One of the beautiful things about my life is I have spent it surrounded by people whose struggles are far greater than mine.
That sounds odd, doesn’t it?
It is beautiful because it means I am in a position to help them and in turn… oddly enough… that experience benefits me greatly.
Through those experiences I have learned to keep pushing because we have zero clue how much we can withstand physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Those experiences also are what taught me to reframe adversity as something that happens for me instead of something that happens to me.
As you know, this past weekend was the Michigan 70.3 that I decided not to do, despite 20 months of training, because my daughter had her first ever softball game. I have a few non negotiables in life and one of those it that I will never miss a “first” if I have control over the situation.
Here is where the struggle comes in… I now have to reset and start training again for the race which is on 9-11-22.
The first thing that may come to mind is all the 5 am swims during the week, the long runs on Saturdays before sports, the grueling rides on Sundays before church and more sports.
Or…
What I chose to do was reset my mindset to; come back leaner, have more flexibility, strengthen my core, step things up in training, and to schedule more races earlier in the summer.
I am going to intentionally self-select into the struggle by:
- Dialing into my passion and purpose- when passion is greater than pain, passion wins every time
- Stepping into the fear – there are going to be days when it sucks and it hurts… do it anyway
- Daily discipline – to do whatever it takes every single day to maximize the distance I cover between me and my goals
- Commitment – continue to focus on commitment vs. convenience
- Greater attention to detail – what got me here won’t get me there… greater detail in equipment, diet, workouts, rest and mental preparation
Here is where the struggles of others help me.
I have amazing people in my orbit who have achieved far greater things than a 70.3 and have endured more physical pain, adversity, and mental anguish than me who I have spent a great deal of time with talking about their journey.
They educate and inspire me to what we are capable of and what we need to do to take things to the next level even after a significant let down… a second time.
It would be easy to fall prey to the law of diminishing intent as unforeseen adversity and circumstances keep popping up.
Instead… I will double down and run to the fight again. This will make crossing the finish line all that much more enjoyable and the workouts that much more meaningful.
Doubling down on your effort doesn’t mean it needs to be harder… just needs to be more productive.
This was originally published as a weekly newsletter from Ed Molitor, with The Molitor Group. If you’d like to receive the weekly newsletter, follow this link to subscribe.
