When I look back at the last couple of posts, I have to laugh at how sporty I seem. All that Olympic athlete admiration and addiction makes me sound as if I’m a real sports junkie…or at least a fan.

Um…no.

Actually, I am the quintessential bookworm. My parents signed me up for soccer lessons when I was 6 to help me “get out of my shell” and I spent every match running away from the ball (it really hurts when it hits you!) I spontaneously forget the rules of the game during the rare times I am watching sporting events and I am irrationally intimidated by stores that sell running shoes and spandex and those wildly out-of-my-league carabeener thingys.

Nope. Not sporty at all…or am I?

I’ve been working on my fitness and have been running and doing other forms of cardiovascular torture…er…exercise every day. I run at home, on the treadmill, where no one can see me or notice the very un-sporty way I huff and puff and pretend to be athletic. But the other day, I boldly bought a new exercise shirt to wear in the privacy of my own home and y’know, it perked me up a bit and dare I say…kind of made me feel as if I wasn’t just “faking it until I made it” but that maybe, finally, possibly, inconceivably and yes, even deservedly, after hundreds of kilometres and gallons of sweat, that I was actually becoming a little sporty!

It made me think about career aspirations. If you have a goal or a dream, maybe it feels far away. Maybe you feel as if you’re masquerading and a huge fake. But I bet that you’re not. I bet you’re still defining yourself as you were but maybe all that work you’re doing towards your goal is actually helping you to become, without you even noticing it.

Comedian/actor Billy Crystal used to say: “it’s not how you feel but how you look…and you look mahvelous!” And not to encourage a shopping habit or consumerism, but maybe if you outfitted yourself with one of the tools or sartorial attributes of the job you aspire to, you might see yourself in a new light–as in, almost or already there.

Wearing my new shirt and squinting my eyes a little, I can imagine that Eloise, one of my favourite children’s characters might stand in front of me and say, “You look rawther sporty today.”

How about you? I bet you look mahvelous too.