After 5 months of training, taking two months off chocolate and along the way losing about 8kg, I completed my first Ironman race in Haikou, Hainan in South China. It was a blazing hot and windy day and almost 100 competitors did not finish.
It was very tough mentally but the feeling of crossing the line was great, and made even better with my wife and two brothers cheering me on.
After such a peak race, I will happily return to middle distance Olympic races and look for new challenges to fill the 20 hours a week I spent on training.
I once read a book on becoming a CEO and one tip was, “Do something hard and lonely”. Well pounding through the long course of 3.8 km swim, 180km bike and 42km run is an experience that really tests your character and determination.
Rather than a lonely experience I found it a connecting and enriching one. I read this quote yesterday that sums it up, “Loneliness is the poverty of self. Solitude is the richness of self.” - May Sarton
Swim:
Bike:
Run:
A big obstacle that holds many people back is a belief that certain skills or talents are inherited and cannot be learned. For example, many people say that they are not a natural sales person or public speaker. But, in reality, these are skill sets that can be learned.
Other talents might be harder to acquire. Can charisma be taught? How can you coach resilience?
While training for an Ironman triathlon race, I have realised that some of these less tangible skills or states of mind can be learned. Mental toughness is one area that I have improved as a result of training consistently for five months, watching diet and curtailing social occasions. When I was in Hainan over February I realised that another factor - the environment - was a new challenge. Extremely hot weather with strong wind blasts were not in my mind when I was in the gym in January. But each challenge becomes another checklist of ways to work through and around the challenge.
Over the next few blogs I am going to share what I have learned in the preparation for the Ironman. Lesson number one is if you want to build mental toughness, do something challenging that seems almost impossible to acheive.
A large challenge that makes you ask yourself, “Can I really do this?” or “This is a massive challenge” is about right. Today I am sitting in Hainan with 30 days until the race and training in the heat and I am still asking myself this question. A good challenge is one where you need to be on your game right up until the final minute.
What do you do when someone does something to annoy you? Often it will be your reaction to their “annoyance” that will cause more conflict that the original “offense”.
If you are irritated by the environment or people around you, or react in a negative way (anger, frustration), try this simple technique: Full Force Five.
Before reacting to the situation, take a pen and quickly write down five things that are currently great about this situation. No matter how trivial the five things may seem, write them down.
Read through your list of five and then go back to the situation. You should feel a little more positive about it now. By inserting this “space” or “pause” before you allow yourself to response will help you stay more positive - and more importantly avoid taking on the negative energy that drains through your body every time you get irritated, frustrated and annoyed.
Today’s word to explore is kaizen which is a Japanese word meaning continuous improvement. Originally the concept for kaizen came from an American - Dr Edward Deming who visited Japan in 1950 and helped instill quality control among many of the countries top management. His contributions acted as a catalyst to the quality control philosophy in Japan and the results speak for themselves. Today, The Deming Prize is still presented to companies that demonstrate high levels of quality control.
Further links:
Explore kaizen on Wiki
The Deming Prize
One of my core beliefs is that our purpose in life is to be abundant. To share our unique talents with the world. So many of my friends are people who are :
1. Really cool people
2. Massively overachieving in sharing their talents with the world
Dan Smith fits the bill on both these counts, and you won’t find a nicer “bloke” (Dan is from Australia!). Since moving to Shanghai he has expanded the nascent NLP “industry” through ChinaNLP, his ability to get on well with people and his willingness to share his passion and knowledge with others.
Learn more about his many and diverse projects (Dan still runs a men’s tailoring company in Australia) at his web site here.
Authentic. It’s the ingredient that all top leaders and speakers have. How comfortable are you with the identity you project to others? Do you know what identity you are projecting?
Get comfortable with yourself. Are you dressing the way you want? Are you in the right career? Are you living in the right city for you? If not, what can you do to become more authentically you. Experiment with small changes. Notice how others relate to you differently. Have fun exploring and expressing who you really are.
Tolerance. Isn’t this an essential fabric in binding human relationships? Why do you see less and less in today’s world?
Turn off your mind. Turn down your desires. Bring up your surrounding environment. Notice what’s going on around you. If you can do this, you are on the road to discovering tolerance. Pause your life. Tune into someone else’s in a curious way. Try to understand what they really care about. Accept it.
Are you in tune with the buzz of the times? Clean energy. Sustainability. Water security and purity.
How is your life in balance? Where are you toxic? How can you reduce your dependence on chemicals in your food, water, pharmaceuticals?
Change yourself. Then change the world.
Have you ever been stuck in a rut in a relationship where you both find it increasingly more and more frustrating to communicate and talk to each other? It may be time to chanage. Observe the lightness and joy of how a young child communicates. How can you bring this into your communication style? Sing a song. Make someone laugh. Do something silly.
How much do you value “certainty” and “truth”? Does it get in the way of your development? Have you ever been so right about something that nothing will change your mind or alter your position? But doesn’t that stunt your development?
Take a deeply held belief you have and flip it 180 degrees. Take the opposite belief. Hold it as your own. Are there any merits? Any possibilities? Could it be possible that your position or belief could be improved upon. Keep improving. Create high standards.
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