WEEK 143: ACLIMATE

Most people never run enough on their first wind to find out they have a second.    William James

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): Going to keep this short and sweet as I have just returned from traveling with two little kids across the country. 

As you know I have been running consistently for the past month and half and have found many parallels from running to achieving success. 

This past week I had the pleasure of running at home in Colorado and wow, what a difference elevation makes.

It took some time to acclimate to the altitude, but I felt like I was running on top of the world by the end of the week.

Now, I mentioned on Facebook I found THREE insights between running and achieving success.

So being late and all, no time for any other shenanigans tonight.

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1. Focus on your LEAD indicators

Could write a whole post on this but achieving your goals can be broken down into two parts. One being the result or target you are trying to achieve, ie your Lag indicators and two, the processes or actions which will help you achieve them, ie your Lead indicators. 

In terms of running the Lag indicator is the end distance I wanted to run (5 miles in my case), where as the Lead indicators are reaching the next telephone pole which were placed along the road I ran on.

Focusing solely on the end result, finishing 5 miles, while my lungs were burning at mile one is recipe for disaster. That is why you focus on the reaching the next telephone pole, then the next, and so on until you finish. 

2. Success is built on Success

Back in China I was consistently running 5-6 miles every other day (at sea level), so naturally I came home to Colorado and thought I could do the same. 

Answer.

No (elevation is no joke).

I took my first run earlier in the week and thought I could easily do 4 miles. Well, I ran 2 that first day.

I was disappointed, but used the first run as a learning experience to get used to the altitude and temperature (nearly 10 degrees C cooler than in China).

The next day, I ran 3 miles and did not feel as fatigued. A definite success from the previous day. 

Naturally, I felt fully confident I could hit the 4 mile mark the next day, and that is what I did the next day. Another success from the previous day.

This lead me to eventually running a 5 mile circuit by the end of the week (actually did it twice).

Moral of the story, success begets success. Build upon small success and let them help you achieve higher levels of success. 

3. The Paradigm of FLOW

Now think of this like a river. Flow is when you naturally "flow" with the current and do not struggle or fight where the water takes you.

Where as, the opposite of flow would be you fighting with force trying to get up stream...constant struggle and pain.

Often times you make success way harder than it is. You make it too complex and subconsciously bring about situations which bring about more struggle and pain (as that is what you are used to).

Back to the running example. Now often times you will here someone say a run was hard. 

But...what does that mean? 

Was every stride they took painful? 

I doubt it (unless they had a broken leg).

In the grand scheme of things, there will be definite parts of a run which will be difficult, but they will be a fraction of the whole.

This is what the "Paradigm of Flow" is. 

There will be moments (fraction of whole) of struggle and pain, but the overall process is easy (unless you make it otherwise).

So you want to achieve success take these THREE insights to help you do just that...ACHIEVE!

See you on the other side...J

Top three activities that move me forward?

1. Practicing living in the Paradigm of Flow. 

2. Sticking to my rules...no matter what. 

3. Being present. Not reliving yesterday and plotting all the different variations of tomorrow. 

Biggest lessons/learnings and corrections?

Your brain has over 20 million thoughts per second and you only see about 20 of them, so set you filters with proper expectations. 

Otherwise you will constantly see what you expect. 

What are you grateful for?

Having Meggo as my wife. She is perfect for me in so many ways. Nothing else to say other than that!

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PLANNING (Implementation Intention):  You will follow through 2X to 3X more likely to complete your weekly task than you normally would just by filling in the following statement.

I plan to complete the weekly task [day] at [time] in [location]. 

A reminder you might have to use multiple Implementation Intentions in order to follow through.

EXECUTION (strategies used):  From week to week, I use a combination of many strategies. There are always some which are used more than others depending on what comes up, but I wanted to offer a link to all them at once. 

My advice is to identify the I CAN'T statement you tell yourself during the most. Then find a strategy below the statement which resonates with you, and then start using it. 

Enjoy!

STRATEGY LIST