高考结束的年轻人，从今天开始，你自由提升视野的人生开始了To the Kids Who Just Finished Gaokao: Life on Your Own Terms Starts Now
Translated from the Chinese original, first published on WeChat「世像」on June 9, 2024.本文 2024.06.09 首发于微信公众号「世像」。
导读
为什么所有数码宝贝中，亚古兽总是第一个进化?
那是因为，无论做什么事都需要勇气开道；而巴达兽之所以最后进化，那是告诉我们：就算是勇气，友情，爱心，知识，诚实，纯真都被无情击碎的时候，你永远都不要放弃希望。
01 我的梦想是当一名运动员
最近NBA季后赛在如火如荼的进行，斯洛文尼亚的那个神奇少年，魔杖的挥舞，越过了埃菲尔铁塔的塔顶。一路走到了总决赛的舞台。
不同的人有不同的梦想，小时候我们被问到长大后的梦想，很多人会说：老师，科学家，医生，护士等等。现在，可能都变成了不想打工，去当老板。
我自己到没怎么变：我一直以来都梦想是做一名运动员。熟悉我的人都知道，我是一名狂热的运动爱好者：篮球，跑步，网球，羽毛球，乒乓球等。主流的运动几乎都看，都玩。
我其实忘记了我是什么时候开始爱上体育的，但我后来复盘的时候，发现了热爱体育的其中一个原因：我从小其实是一个很没有自信的人。唯一有自信的时候就是在运动场和田径场上的时候。这个时候，我会觉得整个天下都是我的。
多年以来，我觉得竞技体育给我最潜移默化的影响是：凡事都要拼尽全力，不到最后一刻出结果绝不认输和放弃。这个在某种程度上构成了我的性格底色。
（图：原文此处有配图——斯坦福长跑运动员冲线）
通过体育，尤其是跑步，跑步更像一种打猎，仔细观察自己的短板，有效击破，快速提升。这和人生以及商业上是一样的：打好基础，快速迭代，懂得试错。同时，训练中需要团队合作；完美需要奉献。
此外，跑步让我能够与人们建立联系并从他们的经历中学习。我对体育的热爱使我能够在工作中保持激情，保持谦逊并帮助他人。
而近期的体育给我关于自己的几个认知和收获是：
- 我其实不是恋爱脑，我只是对我感兴趣的事情和人特别认真100%投入。
- 我性格里的typical J型人格，也来自篮球和跑步的影响：篮球运动员整个赛季都在追寻一个终极的目标。
近几年，时间和精力逐渐从球类运动，更多转向了田径，而跑步，正好是所有运动里最考验绝对天赋的，也是最容易向内求的运动。
以我的理解，对于运动员来说，是意味着一种理想，也意味着突破。这种超越极限的快感是相当宝贵的。而对于普通人来说，意味着高观赏性，在电视上看到常人无法做到的技术动作是一种享受，就和看电影听歌是一个道理，这也是竞技体育最大的意义了。
从事体育的都知道，想要提高成绩必须要付出很多身心代价，当你承受住了高强度体育训练带来的痛苦后，你再去面对其他事情，你会觉得无畏，会觉得不过如此。
喜欢体育的人，一般在生活中都是积极阳光的。而且很多的体育运动项目都是团体的，需要和他人沟通交流的。可以体谅队友的失误，承担队伍的失败，可以一起获得成功的喜悦，可以和队友一起分享快乐与难过，他们心情、情绪的输入和输出是差不多持平的，所以心里不会有太多的抑郁消极情绪堆积。而且参与体育运动它其实有一个转移注意力的过程，把不好的情绪在体育中消除，不再纠结关注那个不好的点。
体育人，可能思维深度可能不太够，但思维广度肯定很优秀，他们会考虑到很多很多方面的事，好的体育人都有领导者的风范。能当领导者的人，肯定大部分是情绪稳定的，在体育场上消极的领导者肯定是被诟病的，所以他们早就知道消极的情绪解决不了任何事情，即使有，也得快速调整想出解决办法。这种情绪、意识的锻炼很大程度上改变了体育人看待处理事物的方法，学会了如何更好地调整自己的心态。
体育有这么多好处，那为什么没有去做运动员呢?
02 我们只有金牌，没有体育
严格意义上来说中国只有金牌，没有体育，这和国外优秀的体育教育有着巨大的差距，主要的区别如下：
（1）体教分离VS体教合一
中国只有大国金牌。因为在中国是体教分离的。在世界上，体育最好的国家都是体教合一的。
我们的孩子和国外孩子们在体育上的一个显著区别是：他们是在学校当中去参与体育，在学校当中去发展体育，它整个体育是嵌入在学校教育系统里的。这样孩子在尝试体育的同时也得到了教育。
随着孩子成长，一步一步往上走；在此过程中，如果他展现出来他有足够好的天赋和前景，那将来体育可以成为他的工作，他会成为一个职业运动员；如果不行，或者说他的天赋到更高一个级别，显示他没有办法继续前进了。
他可能能打高中校队，但不一定能打大学校队；能打很好的大学校队，不意味着他能打职业联赛；他虽然没有办法再成为一个大学校队的运动员，但他仍然可以成为一个大学生。在大学里，也许他没有办法进一步去打NBA，成为一个职业运动员，他仍然在高中里接受了教育，仍然在大学接受很好的大学教育。
但他每一步他都是可以有别的选择的；与此同时，他仍然能成为职场上一个出色的工作者，他仍然能对自己的生活负责，而这段体育经历成为了他人生中非常独特的方面，能塑造他的性格，塑造他的人格，这是体教合一。
而中国不一样，中国是体教分离的。比如拿篮球来说，中国的U6，U8中国小孩子练习的玩命程度和技术条件，身体条件，比西班牙这些都要强，但核心问题是：中国家庭的U6，U8的孩子，在绝大多数，12岁左右（小学毕业）基本都"退役"了。如果这帮孩子出去组一个U12队，出去打比赛，银牌，铜牌都拿过，绝对妥妥的世界前三名。
乒乓球，田径，网球，游泳等其他运动也类似。
在国内，孩子是在小到10岁左右，三四年级时大到最迟不超过15岁，初中毕业前，孩子（其实是家长）就要选择：接受教育，读高中考大学，走"学术"路线，而这意味着基本和职业体育说再见了；而如果选择吃体育这碗饭，那就是进专业队，但这条线对于孩子已经失去受教育的机会，将来发展上去，会发现没办法走的更高。
（图：原文此处有配图——职业体育服务业与大众体育产品业产业图谱）
竞技体育是一将功成万骨枯的事，这个真理放眼全球都成立的。100个人练，有一个能出来就很不错，但那99个人怎么办？练不出来的99个人，他们没办法成为一个高水平的队员，没办法在职业体育这条路上能养活自己，建立自己的职业生涯，已经错过了自己受教育的机会。
国内的教育体系与体育是分离的且不兼容的，是自上而下的体教分离形态，无论是教育体制还是家长端，无一例外地全是把体育从教育体系中剥离出去。在这样的选择和学习下，职业运动员往往知识层面的学历不高，而非职业运动员，而且已经丧失了更多更合适的接受（体育）教育的机会。
而国外的体育教育是融入到教育体系里的，学生们在学习中参与并发展体育，慢慢发现自己的体育天赋后阶梯式地迈向体育之路，成为一名职业运动员或体育相关职业。学生们可以按照自己的能力参加高中联赛，大学联赛甚至是国家职业级联赛，但是在比赛的过程中从没有把基本的教育落下过，仍然有别的更多的选择。
（2）目标决定过程
国内从恢复高考（1978年）就来没有体育这项考核，近些年的教育体制改革中有了体育相关的考试，但以应试教育作为目的的改革所产生的效果你可以忽略不计。与此同时，也没有提高学生们的体育水平和竞技素养，反而使得他们的体育教育理念出现错误的认知。
国外的教育目标是多方位全方向的：国家，社会，高校层面更看重的是健全的人格素养和全面的教育知识认知，这样体育教育和文化艺术类教育是不冲突的，给了学生们更多的选择。
国外的孩子不管是家庭和学校都深受体育教育的影响，无论是生活中还是学习上，体育教育触手可及，反观国内我们普通人在经历一二十年教育中真正认识体育，接受过体育教育的有多少呢？看似体育在我们身边，实则体育离我们很遥远。
（3）体育产业的巨大差距
中国以前并没有一个成熟的市场化的体育核心产业，这些年，借政策利好的东风，体育产业正奔跑在发展和成长的道路上。
体育行业按照国际上通行的分法可以分为体育核心产业（行业上游），以及体育附属产业（行业下游）。体育核心产业按照目前全球体育市场经济最为发达的，美国体育产业的运作模式是由一条完整的以体育赛事为核心的产业链构成的。
（图：原文此处有配图——美国体育转播合同价值表：迪士尼/福克斯/派拉蒙/康卡斯特/亚马逊/Alphabet）
美国的体育产业是全球领先的运作模式：以赛事为核心的体育资产（最具代表性的体育资产是职业体育和大学体育联盟、球队以及运动员，他们向媒体、赞助商、体育特许商品公司等出售他们的媒体权益、代言权及特许商品权益等。核心商业活动则是组织及参与赛事，借此取得来自赛事的收入和利润）、体育媒体、赞助商、体育场馆、体育特许商品公司、体育营销及经纪公司（最著名的该类公司有IMG，CAA）。
在美国，以上这六大体育核心产业的组成部分的业务彼此互相交织，每一方都对另外五方有巨大的影响力，前五方更是体育商业运作的重大交易中不，绝对的主角，体育营销及经纪公司则常常被看作前五方在需要时请来帮助其更好的进行体育营销的"配角"或推手。
体育资产可以说是美国核心体育产业中的灵魂和"现金牛"。一切核心体育商业运作的价值源头都来自于围绕体育资产开展的运作。他们是美国体育商业运作价值链中的终极收入方，来自赞助商、媒体和粉丝的付费和支出大部分都最终进了这些体育资产的口袋。而美国体育核心产业的三大金主分别是媒体、球迷／粉丝，以及品牌赞助商。
美国体育核心产业的主要收入大头是：赛事门票、媒体版权、体育赞助与体育特许商品的收入。
10年前（2014）美国体育核心产业的总收入为605亿美元，2018年达到了6000多亿美元，体育产业占GDP比重的3%，而中国仅有2000亿美元，以2018年的GDP来看，中国的人均GDP为美国的六分之一，而体育产业GDP方面，中国只有美国的十二分之一，而中国的人口是美国的4倍多，由此可见美国的体育产业是如何发达。
（图：原文此处有配图——Total Sponsorship Revenue for Major U.S. Sports Leagues）
相比美国体育产业，中国体育产业在各项收入项目中的差距是巨大的：NFL在2022年营收约为186亿美元（约1365亿元），其中商业赞助收入达到18.8亿美元，无论是营收总额还是商业赞助金额，都可以称之为冠绝全球的水平。NBA在2021-2022赛季总收入突破100亿美元，创造NBA单赛季收入新纪录。其中，篮球相关收入达到89亿美元，同样为历史新高。
（图：原文此处有配图——中外体育联赛收入结构对比：中超/英超/CBA/NBA/广马/NFL/中网/温网）
相比之下，整个2023赛季中超联赛的总收入5亿元人民币。美国的零头都没有。
以上对比的结论很明显，中国的主要体育联盟、俱乐部以及赛事机构，在门票收入、版权收入、赞助收入以及特许商品收入上与美国体育产业的同行之间有着巨大的差距。
03 体教分离的副作用：越内卷，越要做自己
去年上海有一个孩子火了：哥大和达特茅斯本科录取。并不是因为被藤校录取，而是他所选择的"配方"。
- 现在很多中国家长有所谓的爬藤，牛剑配方：SAT1550是基本入场券，但这个孩子没考；去拍摄野生动物扬子鳄，后来它拍摄的8K视频，位列当时全网热搜第一；
- 爬藤配方说：孩子要参加很多比赛，竞赛，而且两个竞赛至少要有国家级别的奖项，但这孩子也没参加，而是选择了去学梵语，（据说）是被季羡林启发；
- 爬藤配方说：要考8门AP才算起步，这孩子就选择性的考了4门意思了一下，然后跑到校外学了一年大学哲学；
- 爬藤配方说：要至少两个义工经历，要去做很多志愿者，献爱心，然后很多中国家长跑去各种买和表演，这孩子的做法是：直接上手，真刀真枪的干成团长，张罗600多口人，1000多斤的蔬菜粮食。
最后所谓的爬藤配方没赢，这孩子源自内心的喜欢赢了。
天天眼睛盯在别人身上：我要赢过他，那就是内卷，但经历过创业的人都知道：越眼睛紧盯在别人身上，你就会越长得像你的竞争对手。
眼睛盯在自己身上，发自本心的喜欢，才能避免跟大家长得一样，才能最后从众多的竞争对手里边脱颖而出，才能爬藤，才能骑"牛"，才能拔"剑"，才能热爱可抵岁月漫长。
这一点，体育也使人受益匪浅：真正的体育教育，是通过身体来运动来改变和提高自身的各项"品质"。优秀的精英首先一定是善于驾驭自己身体的主人，一个人能自觉地确定目的，并根据目的来支配、调节自己的行动，克服各种困难，从而实现目的的品质。
在体育活动中，锻炼人的意志品质，首先是锻炼人对事物的判断，提出明确而客观的目标。
与此同时，体育训练也是一个与疲劳做斗争的过程，是一个与竞争对手进行体力与智力争斗的过程，是一个需要有投入成本的过程。没有良好的意志品质，就很难坚持到底。
04 竞技体育太有魅力了
疫情给很多人的生活带来很多的负面影响，也提供了机会让很多人停下脚步回顾自己的生活和选择。
很多人都一样：严肃，勤奋，专注，是被教的很好的年轻人；但我们没有专注于我们到底在表达什么。我们从小就没有要把对xx的热情表现出来，把自己和对xx的热情融为一体。把对xx的热情传递出去。
人生不是走流程，要追寻意义创造价值。我们参加完一场考试，然后是下一场考试；接着找到一份工作，然后再换一份工作，再跳槽，再换一份，循环往复，然后人生走到尽头。
人们惯性被学业/工作惯性推着走，却总忘了腾出时间思考自己是谁，自己想做什么，自己喜欢什么。在经济下行的时候，生活的突然变动频率已经越来越高，让更多的人失去了对生活的盼头。
失去盼头是一件很可怕的事，因为这极其容易进入自证意义的陷阱。
当然，我的本意并不是要"撺掇"所有人都去搞体育。
而是做自己喜欢的事，以坚韧的态度，怀揣着必胜的信念，热爱我所热爱。所有你坚持的，必将让你收获坚持的喜悦，只要你保持初心。"
比如体育与我而言，竞技体育代表了人的突破、挑战、超越，关注人本身，给人以鼓舞。力量以千克为单位，速度以秒来计算。那勇气呢？你无法衡量勇气。
一直以来，体育以独特的魅力感染无数人。体育教人奋勇拼搏，也教人公平竞争；叫人敢于争先，也教人团结协作；教人享受胜利，也教人接受失败。
体育并非只是强壮身体，更塑造进取的精神和健全的人格。
世界纪录每年都在被打破，百米10秒以内跑完一直是一个坎，21世纪的运动员轻松把它打破。马拉松以前被认为是神话，但后来却成为一项稍加练习就可以参与的平民运动。竞技体育给我们以昂扬向上的精神，挑战不可能，把不可能变为可能，不断超越自己，不断刷新记录。竞技体育的繁荣代表了人对自己的突破，是人类宝贵的自我超越的活动。
竞技体育满足我们的好奇心，帮我们探索未知、享受过程。它就好像是生命的一封情书，释放着生命力，教会你爱与失去。
当你的面前只有一次机会，非输即赢，你知道他的可贵，你想坐上胜利的王座，你想在人群里称王，那么在这个赛场上你可以尽情的展示你的胜负欲。但成王败寇，你有且只有一次机会。所以你拼尽全力，为了那一次付出千百次。
你不能轻视你的对手，你要了解他尊重他甚至认可他，但你永远不服他，这样你才能打败他。当你开始诋毁，就证明你已经无力对抗，所有的抱怨都是打压自己的石头。
你要有一颗大心脏，看全局、知进退。在最底端有崛起的信心和勇气，在顶峰能守住沉稳和水平。在失败时愿赌服输，在成功时不骄不躁。
你永远都不能想着去弥补，既成事实必须立刻放下，能做的就是打赢下一场。你知道机会的稍纵即逝，你更懂得公平和正义的重要，你明白付出与回报的比率，你更能释然每一次失败，你理解人生难免有运气的成分，更能面对比自己强大的对手。更明白生命的意义，也更懂这个世界的诚意。
竞技体育里，实力决定了你的天花板，但谋略有时候能提高你的下限和可能。竞技体育终究可以映射到真实生活中去，类似的选择同样比比皆是，普通人究竟应该追求安全感，还是该去追求一点能让生活发亮的东西，即便这种亮光可能只有你自己看得到。
致敬每一次热血！体育竞技的魅力在于它有裁判，而人生没有。
05 跑到老，跑到世界尽头
跑步是一件快乐的事，也是是一种独特的体验，它融合了人类的两种原始冲动：恐惧与快感。无论是害怕了还是快活了，我们都会去跑步。既是奔跑着逃开不幸，也是奔跑着追寻幸福。
就像人生一样：哪有什么一帆风顺，不过是勇气、智慧、坚持、努力、缘分、崩溃、运气一系列的组合。
刚开始跑步时，感受到的是多巴胺带来的身体愉悦感。随着坚持跑下去，刷新PB、挑战自我成了新的快乐。当自己感受到了快乐，我便希望更多的人也得到快乐。我就用自己的力量影响大家一起跑，这于我而言又是全新的快乐。
（图：原文此处有配图——I'm running ALONE, because we're in this TOGETHER. London Marathon）
跑马拉松的吸引力不在于赛事本身，而在于为参赛而一步步累积里程的过程。它无关汗水与坚持，亦非短暂的速度与激情，而是将生活在原有的基础上逐渐优化，使人生的层次在不知不觉中丰富，是一种"心"的生活方式！这便是马拉松的独特魅力所在。
对于业余马拉松爱好者：报名就是勇者，开跑就是英雄，跑完就是冠军。成绩固然重要，而比成绩更重要的是你影响了多少人开启他们的人生马拉松旅程：330是一个坎，310是一座山，300是一个梦。
1970年纽约路跑协会举办第一场马拉松的时候，参加人数仅有127人，比赛路线也只是绕着纽约中央公园跑4圈而已。把它说成纽约马拉松多少有点货不对板，说成中央公园马拉松倒是名副其实。而如今，每年有来自世界100多个国家的近7万人参加纽约马拉松比赛。
世上任何一个伟大的事物，都是从渺小开始起步。
马拉松是个单调枯燥一分一秒的拉锯战，因为并没有一条清晰的故事线，过程是碎片化的感知，跑者甚至会忘记刚刚经过的风景。但长跑是所有运动种类中唯有的和自己内心与身体交流的一种。平淡中充满了传奇与情怀。
手机跑步软件里自己累积的里程一点一点增多，我很踏实，我相信没有不努力的成功。很多跑友都喜欢说"跑了才懂"，我也是在跑步中更加深刻地理解了跑步对我的意义。只要坚持跑下去，你就会发现跑步可以带给自己巨大的勇气和力量。唯有坚持和专注才能笑到最后。跑步如此，人生也莫过如此：只给自己设目标，不给自己设限制。
在人生的马拉松跑道上。其要义不在于总要去超越别人，或被别人超越，重要的是寻找到最适合自己的路径与速度。这种超乎常人的睿智和豁达，既是修行的方式也是修行的善果。
跑步让我意识自己可以变得更快——做每一件事情，都有目的。你所付出的时间和精力，都希望有所回报。从半马到全马，从三小时十分钟到突破三小时，作为一个普通人，也许我们没有办法成为冠军，但我们都可以一次又一次的刷新自己的记录，提高自己的成绩，突破自己，这种成就感，是花钱买不到的。冲线的那一瞬间，我觉得之前所付出的所有汗水和努力，都太值得。
跑步让我变得更专注——你有试过在操场狂刷100圈吗？你有连续跑好几个小时而不去碰手机吗？当跑步变成我像吃饭睡觉一般的生活习惯，你会发现自己变得越来越容易专注，越来越可以忍受枯燥和有挑战性的目标，越来越有耐心去面对所有的困难。42.195公里都被我踩在脚下，一座座城市都被我用双脚丈量，还有什么是搞不定的呢?
跑步让我知道团队的重要性——一群人跑，比一个人跑，会更快。破二计划中基普乔格如果有没有他的团队，乔爷大概率不会跑出2小时25秒的惊人成绩，在他背后是整个后勤，科技团队，以及跟他一起战斗的配速员们。如果你想跑的更快，最好是可以和你身边水平相当或者比你更强的人一起练习，互相鼓励和促进，可以让大家都变得更强。跑步看上去是一个人的运动，实际背后是一个团队的比拼，和你一起跑的一群人，是你漫漫征途上的战友，是相互扶持和加油的兄弟姐妹，是那个让你变得更好的团队。
马拉松和领导力——竞技体育可以映射到真实生活中去，类似的选择同样比比皆是，普通人究竟应该追求安全感，还是该去追求一点能让生活发亮的东西，即便这种亮光可能只有你自己看得到。
马拉松培养了我的耐心，韧劲，勇气。而我多年来，始终如一的坚持跑步和训练，影响了身边的很多很多人。就像科比影响了一代NBA球员一样。
多年来，马拉松和科比对我的认知和情感技能的影响巨大。因为我喜欢，享受，热爱，我在其中寻找到乐趣，并找到了自信，然后形成正向反馈。
（图：原文此处有配图——runner's high 定义海报，London Marathon）
知道为什么越来越多的人热爱马拉松吗？因为这项运动可以让每一个站在赛道上的普通人都能发光，这是在现实世界很难做到的事儿。在这样一个拼尽全力才能勉强活成普通的社会里，我们太需要一些肯定，我们需要征服一些困难去证明自己。
是，42公里很难，有生活难吗？马拉松是唯一能让大众跑者可以跟国字号运动员甚至国际运动健将同台竞技的游戏。
身处马拉松赛道，你就一个终身都在奔跑的运动员，一个把生命看做比赛的斗士，按照自己的意愿和认知，坚定顽强地推进和释放，所谓纵情向前不过如此。
人到中年，看似生活稳定，物质丰富，但只要你去问任何一个中年男人过的咋样，他们都会和你吐槽一地鸡毛。或许是奋斗多年，事业上升瓶颈的焦虑，抑或被夹在老婆和老妈之间来回斡旋的崩溃；或是面对青春期孩子恨铁不成钢的懊恼，更别提对年迈父母想尽孝但有心无力的自责……
工作、家庭、生活的重重压力之下，夹缝中的中年男人，总被社会默认为是要兜底的那个，是最不应该有情绪的那个。一圈一圈地跑步、喘气、流汗、看似是在自找苦吃，但其实，是一个人的独行，是与自己相处的绝好机会。
世界上有20%的医生在治疗抑郁症时，都会把跑步当成药物进行辅助治疗。不只是因为我们跑步的时候，会分泌多巴胺，感到开心，还因为这是一段完全属于自己的时间，可以让大脑更加清醒。无论是做商业的决策，还是理清情感的纠结，或是给自己加油打气，每一个在跑道上的中年人，都能得到某种程度的确定感和掌控感。
因为在人生的至暗时候，撑下去的方法从来都很简单：别高谈阔论，别沉迷虚拟世界，去爱具体的人，做具体的事，过具体的生活。
06 「自己的自由」
运动是追求快乐吗？并不全是，运动已经发展成为一种活动，是生命意义和情绪的需要，精神的需要，对快乐的追求可以成为精神的需要之一，运动会尽量把它作为运动活动的终极目标也不难理解了。
我们过去经常说一句话：坚持就是胜利。其实我现在不是很认同这句话。很多爱好，比如体育，尤其像是跑步，容易被大家理解成是一项相对单调枯燥的运动，我们下意识地就会用"坚持"这种词儿。但是，有多少人能够做到坚持就是胜利，很多运动一旦要强调坚持的时候，最后都会胜利吗?
坚持并不一定会带来胜利，热爱才会。
（图：原文此处有配图——"自律给我饿的哟！"表情包）
白岩松去年在采访梅西时，谈到给孩子的建议，梅西说：最重要的不是什么技术，做出什么动作，而是走上球场，是踢球本身，享受足球这项运动，享受踢球的美好时光。
你会发现，在这些顶级运动员的身上，热爱都是最重要的特质。热爱是所有的好的事情最重要的推动力。
靠坚持靠咬牙，很难，如果你体验不到跑步的乐趣的话，不是越跑越开心的话，就是为了一个功利性的目标去跑步，这样注定跑不长久的。
在基普乔格身上，你会看到一种强大的自律所起到的作用，那不是坚持，而是一种因热爱而要付出的代价，很多人经常都会说这句话：越自律越自由。
最早海德格尔就说过这句话：什么叫自由？自由就是你能做法律允许你做的所有事情，这本身就意味着对自由本身是有限定的，但是我们有的时候把自由说小了，我们经常把它意识形态化，有没有更大的自由?
我想到五个字——自己的自由，它可能超越了我们现在理解的自由。为什么这回基普乔格格外强调跑步和自由之间的关系，我觉得就是因为他强烈地感受到了「自己的自由」，这是一种更大范畴的自由。
我们常常分析运动会带给人快乐，能够摆脱抑郁等等，但我觉得，更核心的，是你感受到了一种自己跟自己对话的更大范围的心灵的自由。
去看每一个伟大的运动员，都会有一个重要的收获，他一定是在思考层面或是很多层面达到了更高的境界，他赢别人不是靠运动能力，他能够抵达的境界已经不是赢别人了，是因为他超越了自己。
07 写在最后
竞技体育的结果并不能预先知道，我们看比赛并不是为了看一个结果，也看过程，在每一次传球中期待未来的进球。我们看的是比赛的过程，看的是每一次精彩的身体对抗、每一次暴力冲突，每一次精妙绝伦的传球和进球，至于最后的输赢，只能自然地等待结果了。每一次重要的比赛前，我们都无法预知结果，而体育比赛的魅力就在这里，它留给你不确定，它充满变数，它吸引你坐在屏幕前看完比赛的每一分钟。
探索未知、等待结果也足以让人兴奋。而人生，何尝不是这样。
运动是人类的最基本潜能，共同的潜能，就算是残疾也有一颗运动的心，是一个人具有的对于环境中各物的优势，人越是发展这一最基本优势，越有可能强大，它是原始的冲动。
人生中的很多事情都不可能不付出任何代价，但是付出的代价是幸福的一部分，比如说因为你享受到了跑步巨大的好处，因此你愿意自律，可以跑得更久，跑得更舒服。
人是一种追求深刻的动物，他们必须把刻在基因深处的外交的特性展示出来，来和外界的能量更好的互动，情绪为此而生。所以，运动是为了丰富生命，追求生命更丰富的意义。
A Reader's Guide
Why is it that, of all the Digimon, Agumon is always the first to evolve?
Because whatever you set out to do, courage has to lead the way. And the reason Patamon is the last to evolve is to tell us this: even when courage, friendship, love, knowledge, honesty, and innocence have all been mercilessly shattered, you must never give up hope.
01 My Dream Was to Be an Athlete
The NBA playoffs are in full swing right now, and that magical kid from Slovenia—the flick of his wand—has cleared the very top of the Eiffel Tower. He's carried his team all the way to the Finals stage.
Different people have different dreams. As kids, when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, a lot of us would say: teacher, scientist, doctor, nurse, and so on. Now it's probably all turned into: I don't want to work for someone else, I want to be the boss.
I myself haven't really changed: my dream has always been to become an athlete. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a fanatical sports lover—basketball, running, tennis, badminton, table tennis. I watch and play just about every mainstream sport.
I've actually forgotten when I first fell in love with sports, but when I looked back later, I found one of the reasons I love them: as a kid I was actually a very unconfident person. The only time I felt confident was out on the field or the track. In those moments, I'd feel the whole world was mine.
Over the years, the most quietly formative thing competitive sport has given me is this: give everything you've got, and until the very last moment when the result is in, never concede, never give up. In a sense this has become the base coat of my character.
(Figure in original.)
Through sports, and running especially—running is more like hunting: carefully observing your own weaknesses, striking at them effectively, improving fast. It's the same as life and business: lay a solid foundation, iterate quickly, learn to embrace trial and error. And training demands teamwork; perfection demands dedication.
Beyond that, running lets me build connections with people and learn from their experiences. My love of sport lets me stay passionate at work, stay humble, and help others.
Some things sport has recently taught me about myself:
- I'm not actually the type to lose my head over romance; I just throw myself 100% into the things and people I'm interested in.
- The classic Type-J personality in me also comes from basketball and running: a basketball player spends the whole season chasing one ultimate goal.
In recent years, my time and energy have gradually shifted from ball sports more toward track and field—and running happens to be the sport that most tests raw talent of all, and the one that most easily turns you inward.
As I understand it, for an athlete, running means an ideal, and it means breaking through. That thrill of exceeding your limits is precious indeed. For an ordinary person, it means great spectacle: watching feats on TV that ordinary people can't pull off is a pleasure, the same way watching a movie or listening to a song is—and that's the greatest meaning of competitive sport.
Anyone in sport knows that improving your results demands a heavy toll on body and mind. Once you've withstood the pain of high-intensity training, facing anything else, you'll feel fearless, you'll feel it's nothing much.
People who love sport are usually upbeat and sunny in daily life. And many sports are team sports, requiring communication and interaction with others. You can be understanding of a teammate's mistake, shoulder the team's defeat, share in the joy of success together, and share happiness and sorrow with teammates. The input and output of their moods and emotions roughly break even, so not much depression or negativity piles up inside them. And taking part in sport actually has a diverting effect—it dissolves the bad feelings in the sport itself, so you stop fixating and dwelling on that one bad thing.
Sports people may not have the deepest thinking, but they surely have excellent breadth of thinking; they consider a great many angles, and good sports people all carry the bearing of a leader. People who can be leaders are, for the most part, emotionally stable—a negative leader out on the field is sure to be criticized—so they long ago learned that negative emotions solve nothing, and that even when they arise, you have to adjust fast and come up with a solution. This training of emotion and awareness has, to a great degree, changed how sports people view and handle things, and taught them how to better adjust their own mindset.
Sport has so many benefits—so why didn't I become an athlete?
02 We Have Only Gold Medals, Not Sport
Strictly speaking, China has only gold medals, not sport, and this leaves a huge gap between it and the excellent sports education abroad. The main differences:
(1) Sport-education separation vs. sport-education integration
China only has great-power gold medals. Because in China, sport and education are separate. In the world, the countries best at sport all integrate the two.
One striking difference between our kids and kids abroad in sport is this: they take part in sport within school, and develop through sport within school—the whole of sport is embedded in the school education system. This way, a child gets an education even as they try out sport.
As the child grows, they move up step by step. Along the way, if they show enough talent and promise, then in the future sport can become their job—they'll become a professional athlete. If not—or rather, when their talent reaches a higher level that shows they can't advance further—
they may make the high school varsity team but not necessarily the college team; making a very good college team doesn't mean they can play in the pro leagues; and even though they can't go on to be a college varsity athlete, they can still be a college student. In college, maybe they can't go further to play in the NBA and become a professional athlete—but they still received an education in high school, and still received a fine college education in college.
At every step, they always have other options; and at the same time, they can still become an outstanding worker in the workplace, can still take responsibility for their own life, and that stretch of sporting experience becomes a very distinctive part of their life—it can shape their character, shape their personhood. This is sport-education integration.
China is different: China separates sport from education. Take basketball. Chinese kids in the U6 and U8 brackets practice at a life-or-death intensity, and their technical and physical conditions surpass those in Spain and elsewhere—but the core problem is this: the overwhelming majority of Chinese U6 and U8 kids basically "retire" around age twelve (the end of primary school). If you had these kids form a U12 team and go play in tournaments, they'd have won silver and bronze—rock-solid top three in the world.
Table tennis, track and field, tennis, swimming, and other sports are similar.
In China, at as young as around ten—third or fourth grade—and at the latest by fifteen, before finishing junior high, the child (really, the parents) has to choose: accept an education, go to high school and sit for college, take the "academic" route—which basically means saying goodbye to professional sport; or, if they choose to make a living from sport, that means joining a professional team, but this path costs the child the chance at an education, and in future development they'll find there's no way to go any higher.
(Figure in original.)
Competitive sport is a case of one general's fame built on ten thousand rotting bones—a truth that holds worldwide. Of 100 who train, having one make it is already very good. But what about the other 99? The 99 who don't make it—they can't become high-level players, can't support themselves on the professional-sport path or build a career, and have already missed their chance at an education.
The domestic education system is separate from—and incompatible with—sport; it's a top-down structure of sport-education separation, in which, without exception, both the education system and the parents strip sport out of the education system. Under this kind of choice and this kind of learning, professional athletes tend to have modest academic credentials, and non-professional athletes, meanwhile, have already forfeited many better and more suitable chances to receive a (sports) education.
Abroad, sports education is woven into the education system. Students take part in and develop through sport as they study; after gradually discovering their sporting talent, they step up the ladder toward sport and become professional athletes or take sport-related careers. Students can enter high school leagues, college leagues, even national professional-level leagues according to their ability—but through it all, the basic education never falls behind, and they still have other, greater options.
(2) The goal determines the process
From the restoration of the gaokao (China's college entrance exam) in 1978, there was never any assessment of sport; in the education-system reforms of recent years there's been a sport-related exam, but the effect produced by a reform aimed at exam-oriented education is negligible. At the same time, it hasn't raised students' athletic level or competitive quality; on the contrary, it's given them a mistaken understanding of what physical education even is.
The educational goals abroad are multi-dimensional and all-around: at the national, social, and university levels, what's valued more is sound character and rounded educational knowledge, so sports education and cultural/arts education don't conflict, and students are given more options.
Kids abroad, at home and at school alike, are deeply shaped by sports education; whether in life or in study, sports education is within arm's reach. Look back home, and among us ordinary people—over a decade or two of education—how many truly come to know sport, to have received a sports education? Sport seems to be all around us, yet in truth sport is very far from us.
(3) The vast gap in the sports industry
China previously had no mature, market-based core sports industry; in recent years, riding the tailwind of favorable policy, the sports industry has been running down the road of growth and development.
By international convention, the sports industry can be divided into the core sports industry (upstream) and the auxiliary sports industry (downstream). Following the operating model of the United States—today's most economically developed sports market—the core sports industry is made up of a complete industry chain centered on sporting events.
(Figure in original.)
The U.S. sports industry is the world-leading operating model: event-centered sports assets (the most representative sports assets are professional and college sports leagues, teams, and athletes, who sell their media rights, endorsement rights, licensed-merchandise rights, and the like to media, sponsors, sports-licensing companies, and so on; the core commercial activity is organizing and taking part in events, thereby earning the revenue and profit that come from them), sports media, sponsors, sports venues, sports-licensing companies, and sports marketing and agency companies (the most famous of which are IMG and CAA).
In the U.S., the businesses of these six components of the core sports industry are all interwoven, each wielding enormous influence over the other five. The first five are the absolute leads—indispensable—in the major deals of sports commerce, while sports marketing and agency companies are often seen as the "supporting cast" or facilitators the first five bring in, when needed, to help them market sport better.
Sports assets, you could say, are the soul and the "cash cow" of America's core sports industry. The source of all value in core sports commerce comes from the operations built around sports assets. They are the ultimate recipients of revenue in the value chain of American sports commerce; most of the payments and spending from sponsors, media, and fans ultimately end up in the pockets of these sports assets. And the three big paymasters of America's core sports industry are, respectively, media, fans, and brand sponsors.
The main sources of revenue for America's core sports industry are: event tickets, media rights, sports sponsorship, and sports-licensed-merchandise revenue.
Ten years ago (2014), the total revenue of America's core sports industry was $60.5 billion; by 2018 it reached over $600 billion, with the sports industry accounting for 3% of GDP—while China's was only $200 billion. Going by 2018 GDP, China's per-capita GDP was one-sixth of America's, but in sports-industry terms China's was only one-twelfth of America's, and China's population is more than four times America's. From this you can see just how developed America's sports industry is.
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Compared with America's, China's sports industry lags enormously across every revenue line: the NFL's 2022 revenue was about $18.6 billion (roughly 136.5 billion yuan), of which commercial sponsorship revenue reached $1.88 billion—both the total revenue and the sponsorship figure can be called the best in the world. The NBA broke $10 billion in total revenue in the 2021–2022 season, setting an NBA single-season revenue record; of that, basketball-related revenue reached $8.9 billion, likewise an all-time high.
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By contrast, the total revenue of the entire 2023 Chinese Super League season was 500 million yuan—not even a rounding error of America's.
The conclusion from the comparison above is obvious: China's major sports leagues, clubs, and event organizations lag enormously behind their American counterparts in ticket revenue, rights revenue, sponsorship revenue, and licensed-merchandise revenue.
03 The Side Effect of Sport-Education Separation: The More the Rat Race, the More You Must Be Yourself
Last year a kid in Shanghai went viral: admitted for undergrad to both Columbia and Dartmouth. Not because he got into the Ivies, but because of the "recipe" he chose.
- Many Chinese parents these days have a so-called Ivy-climbing, Oxbridge recipe: a 1550 SAT is the basic ticket in, but this kid didn't take it. He went off to film wild Yangtze alligators, and the 8K video he later shot topped the trending searches across the whole internet at the time.
- The Ivy-climbing recipe says: the kid should enter lots of competitions, and at least two of them must have national-level awards. But this kid entered none. Instead he chose to study Sanskrit (reportedly inspired by Ji Xianlin).
- The Ivy-climbing recipe says: eight APs is just the starting line. This kid took a token four, then went off to study a year of college philosophy outside school.
- The Ivy-climbing recipe says: at least two volunteering experiences, do lots of volunteering, show your good heart—so many Chinese parents run off to buy and stage it all. This kid's approach: get his hands dirty, do it for real, and pull it off as the team lead, wrangling more than 600 people and over a thousand jin of vegetables and grain.
In the end the so-called Ivy-climbing recipe didn't win; this kid's love, rising from within, won.
Fixing your eyes day in and day out on other people—I have to beat him—that's the rat race. But anyone who's been through starting a company knows: the more your eyes are fixed on others, the more you'll come to look like your competitors.
Fixing your eyes on yourself, a love that comes from the heart—only that can keep you from looking like everyone else, only that can finally set you apart from the crowd of competitors, only that can climb the Ivy, ride the "Bull" (Oxford), draw the "Sword" (Cambridge), only that lets love carry you through the long years.
On this point, too, sport benefits people greatly: real sports education uses movement of the body to change and elevate one's various "qualities." Outstanding elites are, first and foremost, masters who are skilled at commanding their own bodies—the quality of consciously setting a purpose, then, according to that purpose, directing and regulating one's own actions, overcoming all kinds of difficulties, and thereby achieving the purpose.
In sporting activity, the tempering of a person's willpower begins, first of all, with tempering their judgment of things, and setting clear, objective goals.
At the same time, sports training is also a process of battling fatigue, a process of contending physically and mentally against an opponent, a process that requires an investment of cost. Without good willpower, it's very hard to see it through to the end.
04 Competitive Sport Is So Utterly Captivating
The pandemic brought a lot of negative effects into many people's lives, but it also offered a chance for many to stop and take stock of their lives and choices.
A lot of people are the same: serious, diligent, focused—young people who were taught well. But we never focused on what we were actually trying to express. From an early age we were never taught to bring out our passion for something, to fuse ourselves with our passion for something, to pass that passion on.
Life isn't about going through the motions; it's about seeking meaning and creating value. We finish one exam, then it's the next exam; then we find a job, then switch to another, then jump again, then switch once more, round and round, and then life reaches its end.
People are pushed along by the inertia of school and work, yet always forget to carve out time to think about who they are, what they want to do, what they love. When the economy turns down, life's sudden upheavals come more and more often, leaving more and more people without anything to look forward to.
Losing something to look forward to is a terrifying thing, because it makes it dangerously easy to fall into the trap of having to justify your own meaning.
Of course, my intent is not to "goad" everyone into taking up sport.
It's to do what you love, with a tenacious attitude, holding a conviction that you'll win—to love what I love. Everything you persist in will surely earn you the joy of persistence, so long as you keep your original heart.
Take sport, for me: competitive sport represents human breakthrough, challenge, transcendence; it centers on the human being, and it inspires. Strength is measured in kilograms, speed reckoned in seconds. And courage? You can't measure courage.
All along, sport has, with its unique charm, moved countless people. Sport teaches people to battle valiantly, and to compete fairly; it teaches people to dare to be first, and to unite and cooperate; it teaches people to enjoy victory, and to accept defeat.
Sport is not merely about a strong body; more than that, it forges an enterprising spirit and a sound character.
World records are broken every year. Running 100 meters in under 10 seconds was long a barrier; 21st-century athletes shatter it with ease. The marathon was once thought a myth, but later became a common-folk sport that anyone can take part in with a little practice. Competitive sport gives us a rising, upward spirit—challenging the impossible, turning the impossible into the possible, endlessly surpassing ourselves, endlessly rewriting the record. The flourishing of competitive sport represents humanity's breakthrough of itself; it is humanity's precious activity of self-transcendence.
Competitive sport satisfies our curiosity, helps us explore the unknown, enjoy the process. It is like a love letter from life, releasing life force, teaching you love and loss.
When there's only one shot in front of you, win or lose, you know how precious it is—you want to sit on the throne of victory, you want to be king among the crowd—then out on this field you can show your will to win to your heart's content. But the victor is crowned king and the loser branded bandit; you have one shot, and only one. So you give it everything, paying a hundred, a thousand times over for that single chance.
You can't take your opponent lightly; you must understand him, respect him, even acknowledge him—yet you never submit to him, and only then can you defeat him. The moment you start slinging mud, it proves you're already powerless to contend; every complaint is a stone that beats you down.
You need a big heart—see the whole board, know when to advance and when to retreat. At the very bottom, have the confidence and courage to rise; at the summit, hold on to your composure and your level. In defeat, take the bet and take the loss; in success, stay unproud and unhurried.
You can never think about making up for it; a done deal must be set down at once, and all you can do is win the next match. You know how fleeting opportunity is, and you understand all the better the importance of fairness and justice; you grasp the ratio of what you put in to what you get back, and you can make peace all the more with every defeat; you understand that life inevitably has an element of luck, and you can all the better face an opponent stronger than yourself; you understand the meaning of life all the more, and you understand this world's good faith all the better.
In competitive sport, ability decides your ceiling, but strategy can sometimes raise your floor and your range of possibility. Competitive sport can, in the end, be mapped onto real life; similar choices are everywhere, likewise. Should the ordinary person pursue a sense of security, or go chase something that makes life shine a little—even if that glimmer is one only you yourself can see?
Here's to every rush of the blood! The charm of competitive sport is that it has a referee, and life doesn't.
05 Run Till Old, Run to the End of the World
Running is a joyful thing, and a singular experience too; it fuses two of humanity's primal impulses: fear and pleasure. Whether we're frightened or whether we're delighted, we run. It's both running to escape misfortune and running to chase after happiness.
Just like life: there's no such thing as smooth sailing—it's nothing more than a whole series of combinations of courage, wisdom, persistence, effort, chance, collapse, and luck.
When you first start running, what you feel is the bodily pleasure that dopamine brings. As you keep at it, setting a new PB and challenging yourself become a new joy. Once I felt the joy myself, I wanted more people to get that joy too. So I use my own strength to get people running together—which, for me, is yet another new joy.
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The appeal of running a marathon lies not in the race itself, but in the process of piling up mileage one step at a time in order to take part. It isn't about sweat and persistence, nor is it a fleeting rush of speed and passion; it's about gradually optimizing life on its existing foundation, enriching the layers of one's life without one's even noticing—a "heart"-led way of living! This is where the marathon's singular charm lies.
For the amateur marathon lover: to sign up is to be brave, to set off is to be a hero, to finish is to be a champion. Your result matters, of course, but more important than your result is how many people you moved to begin their own marathon journey of life: 3:30 is a barrier, 3:10 is a mountain, 3:00 is a dream.
When the New York Road Runners held the first marathon in 1970, only 127 people took part, and the course was just four laps around Central Park. Calling it the New York Marathon is a bit of false advertising; calling it the Central Park Marathon would be more accurate. And today, nearly 70,000 people from over 100 countries take part in the New York Marathon each year.
Every great thing in the world starts out small.
The marathon is a monotonous, dreary tug-of-war of every single minute and second, because there's no clear storyline; the process is a fragmented perception, and a runner may even forget the scenery they just passed. But of all the categories of sport, long-distance running is the only one that communicates with your own inner heart and body. Amid the plainness, it brims with legend and feeling.
The mileage I've piled up in the running app on my phone grows bit by bit, and I feel settled—I believe there's no success without effort. Many running friends love to say "you only understand once you've run it," and I, too, came to understand more deeply, through running, what running means to me. So long as you keep running, you'll discover that running can bring you enormous courage and strength. Only persistence and focus let you have the last laugh. So it is with running, and so it is with life: set only goals for yourself, never limits.
On the marathon course of life, the essence lies not in always having to surpass others, or in being surpassed by others; what matters is finding the path and pace that suit you best. This wisdom and magnanimity beyond the ordinary is both a way of cultivation and its good fruit.
Running made me realize I can get faster—do everything with a purpose. You hope the time and energy you put in earns some return. From half marathon to full marathon, from 3:10 to breaking 3:00, as an ordinary person, maybe we can't become champions, but we can, again and again, rewrite our own records, improve our own results, break through ourselves—and that sense of achievement is something money can't buy. In the instant you cross the line, I feel all the sweat and effort I put in before were more than worth it.
Running made me more focused—have you ever pounded out 100 laps of the track like a madman? Have you run for hours on end without touching your phone? When running becomes a habit of life as routine as eating and sleeping, you'll find yourself getting more and more able to focus, more and more able to endure the dull and the challenging goal, more and more patient in facing every difficulty. If I've got 42.195 kilometers under my feet, if I've measured out one city after another with my own two feet, then what is there that can't be handled?
Running taught me the importance of the team—a group running together goes faster than one running alone. In the sub-two project, if Kipchoge hadn't had his team, Old Joe most likely wouldn't have run that astonishing 2-hours-and-25-seconds mark; behind him were the whole logistics and tech team, and the pacers who fought alongside him. If you want to run faster, it's best to train with people around you at a comparable level or stronger, encouraging and spurring one another—it can make everyone stronger. Running looks like a solo sport, but behind it is a contest of teams; the group of people running with you are your comrades on the long march, brothers and sisters supporting and cheering one another on, the team that makes you better.
The marathon and leadership—competitive sport can be mapped onto real life; similar choices are everywhere, likewise. Should the ordinary person pursue a sense of security, or go chase something that makes life shine a little—even if that glimmer is one only you yourself can see?
The marathon cultivated my patience, my resilience, my courage. And over the years, my unwavering persistence in running and training has influenced a great many people around me—the way Kobe influenced a generation of NBA players.
Over the years, the marathon and Kobe have had an enormous influence on my self-knowledge and my emotional skills. Because I like it, enjoy it, love it, I found joy in it, and found confidence, and then formed a positive feedback loop.
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Do you know why more and more people love the marathon? Because this sport lets every ordinary person standing on the course shine—something hard to do in the real world. In a society where you have to give everything just to barely live an ordinary life, we badly need some affirmation; we need to conquer some difficulties to prove ourselves.
Yes, 42 kilometers is hard—but is it harder than life? The marathon is the one game where amateur runners can compete on the same stage as national-team athletes, even international-class masters.
Out on the marathon course, you are an athlete running your whole life long, a fighter who treats life as a race, pressing forward and letting go with grit and resolve, according to your own will and understanding. So-called throwing yourself forward with abandon is nothing more than this.
Into middle age, life may look stable and materially rich, but ask any middle-aged man how things are going and he'll pour out a whole mess of grievances. Maybe it's the anxiety of years of striving and a career hitting its ceiling, or the breakdown of being caught shuttling between wife and mother; or the frustration of wishing a teenage kid were made of tougher stuff, not to mention the self-reproach of wanting to honor aging parents but lacking the means…
Under the layered pressures of work, family, and life, the middle-aged man in the crevices is always tacitly assigned by society as the one who has to backstop everything, the one who's least entitled to have any emotions. Running lap after lap, panting, sweating—it looks like asking for trouble, but in fact it's one person walking alone, a prime chance to be with oneself.
Twenty percent of the world's doctors, when treating depression, use running as an adjunct therapy, like a medicine. Not just because running makes us secrete dopamine and feel happy, but also because it's a stretch of time entirely one's own, that can clear the mind. Whether making a business decision, or untangling an emotional knot, or cheering oneself on, every middle-aged person out on the track gains some measure of certainty and control.
Because in the darkest moments of life, the way to hold on has always been simple: don't spout grand talk, don't lose yourself in the virtual world—go love concrete people, do concrete things, live a concrete life.
06 "Your Own Freedom"
Is exercise a pursuit of joy? Not entirely. Exercise has developed into an activity, a need of life's meaning and of emotion, a need of the spirit; the pursuit of joy can become one of the spirit's needs, and it's not hard to understand why the athletic movement takes this as far as possible as the ultimate goal of athletic activity.
We used to say a lot: perseverance is victory. Actually, I don't much agree with that anymore. Many hobbies—sport, and running especially—tend to be understood as relatively monotonous and dreary, and we instinctively reach for a word like "perseverance." But how many people can make "perseverance is victory" come true? Once many sports have to stress perseverance, do they end in victory?
Perseverance doesn't necessarily bring victory; love does.
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When Bai Yansong interviewed Messi last year and asked about advice for kids, Messi said: the most important thing isn't any technique, any move you pull off—it's stepping onto the pitch, it's playing itself, enjoying this sport of football, enjoying the beautiful time of playing.
You'll find that in these top athletes, love is the most important trait of all. Love is the single most important driving force behind all good things.
Relying on perseverance and gritted teeth is hard; if you can't feel the joy of running, if it's not that the more you run the happier you get, if you're running for some utilitarian goal, then you're destined not to last.
In Kipchoge you see the role a powerful self-discipline plays—that's not perseverance, it's a price you're willing to pay out of love. People often say: the more disciplined, the more free.
Heidegger said this early on: what is freedom? Freedom is being able to do everything the law allows you to do—which in itself means freedom is inherently bounded. But sometimes we sell freedom short; we often ideologize it. Is there a larger freedom?
I think of a phrase: your own freedom. It may go beyond the freedom we currently understand. The reason Kipchoge places such special emphasis this time on the relationship between running and freedom, I think, is precisely that he powerfully felt "his own freedom"—a freedom of a larger scope.
We often analyze how exercise brings people joy, can lift depression, and so on. But I think, more at the core, it's that you feel a larger-scope spiritual freedom of self in dialogue with self.
Look at every great athlete and you'll find one important takeaway: they must have reached a higher plane on the level of thought, or on many levels. They beat others not by athletic ability; the plane they can reach is no longer about beating others—it's because they surpassed themselves.
07 A Closing Word
The result of competitive sport can't be known in advance. We don't watch a game for the sake of a result; we watch the process too, anticipating the future goal in every pass. What we watch is the process of the game, every brilliant physical contest, every violent clash, every exquisite pass and goal; as for the final win or loss, we can only wait naturally for the result. Before every big match, we can't foresee the result—and that's exactly where the charm of a sporting contest lies: it leaves you uncertainty, it's full of variables, it draws you to sit in front of the screen and watch every minute of the match to the end.
Exploring the unknown and waiting for the result are exciting enough in themselves. And life—isn't it just the same?
Movement is humanity's most basic potential, a shared potential; even the disabled have a heart that moves. It's an advantage a person holds over other things in the environment, and the more a person develops this most basic advantage, the more likely they are to grow strong. It is a primal impulse.
Many things in life can't be had without paying some price, but the price paid is part of the happiness—because you've enjoyed the enormous benefits running brings, you're willing to be disciplined, so you can run longer and run more comfortably.
The human being is a creature that seeks the profound; they must display the outward-reaching nature carved into the depths of their genes, in order to interact better with the energy of the outside world—and emotion is born for this. So, exercise is for enriching life, for pursuing life's richer meaning.