In the first article I published on this site, I shared my answer to the question, “Why Endurance?”
Elsewhere on this site, you’ll find encouragement to:
Remember Why You Started
Today, I want to share a story about another question you should consider:
Is My Approach Making My Life Better?
A Protocol For A Better Life
Because we are here on Endurance Essentials, it’s natural to think about “training approach” but the question applies in the widest possible sense (kids, spouse, family, work, clients and self).
How does our approach fit into our larger life?
Where is our approach likely to take us?
Recently, my approach took me to Sweden to race with my son.
When we feel like we are “losing,” or we are racked by anxiety, it is a sign we are playing someone else’s game.1
You might think…
How can I win if I’m not obsessed about winning?
How will I improve if I’m not obsessed about improvement?
Look Deeper
Winning => at what?
Improving => at what?
What works:
Defining “winning” as racing close to our ultimate potential.
Seeking improvement by making errors visible, then removing them.
Having a clear understanding of what we are not willing to do.
Setting limits for the time, and emotion, we commit to sport.
Continuing to make progress in the non-training aspects of our lives (work & family).
With a balanced approach, there is nearly always something going well.
Take the above, athletically… the question becomes:
Am I making progress towards my ultimate potential, given the larger goals in my life?
…and the game we play is showing ourselves the answer is “yes” as often as possible.
…this takes effort because setbacks are more salient.
Generating Evidence
The single best tool for generating evidence is a training log.
Each entry in our training logs:
Is a reminder we are doing what it takes.
Is a win.
In addition to my training log, I travel the world with a spiral bound notebook.
Inside my notebook:
Key workout data.
Notes from interviews with top athletes, and coaches.
Ideas for new workouts and videos.
Meeting notes from various experts and practitioners.
Pages that remind me, I’m doing what it takes to improve.
I've been generating evidence since the early 1990s. Back then, at the start of my career in finance, the habit of note taking was built on enhancing memory and making sure I remembered what I’d been taught.
There have been many notebooks over the years. I rarely look back, it is the act of noticing that I find useful.
Same deal with my training log. Each workout entry is a reminder that achieving my ultimate potential depends on thousands of small daily actions.
There’s Nothing At The Finish Line
Even if performance matters deeply, take time to notice the fleeting nature of victory.
What endures?
Fitness Benefits Health and Functional Capacity.
Keep this front and center with:
How you define success, and
How you set the boundaries for your relationship with “winning.”
When I paused my focus on athletic performance (for a decade), I lost the functional capacity to do many of my favorite things => a far greater loss than any setback I experienced racing.
The ability to enjoy big days, group training, events and adventure is a huge win.
The ability to share my “wins” with others is even better.
These benefit my life regardless of outcome.
Define your game in a way that lets you win regardless of outcome.
Back To Table of Contents
David Foster Wallace described The Default Setting in his commencement address at Kenyon College. Link to FS Blog’s transcript.
Thanks for the push to return to my training log/journal…onward