About Motivation And A Bit Of Inspiration

Since the beginning of my blog a few years back, it has been my motivation to share and help others reach their own individual goals, through examples of what can be accomplished if you just manage to stay focused, all the while reaching my own and learning through the process.

I have pushed myself, physically and mentally, far beyond any limits I thought I had, I have worked through it all in ways I never thought I was capable of. And no, I have no intentions of stopping any time soon. The process has required a lot of digging down and pushing myself way beyond a perceived comfort zone.

What is motivation? The process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. In other words, how we do what we do.

From personal experience, I have defined fifteen ways to stay motivated. I'd like to share that with you...

1. Set a Goal. You have to know what you want, you have to know where you're going. Without this information, you cannot plot your course. As Lewis Carroll said: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

2. Make sure your goal is a SMART goal. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Specific). Much has been written about this, for a reason. This is a must. your goal must be as Specific as possible. "I will run a Half Marathon in December 2016". You have to be able to measure, not only your final accomplishment, but your progress along the way. Break down the goal in small bites you can wrap your arms around. "I will run a 5k by September 2016. I will run a 10k by October 2016. I will run a 15k by November 2016". Is this goal of yours something you can see yourself "really" Achieving? or this is this more of the "it sure would be nice if I could do this" type of thing? And along those lines, is what you're asking yourself to do, Realistic? Do you have the time required to train for such a goal? Can you run the miles needed to train your body to reach this goal? Would it be better for you to change the Time to a more realistic future time? I use the example of running a half marathon but this can be adapted to any and all goals. Always state your goal in a "I will" format.

3. This goal has to be YOUR OWN goal, and you have to have a clear and concise (brief but comprehensive) reason as to "why" you're doing this. While in the process of working towards your goal, you will need to remember your "why". This will help you push through those tough times when you need a little extra motivation. If you chose a goal because it's something that someone else has either convinced you to do, or something someone else expects you to do, it will not work.

4. Hang Around Friends with Similar Goals. Most people love encouragement. You will find this in large quantities if you hang around a circle of friends that share a similar vision and goals as you do. You will encourage each other, you will push each other through tough times and you will totally enjoy the journey together. Find a pal. Or two. Be warned, however... Your goals and that of your pals may change as you go along. You may find that your mission is now different than that of those around you. Don't be afraid to find new pals. I'm not telling you to dump the old ones, just telling you to adapt.

5. Follow Blogs that Relate to your Goals. The blogsphere is full of folks willing to share their experiences. If you need advise as to the process, there's plenty. If you need help with motivation, there's lots out there. Whatever you're looking for, there's someone out there writing about it. Better yet, start your own blog as my friend Alison did, "runningmama2016". A couple of others I would recommend are written by good friends as well... Scott's "Running, Rants and Randomness" and Alan's "Alan's Training Blog". You cannot help but get inspired and motivated by any or all of these three.

6. Follow a Plan. But be very flexible. An airplane leaving from New York en-route to Los Angeles does have a course heading that it follows, but on the average, said airplane will actually be off course 95% of its flight. The success of the flight hinges on the ability of the pilot and the airplane's computers to get back on course each and every time its deviates.

7. Keep Journals and Track Progress. What gets measured gets improved. If you don't keep track of how you're doing, you will not know how you're doing. Pretty simple but point is so missed by many. I love to write. What I post on my blog is less than 20% of what I write. I not only journal my training and racing progress (public), but I journal my mental progress as well (private). This has also been tremendously helpful in my professional life. I journal lots.

8. Take Compliments and used them for Inspiration. And learn to be complimentary as well. When someone, anyone, notices your progress and takes the time to mention it, be thankful. I have found one of my biggest motivators is to be very complimentary. But your compliments must be sincere. Don't compliment just to compliment and in hopes to get a compliment back. These are meaningless and soon they will lose all value. Compliments from the heart are priceless.

9. Accept that 90% of your success depends on your mindset. "If your mind can conceive it and your heart can believe it, then you can achieve it." No one succeeds by accident. You first have to believe; believe in yourself, believe in your mission, believe in your "why".

10. Feed your mind with Inspiration and Motivation Daily. Every motivational guru tells you this: "You are, or you will become, what goes into your mind." It doesn't take much. Again, change your habits. What do you listen to while in the car? I for one, listen to books on Audible. No, not all the time, but most of the time. I also have Sirius XM and refuse to listen to "talk radio" or "News Channels" or any station that has any kind of "commentary". 100% music, and as my grandson likes to say: "Papa has music from last century in his car" or "how come your music doesn't have any words?"

11. Remove all (or as much as possible) negativity from your world. Impossible! you say. This WILL require a lot of work and perseverance, but it IS possible. Identify those issues that seem to steer you down the wrong path. This includes negative people; they will suck the living daylight out of you.  I have very little tolerance for negativity. I have no use for it. I will give someone a very short leash. Very, very short. The pity train does not come through here. Brutal and Harsh? Maybe. But Oh so very effective.

13. Never Compare Your Goals to that of Others.Everyone is traveling a different journey. Sure, some of you may have similar goals as your peer, but everyone's path to success is different. One of the great motivation killers is to compare your progress to that of others. You have no idea where they are, where they've been or where they're going. Stay on point with your progress, encourage others to work on theirs and be inspired but not deflated by what others do, or don't do. My goals are not any bigger, any loftier or any more impressive than yours. My goals are mine for where I am. Yours are yours for where you are.

13. Tell Yourself every single day that "you got this". Once again and at the risk of being redundant and repetitive... You will not get what you want if you don't honestly believe you can. If in doubt, repeat after me: "I got this."

14. Work Hard Everyday. Do at least ONE thing that will get you closer to your goal. Wake up tomorrow and ask yourself: "What can I do today to get me ONE step closer to my goal?". A young man was asked to move a mountain from one location to another. Not overwhelmed by the size of the task he started moving rocks. Each day he moved just one. Slowly he began to see progress. The original mountain was becoming smaller, the new mountain was becoming bigger. Before he knew it, his task was complete. So, what can you do today to get you closer to your goal?

15. Never, Never, Never, EVER Give Up. Most of our goals are not reached because we quit. Often we quit right before we reach our goal. You never know how close you are.

Please realize that nothing you do, no steps you take, no plans or goals you aspire to achieve, will ever have a chance unless you first accept full responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens to you. There's no magic pill, no knight in shining armor. No one will come to your rescue. Only those that work hard will be rewarded. There are issues and challenges in everyone's life, and here's some more brutal honesty: There are excuses and there are results. Which one are you working on?

So, what do you do to keep yourself motivated and on track? Do you have any simple tricks that perhaps you'd like to share? Please leave them in the comments below.

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Endure Your Way To Success

I am often asked why I spend so much time training. Perhaps you are one of those that look at my various updates and wonder, wonder why. It is almost impossible for me to explain, but as the saying goes: "if you can't explain it, you don't understand it". I will try to explain.

Honestly, the reasons are many. But this is a vague response and not really an answer. So, I'd like to discuss at this time, why I do it. Why I get up at 4:00 am to exercise. Why I put my body and mind through the rigorous routine (although there's nothing routine about it) that is a marathon or Ironman training.

I do this simply put, because in this I find success. Such that in other arenas I may not be so apt to achieve.  While I may not gain the sort of victory as defined by others' idea of what it should look like, in my mind I find my own kind of triumph.

I started running some ten years ago and shortly thereafter I became a triathlete which brought me to the world of long distance, endurance events. I have completed 14 full marathons, an unimaginable number of half marathons, two 140.6 distance triathlons (one of which had a bonus 4 miles to boot), eight 70.3 distance triathlons and umpteen shorter distance events combined. Therefore I can say with certainty that swimming, cycling and running, does in fact yield a certain level of personal achievement.

Some folks may think or have been lead to believe that this is not reachable to them. They are wrong. Through the sport(s) I have met folks from all walks of life; doctors, lawyers, CEOs, CFOs, Bankers, Managers, Entrepreneurs, Parents, Preachers and Teachers, etc. The level of prosperity that these sports bring is not limited to profession or vocation. Its available for each and everyone, as long as they're willing to go work for it. It will not be handed to you, it will require effort, commitment, perseverance, grit and lots of determination.

This life style gives you purpose and meaning, some sort of happiness and contentment that goes far beyond financial and professional boundaries.

And more importantly, as endurance athletes, we bring this kind of success to our personal and professional life. Let me share with you some ways in which this can happen:

For the purpose of this post, I define an "Endurance Athlete" as a runner, cyclist, swimmer, duathlete or triathlete.

1). Endurance Athletes UNDERSTAND the importance of GOAL SETTING.  Nothing significant is ever achieved without first setting a goal. We set goals all the time. Our workouts are goal oriented; swim this far at this pace, ride this long at this speed, run this distance in this time, etc. Races are based on time goals.

2). Endurance Athletes MEASURE progress. We are obsessed with gadgets. Why? Because they measure stuff, mostly our performance and our progress.

3). Endurance Athletes VALUE time. Ever wonder why we show up to a race on time? Because we can't miss the gun. Some longer distance events have cut-off times. Can you imagine missing the cut-off because you showed up late? Yeah, me neither. I have been trying to turn several business associates of mine into runners, if for nothing else, but for this.

One second can shatter your dreams. One second. Imagine if you will, crossing the finish line at an Ironman distance and the clock reading 17:00:01

4). Endurance Athletes are highly DISCIPLINED. Training for a long distance event requires discipline. Some longer events require months upon months of consistency, sacrifice and effort. All of these hinge upon one characteristic; self-discipline.

5). Endurance Athletes know how to OVERCOME obstacles. Through the years, we have learned, sometimes the hard way, that we will have obstacles we must overcome; injuries and illness, fatigue ~ mental and physical, etc. Through the course of races, we will be faced with many obstacles, we must be and more often than not, are ready to overcome these in order to reach our goal.

6). Endurance Athletes are PATIENT. We value the process. We understand that in order to make things happen we must be patient. Training is a progression of hundreds of events all put together to take us to the finish line. There are no, nor can there be, any shortcuts. Patience is non-negotiable.

7). Endurance Athletes, for the most part, know that competing with others is NOT the most important thing. Competition is healthy and fun. But we must keep it in perspective. Competition cannot be the most important thing. We mostly compete with ourselves. We try to beat our "best" time. We understand that unhealthy competition can lead to jealousy and this can be disastrous for this will eventually divert our efforts and make us do what we otherwise know we shouldn't do. But please don't get me wrong, once the starting gun goes off, it's game time.

8). Endurance Athletes BUILD networks. Look around an endurance athlete and you will find a network of friends. We swim, ride and run together. For miles and hours at a time. Through this interaction, we build relationships, relationships necessary to achieve success.

9). Endurance Athletes know how to BUDGET. We know how to budget our time, our races and our finances. With so many options, we learn to make sure we get the biggest bang for our buck.

10). Endurance Athletes understand the power of LEVERAGE. We truly understand and learn to use the power of teamwork. Very few people can claim that the cross the finish line by themselves. Its almost impossible.

11). Endurance Athletes view failure DIFFERENTLY. We understand that failure is temporary and that in order to succeed, sometimes come up short, and we treat it as such. Of all the races I have done, getting close to 100 of them, I failed to finish once. Although I was devastated at the time, I learned plenty from this experience, lessons that would have gone to the wayside had this not happened to me.

In my professional life, I coach businesses in the art of leadership. I teach skills that relate to most, if not all of the above mentioned characteristics. I teach clients how to apply these to the workplace. Recently I was discussing with one of my clients his interviewing and hiring process and retention strategies, specifically for management positions.

I encouraged him (and this is what prompted me to write this post) to add to the qualification requirements of future candidates that of an "athlete", specifically if possible, an endurance athlete.

Can you imagine having someone in your team that already possesses all the above qualities? Yeah, how amazing would that be?

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About Progress

As an endurance athlete, we live in a world of repetition.  The laps, the miles, the saddle time.  It's all about doing it over and over again, in an effort to improve, above all, technique.

If successful in our efforts we get rewarded with improved time and/or increased efficiency.  All this is well and good.

A bigger reward, however, comes in the form of progress.  Visual, measurable, actual progress.  Something we can wrap our hands around.  Something we can take to the bank.

I don't know about anyone else but this is what keeps me coming back again and again.  Each step forward I take is a reward.  Each second taken off, each stroke taken off a lap.  Yes, this IS what keeps me coming back.

There are other, equally important WOW moments that make it all worthwhile.  Yesterday I had one of those.


While on a bike ride with our tri team, we approached a hill.  Not just a hill.  The mama of all hills.  Well, it looked like the mama of all hills.  As I approached it all I could think was "God, please give me the legs, and the heart, to make it to the top... alive."


To the experienced rider, this may not have looked like much.  To me it looked like the end of life.  But it was time to test myself, to test the progress, to test my training.

 

According to calculations, the vertical change was 208 feet.  The Horizontal Distance was .62 miles which made the grade a 6.35%.


I buckled down, got my mind set in the task ahead.  Shifted to the appropriate gears and asked for divine intervention.  Half way through the climb I remember thinking "WOW, simply WOW.  I was on my way and the top was within reach."


I had not been on this road before so I did not realize that I had to do it all over again.  The second climb was just as intense but not as long.  And I made it through without consequence.


The payoff is huge.  Progress is visible, measurable and real.  All the spin classes and the trainer miles during the winter months, along with the strength and conditioning is paying off.


Progress is a great thing.  This IS why I keep coming back.