Who is more successful? Bill and Melinda Gates or this father and son:

Over the past thirty years, Dick Hoyt and his son Rick have completed hundreds of races, including more than sixty-five marathons, more than two hundred triathlons, and six Ironman races. This is an amazing feat for anyone, but when you take in to account the fact that Rick was born a non-speaking spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, it’s downright miraculous.

Dick had to overcome obstacles too. He didn’t have much experience running when they started racing together, and he had to learn to swim in order to run the triathlons. Training five hours a day on top of his work schedule, Dick was determined to succeed. It wasn’t about winning races, it was about living.

What’s Your Success Bottom Line?

Entrepreneurs talk about the bottom line all the time, and it’s almost always in reference to net cash. Success = money, “take home” money. Spending money. Right? Wrong.

For Dick the bottom line is the joy he and Rick feel when racing together. You see after their first five-mile race, a charity event for one of Rick’s schoolmates, Rick told his Dad (through a communication assistance device) he didn’t feel handicapped when they were competing. That was it. That was Dick’s bottom line from that moment forward.

Success At the Starting Line or Finish Line?

Are you focused on the end goal, or the process? Do you feel successful in your pursuit of a goal, or do you wait until you’ve crossed the finish line before you consider yourself a success? What if you don’t “win?” Are you a success or a failure?

The Hoyt’s never win. In their early days of competing Dick and Rick often came in dead last or almost dead last. But Dick’s bottom line was how Rick felt during the experience of competing, so in just showing up for the race they had already succeeded.

Today, the Hoyts still run race, with Dick pushing Rick in his wheelchair the whole way.

How do you measure success? What’s your REAL bottom line? Is what you are doing, worth your life?