was a young athlete who aspired to be something great. He ran track in high school and college and lettered three of his four years in college. He decided that the athletic field was going to be his career for the rest of his life. Knight wasn’t the best at what he did and he didn’t inspire people with his athleticism or his passion for the sport, but he did have a crazy idea. He wanted to create something unique for future athletes. Phil Knight said he got his “aha moment” during a morning run. He realized “our time is short…and I wanted mine to be meaningful… and above all, different” (Knight forward). Our lives really are short and should be lived to the fullest. All our dreams can come true if we strive to make them real. If we want to be remembered, our life has to be different from others.
Knight realized that if he wanted to be different, he would have to go forward with his crazy idea. Eventually his crazy idea would become something more. He wanted to have fun. That was his whole goal in life. To have play time. His crazy idea could become play that would still pay him well. In life, we must figure out a way to make life work for us instead of us putting in so much effort to force life our way. We should be happy with what we do and find fun in our careers. Phil Knight was twenty-four years old when he figured this out. He figured it out much earlier than most people do. He wanted his career to be playtime while still generating revenue.
“The cowards never started” (Knight forward); if we are too scared to start, we won’t go anywhere. If we want to make a difference in the world we must start. In our lives, we can’t be afraid to jump right in. We must continue to do things that scare us. We can’t be a coward and we can’t be afraid of failure. Phil Knight’s crazy idea took him to a great success. We can’t be afraid of our own ideas, no matter how crazy they are. The world is made of crazy ideas; so make your ideas a reality.