Facing Your Challenges - My Tough Mudder Experience

In life and business, some of us are constantly faced with difficult challenges and obstacles. Many of them make us sweat as we take hours, days, weeks, and even months to navigate in our own thoughts of how we are going to overcome them. As if one challenge is not enough, these challenges are happening simultaneously in different areas of our lives or business. Ouch! I feel the stress coming from the strain in your brain already.

Right now you are more than likely somewhere in the process of thinking through the many possible methods remaining to overcome your challenge or obstacle. Luckily for you, I recently ran my first ever Tough Mudder and have some insights on overcoming obstacles. It was painful, but just like your obstacles it will be worth fighting through in the end. 

A different perspective on a situation can significantly make a difference, and that is my hope for you today. In the famous words of leadership experts, Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, “Dream. Struggggggglllleeeee. Victory.”

Here are my 8 insights on overcoming the challenges that I faced:

Insight 1: Handling Unpreparedness

“You have that race next weekend right?” Oh my, you are right! “I totally do not feel prepared for this” ran through my mind over and over. Thankfully, I had successfully ran passed my limits in the past.

If you do not feel prepared, which majority of the time we are not, then a best practice is to leverage your previous wins to build the belief in yourself that you can do it regardless of your preparedness.

Insight 2: The First - of many - obstacles

The count-down ended and the race began. “Prepared or not!” ran through my thoughts as I took my first step. It seems as though there are many obstacles along your way to success.

What I found is that the first one is typically the easiest one, but we treat it as though it is the hardest.  Most of the time, this one takes the longest because we dread all the obstacles that follow and it causes us to delay our action.

As I approached the first obstacle, my mind kept trying to tell me that this is going to be a long day and that I will not have it in me to finish the race. Maybe you are at this stage right now in your journey. Maybe you dread tackling the next obstacle because you know that there will be more work to do and more situations to think through.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” I yelled to myself as I looked at how small this obstacle truly was. Truthfully, you have to decide at that moment that the reward on the other side is worth it. My fiancé once told me, “Make a decision and make it once.” This advice is what got me to overcome the first obstacle, and to shake the dread of the remaining.

Insight 3: Getting Muddy

“Stay low! Stay low!” shouted spectators as I approached the mud-pit with barbed wire. I had no idea what I would look like after going through this pit, but I knew I had to do it.

There are many challenges in life that will require you to give up “looking” good in order to achieve what you really want.  You might be at this point in your challenge. Sometimes this is the point where you feel alone, and as if no one will respect you because you might get “dirty.”

That is a complete lie! You will be much more respected going through this part of the challenge than any other aspect, even more than completing the challenge. This is where you stand will begin to stand out amongst the crowd.

Insight 4: A Gigantic Wall

At this point, I am muddy but am starting to feel like I can do this. Two obstacles down, what can stop me now? Sometimes our confidence builds quickly and then we get hit with the impossible.

I approached the next obstacle. Wow this is a HUGE wall! There was a gentleman starring up to the top of the wall as if he was never going to find a way over it. The impossible wall would be impossible if you had to do it alone.

As I began to look around I noticed that there was someone at the top of the wall reaching his hand down. Quickly, I squatted against the wall and pointed to my knee. The gentleman who looked stuck used my knee as leverage to jump and reach for the top. Sure enough, he was pulled over the wall.

If you find yourself at this point in your journey, do not give up. This is where real relationships are built. Look around you for help. These obstacles will quickly help you realize that you weren’t meant to do this on your own.

Insight 5: Frozen – I can’t move or feel a thing!

The dread kicked in..…The one obstacle that I feared the most…. One thing I do not like is to be cold. But, it was time to face this. I climbed up the stairs and before I could collect myself I heard the words, “3-2-1-GO!”

Have you ever felt the sensation that goes with the thought, “What in the world just happened?!” As my face emerged from the pool of ice I couldn’t help but think that thought.

Sometimes we are so blindsided by challenges that enter our life that it causes us to completely freeze. This is exactly how I felt as I swam through the pool of ice and climbed over the wooden walls.

When you face a challenge like this in life or business you can’t feel a thing and you don’t want to move. Falling over and giving up feels like the only option, but it’s not. If you want to win, your option is to keep moving forward. For the next few miles I literally had no feeling in my arms and legs.

Insight 6: Cramped - Just Hanging Out

Along your journey there will be a point where you literally have to give it your all to make it through an obstacle. I looked up and it was an inverted wall, with a few good men reaching their arms down for help. The good news is that if I got a running start I could jump high enough to grab the top. However, at this point in your journey your body might be worn down.

I ran and leaped, but…”Uh Ohhhh!” My calf instantly knotted up. The bad news is that I am hanging there with nowhere to put my feet. The two guys, holding onto me, had to wait a few minutes until my calf loosened up.

You might be at the point where your body gave out on you or your mind has cramped up.  What helped me was focusing on this phrase: “Rest to relax, but stretch to move forward.” I had to hang there until my calf loosened up, but then on the other side of the obstacle I had to stretch it out before continuing the journey.

Insight 7: Giving up – Is it worth it?

Some obstacles reoccur over and over again throughout your journey. The thought, “I should just give up,” is one that can appear at any moment and appears countless times. Your mind may be hurting from navigating through all of your options. Your body may be at breaking point. Giving up might be seem like the best option to take.

Regardless of how far along you are in the journey, your mind and body seem to join in on cheering for this option. It will come before the journey begins, it will come multiple times throughout the journey, but it will never come after the journey is over.  

At the point of giving up, I had to rely heavily on my running partner. Surrounding yourself by those who have not given up and will not give up is a sure way to help you through this obstacle. Just remember, it might not be easy but it will be worth it.

Insight 8: Tased to the finish line

ZAP! ZAP! The sound of hanging wires tasing the gentleman 10 feet in front of me caught my attention quickly. ZAP! ZAP! This time it knocked him off of his feet and into the mud. As I looked ahead of him I could see the finish line.

Starring at the hundreds of wires between myself and the finish line, I had the thought “This is going to HURT!”

“Hold your hands in front of your face and run!” shouted a gentleman on the sideline. The last thing you want is to get tased in the face.

Sometimes you just know that you know that you know the obstacle is going to hurt and there is no way to avoid the pain. These obstacles are typically what cause many men and women to fall short of their goal.

I put my arms in front of my face and started to run. It felt the wires combing across my body…and then….ZAPPPP, ZAAPPP!! It jolted through my chest. “WOW! This hurts!” I screamed in my thoughts. This hurts more than I expected. A few steps later…ZAPPPP, ZAAPPP!!

All the way to the finish line I just took the hits, but I did not stop moving forward.

In life and in business, this is what it is going to take to overcome your challenges. Feel free to reach out and connect if you want some insights on the specific challenges you are facing.

Living intentionally for excellence,

Anthony Swede