• image.alt
  • With Mayo Clinic oncologist

    Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

    read biography

Mayo Clinic Health Manager

Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.

Get Started

Free

E-Newsletter

Subscribe to receive the latest updates on health topics. About our newsletters

  • Housecall
  • Alzheimer's caregiving
  • Living with cancer

  • Stress blog

  • Jan. 17, 2009

    The quest for a championship

    By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

5 comments posted

As we stumble through the dark days of winter here in the Midwest, we all embrace the light of spring. However, for members of the athletic community, the light at the end of the tunnel beams from the trophies symbolic of world champions.

There's the Lombardi trophy for the National Football League; the Larry O'Brien trophy for the National Basketball Association; and the Stanley Cup for the National Hockey League. Now what does this have to do with you and me? Please read on.

For these three professional leagues, each team is allocated a salary maximum to pay for players. If owners exceed a certain number, there is a hefty tax which discourages the stockpiling of high-priced players by wealthy team owners.

Although there are loopholes in the system, the basic concept is valid. Since talent is fairly equally distributed among the top-tier teams, what distinguishes the teams that go the distance and hoist the trophy at the end of the season?

There seem to be two major pitfalls to the teams with great promise that never win a championship:

  • The superstar whose talents and skills are eroded by age and injury who simply cannot let go.
  • The high-priced rookie with no proven track record who is given a king's ransom to turn around the franchise.

So, what does this mean to each of us? I believe it means we can achieve our goals by focusing on the tasks at hand, eliminating distractions and emphasizing our strengths.

If we mindlessly surf the net, if we mindlessly peruse every magazine and every newspaper and every periodical, and if we mindlessly access e-mail just to fill the time, we will certainly not fulfill our personal and professional goals.

For me, especially at the start of the new year, this means two things:

  • Identifying which milestones I wish to achieve, whether they are professional, spiritual or professional.
  • Deciding what I have to do to achieve those milestones. Do I need more professional training? Do I need specific training skills to run a faster marathon? What technical skills do I need to advance my personal and professional career?

Hardly rocket science, but I would appreciate your perspectives on our quest for the championship.

5 comments posted

blog index

  • January 23, 2009 4:36 p.m.

    I find that my challenge is not so much staying focused as overfocusing. When I'm taking classes I want to get all the course work done the first week and of course that is just stressful. This year I'm trying to attend to my studies a little each day thereby leaving my weekends free and so far I don't feel stressed. Sometimes I feel I have a little too much time on my hands and that I'm not as constructive with it as I could be but again, I'm learning to enjoy small moments of joy and to not take things so seriously. That's my approach to achiving my milestones.

    - Marie

  • January 21, 2009 9:00 a.m.

    Hello! your advice to keep focused and get to the goal fits me to a T. I really am easily disctracted and thank you for reminding me to be on track. I accomplish a lot- get tired and feel empty. Thank you for the reminder:)

    - Cherie

  • January 20, 2009 5:55 p.m.

    It's easy to fill our time with activities of little value. We need to commit our goals to writing and reivew them daily -- if not more often. It's much like the old saying "if you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?"

    - Mike

  • January 19, 2009 4:52 p.m.

    Hi Joyce: Thx for update. Your comments show just how quickly recommendations change. Plz send the information. And, thank you. Dr. Ed

    - Dr. Ed

  • January 18, 2009 5:01 p.m.

    Dr. Creagan, In the January 2005 edition of Bottom Line Health newsletter, I read with interest your recommendation to eat at least five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily. I am sure you are aware that the government now recommends an increase to 7 to 13 (some say 9 to 13). I am wondering if you would be open to an easy and convenient way to accomplish this every day...filling the gap in many Americans diets...a way which has 13 "gold standard" studies supporting its efficacy published in peer-reviewed journals with several other studies underway at places like NIH? If you would be open to additional information, I would like to send you a copy of the published studies. Just email me at preventionplus@bellsouth.net. Thanks, Joyce Pannell

    - Joyce Pannell

Post a comment

Text Size: smaller largerlarger