Boston Marathon director gives out medals that say, My next goal is to earn my own medal

Every time I give a speaking appearance, I asked who has not run in a race before but would like to someday. I then pick one person from the audience and give them a medal. The medal says “my next goal is to earn my own medal."  I then tell them when they run a race and get their own medal they have to mail this one back to me so I can someday give it to someone else. I have received hundreds of these medals back in the mail. The idea is that when they raise their hand and I give them the medal, it is a reminder of their “commitment” to pursue this goal and the medal actually encourages them and incentivizes them to actually do it. Of all the medals I have given away over the years, I probably have received 90% of them back, meaning that they actually did make the commitment and eventually participated in a race and received their own medal. Pretty cool. Just received another one in the mail yesterday!

posted Tuesday May 1st
by Dave McGillivray