I came across a wonderful article in my RSS reader today called Beyond Talent & Motivation. The following text is modified from that to suit my own life and where I like to implement these things, as well as where I see a particularly strong association in the way I am doing / not doing things:

I love persistent people who are able to learn from mistakes. People that persist at something as difficult as Ironman or Multi Day Stage Racing are driven by more than the desire for achievement. They want to really breakthrough. There is a desire for greatness that permeates extreme endurance sports. It’s completely infectious to outsiders who poke their heads in from time to time too.

When we look at exceptional athletes, what lessons can we apply to our own lives? What is different from the way we live our lives?

* They know their mission
* They simplify their lives to achieve their mission
* Their mistakes are visible
* They change as a result of their mistakes

Bring your mission down to a single sentence for each key area for your life (family, work, self). Here are mine:

* Love My Family
* Deliver Value
* Train Daily

Know the price of your time (something which has been a total revelation in the office I work in), so you will be at peace when you say “no” to attractive opportunities. The most successful people that I’ve had the pleasure of learning from are also really good at saying “no” with compassion (or they are great at creating total isolation, something I find myself striving for more and more).

Ironman is an interesting niche — consider nutrition — many of us hurt ourselves with excessive control, while living in a society that is, broadly, out of control.

Great athletes have the ability to discipline themselves enough to get the job done, but not so much that they break down. Keeping track of mistakes is a good way to figure out your relationship with control. You should also know your coach’s blind spots, with regards to control. This last point is something I can happily admit to still be learning. At times it’s tough to spot the blind spots on the athletes I am working with, as well as spotting where my own coach is perhaps not seeing the whole picture. Blind spots exist and we best learn how to spot them early.

Athletic mistakes (injury, excessive fatigue, poor performance, weight gain, chronic depletion, immune suppression) are a normal part of our journey. Typically, most of us will rationalize away our errors with an external cause. With any repeating set-back, look for the internal cause.

When I think about the highest achievers, they have an ability to learn from their errors and take steps to limit repeating the same errors. They also have the confidence to stand by their decisions.

The difference between a good race and a great race likely comes down to a dozen key decisions across the year. As a good athlete, you’re already doing things right. Get visibility where you may have gotten in your own way last year.

As you head into the new year — keep what worked and simplify your life so you can do more of what you’re good at. When you do your season review — seek counsel to create a limited number of guidelines to protect you from your extreme tendencies.

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What a great piece of advice.

Tracking greatness and spotting the traits in those who I choose to surround myself with which, in my humble opinion, make them outstanding human beings, is the simplest way to learn how to be great ourselves. It doesn’t happen overnight and it takes many tough decisions along the way. People around you may not realise how much strain you are taking having made these decisions and you may end up holding onto something wild and trivial to give reason and justification to your actions, but in the end, you cannot bullshit life.

It will be clear for all to see and in the end, it’s about toughing it out, even when it looks easy to those around you, because like John Collins said;

“You can quit. You`ll be the only one who knows why, and the only one who cares.”

Do, Learn, Repeat…

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Today I am not going to speak about my weekly totals. It was virtually an off week with more work and really, more opportunities than I care to even get into. It’s an exciting time out there. Hope you are making the most of it, too.

Today I wanted to talk about what drives us. What makes us give the extra mile. What makes us get up at 5am and go for a jog before heading to meetings, work, proposals, deadlines, stress, pressure, commitments and then possibly back to the gym for a swim before heading home to spend time with friends and family, cook & deal with admin & possible more work.

What kind of idiot does that?

This guy.

Me.

I am not here to waft through life. I am here to live. I am here to eat the best food, ride the best trails, run in the wildest frontiers, to eat more of the best food, to laugh the loudest, the hardest and the most. To brave the circumstances and scare the living bejissus out of myself from time to time. To doubt if I can achieve the lofty goals I have set, to practise milking the journey to that ever changing goal.

I am here to wander among the masses and inspire you to be more. I am passionate about that, about you. I want to push my body to the absolute limit and then crush the limit. Human limitations are just that. Limits. Rules. If there was never anybody who pushed or broke limits then we would surely still be in the stone age. That human willingness to go above and beyond it what drive us.

Yes, I suffer. I hurt. Great. Awesome. I am smiling all the way because I feel absolutely amazing when I am out training and racing. I am happiest when I have no idea how the hell I am going to get through, shortly followed by absolute euphoria when I am through it. That is the essence. Hence the picture. Its Tour de France time. For the 200 best cyclists in the world to ride over 30 mountains in 3 weeks, only to finish in absolute agony with cold sores, strains and tendonitis. For what? Only one dude can win.

Its not only about that one guy. It’s about the celebration of the pinnacle of how far and hard a human being can ride his bicycle. It’s about celebrating the marvel of watching these guys race down twisty roads much faster than the cars can. It’s about celebrating how absolutely amazing we are as a species.

We are driven beyond comprehension. Only the brave….

It is so beautiful and so simple and so primal that I cannot yet fully comprehend how grand it really is. I do believe I have a small insider view but really, I know that every couch potato is inspired when they see the willingness of these guys to hurt beyond comprehension, just to make it to the top of that last climb.

I am going to fill my body with best, most natural food I can find. It will be tasty beyond wowness, fill me with energy beyond zest and give me the appreciation of being responsible for how I fuel my engine.

I am going to explore the entire world. I am going to give back to those who I love with all my love. I am going to be peaceful and appreciative of the simple beauties of the world. I am inspired by people, by their amazing ability to overcome.

I want more of that.

What are you doing to get more of that?

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I have had a bit of an arb day. I guess that my weekend of excess (2 races in one day, travel, langarm in Langebaan till 4am) is paying out bad dividends. Only my fault, isn’t it. Not that I have any regrets.

I managed to take roughly 6 minutes off on the same course as we did in the first week of December. Progress where I was hesitant is a great thing. We then took out, for fun, the 3 man teams in the super sprint relay. That just felt good, albeit super painful at the time.

This on 6 hours sleep, after a long week and a nice drive up the west coast. I then topped it off my having a few local brews and dancing till 4am without a wink’s sleep. The Bar-One men on SABC3 can eat their hearts out.

This did take my deep fatigue to a new level though, and I slept quite a bit on Sunday into Monday, but am really paying the price today. Our morning ride was not quite the quality it normally is, and I had to sleep over lunch today, as I am just tired.

Last night I also had sweet cravings. Never a good sign. Always a sign that I am pushing it a little. Eating, sleeping & exercise habits are the first things to do when I am overdoing it (in that order). But least there is quite an easy equation that precedes the bad habits:

It goes something like this.

1. I am responsible for how I feel right now.
2. My decisions are mine and I am in full control of them.
3. When I make bad decisions based on a lax attitude towards being responsible for myself, cravings come.

Being responsible for myself was quite a revelation for me. Everything is so easy in this world. Access to crap is everywhere. Look around you – fast food, credit, wonder make-up to hide bad habits, products to make you thin for a while (but which ruin your body’s internal systems), instant love, etc are all crap.

Gordo always says “There is no easy way” and my synopsis of what he means is that for you to be responsible for your body, your mind, you heart and your soul, the quick, easy decision is not the one which gets you there.

Once you have gone the route to eat “clean” it’s hard to go back to feeling bloated and tired, but you would never have known the difference if you just continued to do it.

When I started ME intervals people laughed at how silly they looked. I was doubting them as they really hurt, and really made me tired. Now, looking back, for roughly 6 months of focussed work, I could have made the change 5 years ago when I first heard of them. I tried it then, but it was too “hard” for me then.

What stimulus do you know about that you are not applying because its too “hard” ?

Everything seems hard right now, but when you look back you are generally quite stoked about it. Some of these for me:

1. Letting go of my ego as much as possible made me a human being instead of a human doing. I became real. I was open to much more real emotion but the world was a more colorful place. The cold hearted machine was gone.

2. Changing my diet to eating real food. I reckon 100% more energy, 8-9kg less body weight. Amazing not only for that but because I picked up smell, taste, I learnt to love to cook and I eat more than I did before.

3. ME intervals on the bike. The sole reason I am able to do what I can now on the bike. It helps that I am 8-9kg lighter as well, but I am far more powerful out there. My run has improved as a result as well.

4. De-cluttering my mind. I used to think ALL the time. I couldn’t switch off. I was chasing money, fame, prowess, popularity. It consumed me. I broke down. I sold just about everything I owned. I started living more of a minimal life. I now sleep within 5 minutes of getting into my bed. I now have space in my mind for me, for friends, for loved ones. For life.

Responsibility is not always easy, and going back from where it takes you is not always a great place, but the choice is yours.

Right here.

Right now.

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