Speed up or Give up! The DTF odyssey.

Huff, Huff, Huff, Huff, my heavy breathing kept me company as I was making it back to the finish area. As I looked ahead I saw the “go-getters” guys and girls who ran the course faster, standing around, waiting for the rest of the group. They weren’t breathing heavy, in fact they were laughing, talking with each other, and generally enjoying themselves before we started the next session. 

What I’m talking about is this group exercise session called DTF or Downtown Fridays. Every Friday at 6:30 am they meet at the stairs at the San Diego Convention center. The workout is combination of exercises and running. We do 5 minutes of exercise then we run the steps of the Convention Center, that is considered one Revolution, and then we repeat this for 3-5 Revolutions.

This was my first class and after the first revolution I recognized a huge problem.  The second myself and the other “laggers” rolled to the finish area, the next session begins. We were exhausted, this next set will be exponentially harder for us then the “go-getters”, because they will start this set with a good 2-4 minutes of rest while myself and my brethren might get 10 seconds of rest, if lucky. 

A revelation occurred. If I want to have the breaks that these “go-getters” have, I’m going to have to work harder, I’m going to have to finish early. I’m going to have to “Speed up” even though I’m already dead tired.

Now it could have easily gone a different way. I could have looked at one of leaders and said to myself “he’s got better genetics, I’ll never get the same rest as he does, cause I’m built different” or I could have looked at another guy who finished early and say “Well he’s clearly been working out like this for years, I don’t stand a chance of completing the course in the same time” Worse, I could decide this will be my LAST session because I don’t like being “humiliated” by being last or I will never have a chance, etc.

But here is the reality. We all get the same time to do the exercises. We are all running on the same course.

So If want to get the rest they get, and I want to be able to perform the exercises rested not exhausted, my best course of action isn’t to try to slow them down or not show up. My best course of action is to SPEED UP!

It made me think about this concept of Speeding up/putting forth more effort as a good metaphor I could apply to other areas of life. How often do we look at others who are more successful than us and essentially make excuses to explain why we might not be in the same spot. 

“His Dad started the business.” 

“She has an Ivy League education, certainly paid for by a rich parent” 

“He fits the “mold” of that group, where as I’m different”

“She doesn’t have kids, of course she has more time and money”

“That test is biased, because i grew up in the rural midwest and you really need to have had a “city” education to score well”

It really doesn’t matter what the reason we give ourselves to explain someone else’s success, excuses are endless and they are all essentially B.S. 

Worse, many of our “leaders, parents, friends, spouses” etc might see us struggling and rather than give us the tough love message of Keep GOING, they feed us the excuses (or agree with the excuses we spit out) that allow us to maintain our level and perpetuate the exhaustion.

Did Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg all just get lucky?  Or did they work hard to get to a point in their careers where they could coast a bit, take longer vacations, enjoy an expensive dinner or fly in a private jet. (Arguably these hyper successful people got some breaks, but I’m certain they would have been successful without them) 

I am over-simplifying success and I don’t claim to have all the answers (or any answers) and perhaps those people who run faster than me, think deeper than me, look better than me have some sort of advantage, but I’ve been trained not to see it (thanks Parents, girlfriend, friends, coaches, etc). Instead, I “Speed Up” and believe I will get there too and maybe even pass them.

As a reminder the class I was participating in Starts at 6:30am Friday mornings at the San Diego Convention Center. It’s called DTF or Downtown Fridays! See below link for the group. It’s run by a group of great people (James Brewer, Alex Pardus and Jessica Devine) and I encourage those in San Diego or even visiting, to come out and participate. I particularly want you to come if you are super fast and in shape. It will help me “Speed my Ass up” which to me is the greatest gift you could give.

Click to check out the DTF group!