"Do you think that Thomas might like to do this," my wife asked.  She was holding up a flyer from an organization called Ironkids.   

The "Thomas" she was speaking of is our 6-year old son.  For reasons that probably have to do with his age, this has been the year of Thomas.  He learned to ride a bike.  He started taking karate.  He joined the elementary school chess club.  His soccer team started playing on a bigger field.  He started choosing which shirts go with which pants.  In short, he was becoming a Renaissance man.

I looked at the flyer filled with pictures of young athletes swimming, biking, running and smiling.  Little girls were hugging each other and holding up medals for the photographers and little boys were high fiving their Dads.  Would Thomas be interested? 

"Who cares," I thought.  "I'm interested!" 

Besides, the timing seemed right to add "triathlete" to his curriculum vitae so I said, "Sure, sign him up."

We had one week to get Thomas ready to compete.  At his level (ages 6-8) the event begins with a 50-meter swim and then transitions to a two-mile bike ride and then a 500-yard run.  Not particularly grueling, but once Thomas got in line at the pool he would be completely on his own until he broke through the finish line.  Mom and Dad couldn't pull him from the pool or help him find his bike.  His big brother wouldn't be there to point him in the right direction or to tell him how many laps were left in the biking section.  Kind of scary.

Not necessarily for him, but for us.

We toyed with the idea of getting Thomas a new bike.  The training wheels had come off his Spider Man bike in the Spring and the seat had been raised as high as it would go.  The hand brake didn't work and the bike had only one gear.  In the end, we decided that he didn't have time to get used to a new bike.

One of our stops was the local swimming club to buy a competition swim suit that fit tightly and would serve triple duty.  Being not much of a swimmer didn't seem to worry Thomas that much. 

"I think I can win Dad," he said without the slightest hint of presumption.

"Let's focus on doing well the first time out," I recommended sagely.

"Okay, but I still think I can win," Thomas decided.

My wife thought we should focus on making sure he didn't drown.  Luckily, that was not shared with Thomas.

The swim was the first event.  Each kid stepped forward to the starter who confirmed his number (written on both arms) and then activated the timing chip and without any other ceremony simply said, "Go!"

And, go they did with a kid jumping into the pool every three seconds.  More than 1300 kids in all.  From 6-year old Juniors to 15-year old Seniors they swam and biked and ran their respective distances with various degrees of grace and speed. 

Thomas finished in twenty one minutes and one second.  Right in the middle of the pack among thirty-seven six-year old boys.  Since the event was chip-timed there was no way for kids to know how they placed.  Remarkably, I heard at least four boys tell their parents they did very well and probably placed "either first or second".  Thomas felt the same way - telling us what a good race he ran and that he beat all or almost all of the kids.  We, of course, were ridiculously proud and told him repeatedly.

Later, I was thinking about the entire experience and I wondered about our pride.  What was it, exactly, that we were proud of?  Was it that Thomas had finished the race?  Not really.  Thomas is an active kid with plenty of energy and there is no reason to think that he can't exercise for twenty-one minutes - especially with a break after the swim to put on his shirt, shoes and helmet before riding his bike.  So, finishing wasn't the cause of our pride.

Was it his performance?  I don't think so.  After all, he finished seventeenth out of thirty-seven.  Not bad but not great in relative terms.

Similarly, I was able to eliminate "effort" and "determination".  Ultimately, this is what I came up with:

We're excited about what the Ironkids event means about Thomas:

1)  He agreed to try something that he had never done. 
2)  He knew that swimming wasn't his strongest skill but he entered into an event that required him to swim as fast as he can. 
3)  Thomas achieved his time on his own as no one coached him during the event.

All of this adds up to the reason for our pride:  Thomas is demonstrably motivated to achieve goals. 

Pretty exciting to us because we believe there is no other human trait that will take one further or upon which one can rely to become successful. 

The Ironkids experience clarified something for me about building sales teams, as well.  Only those who can demonstrate that they are motivated to achieve goals should be a part of your high-performing team.  Always ask about a candidate's successes and never settle for those who aren't motivated by achievement.