the honorable Doc G sent methis and to quote him…

am in bed. it’s -1c outside and this has motivated me to go ride.

Do you agree?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Shelley Taylor Smith 2: Attitude Is Everything

Six weeks ago on Feel For The Water we featured a special guest post by Shelley Taylor Smith. The post was so well received that we’ve twisted Shelley’s arm and got her back for part two – an inspirational story from her swimming career which you can read below.

An interesting fact when you read this: Shelley swam the 90km from Sydney to Wollongong at an average of 88 strokes per minute. Those of you benefiting from training with a Wetronome will know that’s an amazingly high rate to hold for 12 hours!

Shelley is an open water swimming legend – a 7 time World Champion and 5 time winner of the mighty 48km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. Known for her mental toughness and fearsome competitiveness, she’s an inspirational figure to many people around the world. See why below!

(You can read Shelley’s first post on Feel For The Water here.)

Swim Smooth!

On January 17, 1995, I hit the wall 8hrs into my solo swim from Sydney to Wollongong (I know what you’re thinking… what were you thinking Shelley?) Little did I know that I had 4hrs 30mins of swimming remaining!

The water had dropped from 21C to 12C. Imagine if you can swimming at the front of the shark proof cage with the ocean water dumping on top of my head every 5 seconds much like a bucket of cold water dumped on you in the shower. I had this humungus (Aussie for huge) throbbing headache. Sharks had been circling. My fingers and toes were bruised and fractured from being picked by the velocity of the waves hitting the front and back of the cage.

I wanted out… normal behaviour I thought. I was stamping my feet like a child spitting the dummy as I repeated to my coach “I want a hot chocolate” “I want a hot shower!” “I want… I want” “I want out!”

Then came the most honest of all statements… “I have nothing to prove!”

My coach ‘Grub’ turned to me noticing my lips had turned blue and my back was shades of purple from the wind exposure; put two fingers up and said “How many fingers?”

I flashed back to Lac St Jean in Roberval, Quebec, Canada at the 1992 Pan Pacs 25km event when Grub asked that same question and I cannot remember my answer as I passed out unconscious from hypothermia and Grub saved me.

My moment of truth had come… way out there at sea thinking… hmmm if I say three… I can get out of this quick smart! I took the longest time contemplating should I or shouldn’t I. I replied “two” and Grub told me abruptly “put your head down and get going NOW!” I said “no!” to which Grub replied “Give me 20mins.”

I put my head down and said to myself:
“If you don’t quit… you will make it!”
“If you don’t quit… you will make it!”
“If you don’t quit… you will make it!”

These 8 words are all I said over and over and over to myself in the 90km solo swim to Wollongong. 20 minutes turn to 40 minutes then 60 minutes and a pod of dolphins appeared out of no where which cheered me up. All of a sudden my stroke returned to normal and the water appeared to warm up.

Your attitude determines how well you will succeed when faced with a challenge. We did succeed that day when we made it to Wollongong Harbour in 12 hours 28 mins and 30 secs.

Would you like to be able to instantly acquire a winner’s attitude?

Now is your time to discover how to control the one thing that means more to your accomplishments and happiness than anything else… Your Attitude!

Here is a simple positive Champion habit that will change your attitude in seconds:

1. Choose or create a positive mental attitude trigger phrase and repeat it aloud many times each day. A habit trigger is an event, action, or thought that helps to reinforce your positive habits.

Your trigger phrases will help you to maintain a positive mental attitude. Choose or make up a positive phrase, such as:

“I know I can do it.”
“I can overcome any obstacle.”
“I am reaching my success goals every day.”
“I am getting stronger and stronger every day.”
“Every day I am getting closer and closer to my goals in life.”
“If I believe it… I can achieve it.”
“Every day, my mental attitude is becoming more positive.”
“I am achieving my goal weight every day.”
“I am getting closer and closer to my goal of a trim and fit body.”

2. Write down your trigger phrase on Post-it notes. Place them on the mirror of your car, on your bathroom mirror, carry the note in your pocket. Or as I did, place on the sun visor of the car, so when I needed an attitude check up, I’d flick the sun visor down and instantly know where I was going and how to get there!

3. Repeat the phrase many times every day, remember to say it with emotion, believe it with all your heart. Make it a habit to repeat this phrase at least 30 times a day. Start your day with it.

4. The more you repeat your trigger phrases, the greater their effect will be on your attitude. Whenever a negative thought enters your mind, replace it with your positive-attitude trigger phrase.

You will now be building success-oriented positive thought patterns. This Champion habit will help you achieve a positive mental winner’s attitude automatically.

Remember, attitude is everything!
And… if you don’t quit… you will make it!

Cheers, Shelley Taylor-Smith

Personally…. that is the best way I can think of to start the week.

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1. Don’t buy into the corporate rubbish.
2. You can live without your cellphone, twitter and facebook.
3. Continue to study. Fill your RSS with relevant stuff, read books. Kids are so smart these days, how we us over 30′s supposed to keep up!
4. Free your mind, and your ass will follow.
5. Be in the moment. Close your eyes and appreciate the amazing ecosystem going on inside your body.
6. Be stupid sometimes. People will let you in on their secrets if you`re not intimidating.
7. Avoid franchises. Champion the small guy.
8. Pamper yourself daily. Even you, dudes.
9. You are what you eat….
10. Do NOT be that guy…. you know which one I`m talking about.

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Expertise is a matter of perspective. It cannot be based in years. It cannot be based on experience.

It can only be based on perception.

To the second grader at school, the third grader is an expert
Simply because the kid in the third grade knows more stuff than the second grade kid knows. Having said that, the third grader might not feel like such an expert and consider the second grader to be smarter than he is.

In this very case, the second grader thinks the third grader is an expert. And the third grader thinks the second grader is an expert. So when you ask: Is Bruce Whatisname a marketing expert, then you’re actually asking the right question. Because the question is one of perception. Do you think Bruce is an expert?

If so, then he is. The results don’t matter, because no matter how much expertise Bruce may bring to the table, it doesn’t matter if you don’t implement those very same tactics and strategy to bring you income. However, does that make Bruce less of an expert in your eyes?

And then there’s Bruce’s perspective
Does he think he’s an expert? Perspective comes into play again here. Comparing himself with say someone whom Bruce considers an expert, he may not consider himself an expert. Bruce may consider himself an expert in a specific topic. And that’s why you need to get down to niches.

Niches create the perception of expertise
It’s why brain surgeons earn more than general practitioners in the medical trade. The GP can save your life just as a brain surgeon can. But the factor of niche causes you to place a higher value on the brain surgeon. A higher level of expertise. But is the GP not more of an expert? I mean she can sort out your cold, cough, dysentery, malaria, diphtheria etc. So shouldn’t she earn more?

You don’t think so, do ya?

Because it’s your perception. Nothing else.

Expertise is just a matter of perception. Not one of reality. Any kid in the third grade at school knows that

original post

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Welcome back. In Part 1 we discussed training basics for the bike, the area where most people get it wrong. Read that but remember that the values in that post are based on the following assumptions:

1. Your long ride is done at Ironman intensity or just below. That is roughly around your AeT.
2. You are willing to learn to eat a bit more in training.

Today I want to talk about energy pacing (and helping general pacing) for Ironman South Africa specifically. Its a specific course and can be broken up nicely into 3 laps. Here is my general guideline for each of the 3 laps in Port Elizabeth.

Lap 1

For the first 20min you should drink or eat NOTHING in PE. Your stomach will be all messed up from the swim, having gone from a horizontal plane to a vertical one. It takes about that long for your stomach to re-adjust to the new squashed position on the TT bike.

At 20min, have your first nutrition. I generally chomp a Whaspgelgel and a sip of juice (Whasp AminoCarb). You should be pedalling easy up the drag towards Mount Pleasant (stupid name) and focussing on getting nutrition in and your pacing right. If you didn’t attend the pro race briefing, this is not the time to be pushing, no matter HOW good you feel. I don’t care.

Gastric problems are a leading cause of poor performances and DNFs (did not finish) in Ironman-distance races. If your stomach “shuts down” during the race then you very likely went out too fast, or did something stupid like change your practised nutrition on raceday. Do NOT eat anything you are allergic, intolerant to or haven’t done long rides with before.

At 40min, I have another gel, and a bit chug of juice.

At 60min, I have another gel, and finish the bottle of juice. You should be near the coast or approaching it by now, and having gotten in the right fuel, at the right pace, will set you up for a successful day.

After 60min I go through a Whaspgel every 30min and a bottle of the AminoCarb every hour. I do this until the end of the ride. At the end of each lap, I chomp a energy bar.

In terms of energy pacing, the laps work as follows:

Lap 1 – hold back and eat eat eat. Fuel up for the day ahead.

Lap 2 – steady on the money. By now you should be settled, and ready to be wise and mindful about your surroundings (could be the caffeine in these awesome Whaspgels). Work the coastal road and stick to the PLAN.

Lap 3 – at roughly 120km, almost everyone heads through a bad patch. Its called overpacing the first lap. If you are feeling good, don’t push, it`ll go away eventually. We all kak at some point during the day. If you have paced well, on Lap 3 you will be catching guys and passing them, feeling steady and eager to run. do NOT forget to eat and drink on lap 3, as it will be warmer by now. Some water over your body at the last aid station will cool you down and clear some of the salt off for the run.

On the coastal road to town, make sure you spin a slightly lighter gear to keep the legs supple for the run. Enjoy the last turn and salute the crowds, you have just cycled 180km with an even pacing and nutrition strategy, so you should be ready for the run, which we`ll discuss in part 3.

Tips:

1. I take a handful of vitamins at 120km into the ride.
2. Write a nutrition schedule and stick it to your toptube. We get dumb on raceday.
3. Don’t try anything new on raceday.
4. Remember to ride easy to start, no matter how good you feel.
5. Douse yourself with water if its hot, don’t drink twice as much.

That’s it for today kids. Happy training.

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Swim 3.8km

Bike 180km

Run 42.2km

Brag for the rest of your life….

That kid had no excuse.

Whats yours?

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1. AC talks about the right effort…. wise man.

2. Leo talks about how to focus on what really matters. Nice one…

3. Nic raps about how SA is the place to be, according to some university….

4. Here is a brand new rule for you…

5. Sue is excited about this… are you?

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Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

I am aiming to be able to write posts like this, but in the meantime, Leo does the best job possible of it. The topic suits many people around this time of the year and I hope you take the best from it, to possibly change your lives for the better, more passionate size of you.

So you’ve followed the Short But Powerful Guide to Finding Your Passion, and have chosen something you’re passionate about.

Now you need to make it a career — but are perhaps a bit lost.

I have to admit I was there, only a few years ago, and three years later I’ve successfully done it, even if I’m a bit battered from the attempt.

It’s not easy — I’ll tell you that up front. If you hope to make a quick buck, or a fast million, you’ll need to find another guide. Probably one with lots of flashing ads in the sidebar.

So you have your passion picked out? Here’s how to turn it into a living.

1. Learn. Read up on it, from blogs to magazine articles online to books to ebooks. Look for the free stuff first. Don’t use this as an excuse to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars. Most of the important stuff is available for free. Find a mentor, talk to others doing it, ask questions. Go on forums and ask questions there — from experienced people. Find others who are doing it well and study them closely.

2. Do. Do not put this step off for months and months while you learn. You’ll learn most by doing. Start doing it for free. Do it for friends, family. Find clients who’ll pay a small amount. Start a blog and write about it. Put it online and let others try your products or service. As soon as possible, go public — you’ll learn the most this way. Continue to do step one as you’re doing this step.

3. Get amazing at it. This is just more doing and learning. Read this post for more.

4. Start charging. As soon as you can do it well enough to charge, do so. You can start low — the main thing is to keep getting experience, and to get clients who can recommend you to others. You want to work hard to knock their socks off. Slowly raise your rates as your skills improve.

5. Keep improving. Never stop learning, getting better. Use client or reader feedback to help.

6. Build income streams. This is where the money starts coming in. You can start this step at any time — don’t wait until you’ve done all the other steps. Build as many income streams as you can, one at a time. Some examples:

* Regular consulting gigs.
* Freelance jobs.
* Ads or affiliate income from a blog or website.
* Ebooks teaching people how to do something you know how to do.
* A membership website that charges a small monthly fee (say, $9 or $20 a month) that will help others learn something you can teach them. This could include a forum, articles, videos, live webinars, other resources.
* An online course, similar to the membership site, but not requiring you to do live stuff or have a forum. Course could include ebooks, workbooks, videos, audio, online articles, other tools.
* Software or other downloadable products.
* Merchandise such as T-shirts, books, coffee mugs, etc.

There are, of course, many other types of services and products you can offer. Each income stream might only bring in a portion of what you need to survive, but if you continually build more income streams, you can eventually live off your passion. Congratulations.

Equipment and office? For most passions, you can probably do it from your home with minimal equipment (often just a computer). Avoid having to pay for office space or having any overhead that will make it difficult to start up or put you in debt. Start small, expand only as your income expands. Buy as little equipment as you can get away with at first.

Quit your job? If you can possibly afford it, yes. This might mean living on savings for a few months, or living off your spouse’s income, and cutting back on expenses. If this isn’t a possibility, make time to pursue your passion — before work, after work, on weekends.

Work for a company? If you get good at something, you’ll be in demand. You can then work for a company if you like. I recommend you try doing it on your own unless you need equipment you can’t afford or get an offer you can’t refuse.

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I write this from Durban, where I am doing some key meetings and having a bit of R&R from Triple Challenge, which happened on Saturday. A while back the Housemate offered some voyager miles as a birthday gift, and I couldn’t resist.

I had no idea what I was in for, and didn’t have a mountain bike at that point. But committed I was.

I have diligently been going about eating right, training smart and after a hectique week I was without much hope of a personal best race performance.

I went twice in the week to see Line Griffiths (more on her later) who applied healing hands on my tired legs after 4 weeks of hammering away at the best block of ME work I had ever done. We flew in on Saturday and saw Max at the race. People were all so grateful that 2 capetonians had made the trip to come race here in KZN.

Race morning started at 3am.

Yes…. 3am.

We were racking bikes by 4:30 and at the start to watch Dan Hugo and the paddlers go off. He smoked his race, by the way, 4th year in a row. The boy is looking lean, mean and certainly proved it again on Sunday where it mattered – out on the course.

Anyhow, back to my race. I took off conservatively and placed a heart rate cap on the first, 20.5km trail run. I didn’t want to be hurting too much later in the day, and wanted to be able to focus in the technical stuff on the bike, this being my 4th mountain bike ride ever.

Some guys took off up the long drag but I stuck to my guns and let them go, keeping my HR in check and actually letting it drop a little before the start of the bike. I handed car keys to my aunt and headed off on the bike after an almighty long transition.

With some cramps. Running trail is something I have not done in a while and my muscles thanked me with some cramps in my calves early in the bike. I was however, flying low. I was onto the bike 6th, and was in 3rd by about 6km. I was in 2nd by about 10km. By 20km I took the lead.

I have to add that I have never ever taken the lead in any race, on the bike. traditionally my weakest link, today it proved to be my weapon. I had to get off twice to stretch the cramps, but maintained the lead.

My skills on the day were being boosted by having a prototype Morewood Zula in my arsenal. The bike was phenomenal. Unreal and kudos to Morewood for helping me out.

My navigation skills, however, were terrible and I misread one of the buntings and went off in the wrong direction, having to ride another big hill and losing 5 minutes in the process. Panic stations and I belted down the hill at around 70km/h jumping over rocks and risking life and limb. I fell twice but got up and kept pedaling as hard as I could.

I got to T2 and was shouting for my aunt, as she had my shoes.

Silence.

She was not there, and neither were my shoes. My tummy dropped. My heart sank. I started asking spectators for shoes to loan. Minutes went by. Finally a guy offered his size 13 shoes to me, and I took them without thinking about it for a second. I took off, mickey mouse feet and all, being a size 10. It hurt and blisters were almost instantly there. I cramped again. Stopped, had to stretch no less than 4 times.

When I came out the bush to see the finish it was a huge relief. I had 2min after all that. It must have been super close, as I saw Bertus about 30sec behind me onto the run.

It was truly an amazing event and I will without a doubt, be back to race, and defend my title, in years to come.

An emotional race, but a very satisfactory result.

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So today I am supposed to have woken up knowing all the secrets to life.

Supposed it a big word, bru.

If anything the last week has taught me that no matter how solid you think you have things, they can change in an instant, even though the signs of that instant have been there for ages. I read somewhere that there is never any situation where you could be 100% sure of the outcome. An act of God could be anything, no matter how random you think it could be.

I have lived in a few places, travelled many more. I have so many people I can call friends that I could never get to all of them to give them the attention I would like to give them. Fortunately/unfortunately I am also private by nature and this has led to seasons of misunderstanding in my life. Will I ever be the guy who shouts it from the rooftops?

Doubt it.

Urban Ninja is a persona which suits me, Raoul de Jongh, to the endmost degree. I am the guy who operates in the dark and I go unseen, even if my work is visible. I am shy, I am creative and I am the storyteller. I would never change that to suit societies demands.

So here is a short list of the irreplaceable lessons I have learnt so far. I hope you can use some of them in your journey to here, or past here. Remember that nobody can tell you what to do, or who to be. They might experience a high five in the face from me if they do.

1. Do it now, and ask for forgiveness later. The process of getting permission takes alot longer.
2. Buy new socks and underpants more often than you think.
3. You can never carry “too much” food on the bike at Ironman.
4. The bottom line is the finish line. Stop talking game before that. Show us your game.
5. There will be casualties along the way.
6. Stop, take a moment to breathe, every single day. I neglected this for a while recently (big lesson).
7. Love like you don’t know how. Its not something you should be thinking about. Don’t change your love because if its real and yours and 100% then it should always be good enough.
8. The years get shorter, EVERY year.
9. Your mother is generally always right.
10. Apply the 80/20 rule to your life, and everything you do.
11. The best pie in the world is out there. Its only served at 4am in a dodgy Engen. It is accompanied by a Milo shake.
12. Faster IS faster.
13. You are allowed to feel like a dinkum right idiot in front of your dad. He will still love you.
14. Smile.
15. Smile again.
16. Quiet time is vital for the success of any relationship. Even with yourself.
17. Get out there and push your limits. They are only in your mind.
18. Get rid of your material clutter. Its infecting your mind.
19. Its all about the bike…
20. You are what you eat.
21. You ARE enough. Just BE it.
22. Wine is the best conversation maker. Big red wines make friends for life.
23. Don’t fall in love/date/sleep with every interesting person you meet. Our inherent advertising driven lives have made us immune to proper friendship and companionship.
24. If you want to walk with the big dogs, don’t piss like a puppy my boooaaytchaaay.
25. Suffering together with someone bonds you for life.
26. Give stuff away without expecting stuff in return.
27. Delegate well.
28. The world will have us believe we have to fight for stuff in a world where war isn’t headline news, but just news. If you live your life right, fighting will not have to happen.
29. When you fall, get up and repeat. Unless there is a bone poking out of a limb, obviously.
30. Say thank you more, and sorry less.

I could share at least a few hundred more but I will stop at 30. Have a fabulous day. I certainly am going to do my best to do just that.

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what a picture. unfathomable. anyway, off to todays post…

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Too often we get stuck in inaction — the quagmire of doubt and perfectionism and distractions and planning that stops us from moving forward.

And while I’m no proponent of a whirling buzz of activity, I also believe people get lost in the distractions of the world and lose sight of what’s important, and how to actually accomplish their Something Amazing.

And so today I’d like to humbly present a few little rules of action — just some small reminders, things I’ve found useful but by no means invented, common-sense stuff that is often not common enough.

1. Don’t overthink. Too much thinking often results in getting stuck, in going in circles. Some thinking is good — it’s good to have a clear picture of where you’re going or why you’re doing this — but don’t get stuck thinking. Just do.
2. Just start. All the planning in the world will get you nowhere. You need to take that first step, no matter how small or how shaky. My rule for motivating myself to run is: Just lace up your shoes and get out the door. The rest takes care of itself.
3. Forget perfection. Perfectionism is the enemy of action. Kill it, immediately. You can’t let perfect stop you from doing. You can turn a bad draft into a good one, but you can’t turn no draft into a good draft. So get going.
4. Don’t mistake motion for action. A common mistake. A fury of activity doesn’t mean you’re doing anything. When you find yourself moving too quickly, doing too many things at once, this is a good reminder to stop. Slow down. Focus.
5. Focus on the important actions. Clear the distractions. Pick the one most important thing you must do today, and focus on that. Exclusively. When you’re done with that, repeat the process.
6. Move slowly, consciously. Be deliberate. Action doesn’t need to be done fast. In fact, that often leads to mistakes, and while perfection isn’t at all necessary, neither is making a ridiculous amount of mistakes that could be avoided with a bit of consciousness.
7. Take small steps. Biting off more than you can chew will kill the action. Maybe because of choking, I dunno. But small steps always works. Little tiny blows that will eventually break down that mountain. And each step is a victory, that will compel you to further victories.
8. Negative thinking gets you nowhere. Seriously, stop doing that. Self doubt? The urge to quit? Telling yourself that it’s OK to be distracted and that you can always get to it later? Squash those thoughts. Well, OK, you can be distracted for a little bit, but you get the idea. Positive thinking, as corny as it sounds, really works. It’s self-talk, and what we tell ourselves has a funny habit of turning into reality.
9. Meetings aren’t action. This is a common mistake in management. They hold meetings to get things done. Meetings, unfortunately, almost always get in the way of actual doing. Stop holding those meetings!
10. Talking (usually) isn’t action. Well, unless the action you need to take is a presentation or speech or something. Or you’re a television broadcaster. But usually, talking is just talking. Communication is necessary, but don’t mistake it for actual action.
11. Planning isn’t action. Sure, you need to plan. Do it, so you’re clear about what you’re doing. Just do it quickly, and get to the actual action as quickly as you can.
12. Reading about it isn’t action. You’re reading an article about action. Ironic, I know. But let this be the last one. Now get to work!
13. Sometimes, inaction is better. This might be the most ironic thing on the list, but really, if you find yourself spinning your wheels, or you find you’re doing more harm than good, rethink whether the action is even necessary. Or better yet, do this from the beginning — is it necessary? Only do the action if it is.

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