Stop constantly proving something to someone (what does sports have to do with running a business)

I have been doing various sports as an amateur for years. At first, it was mainly gym, but around 2012 I also started my adventure with running (although I did my first 5 km street run in 2007, but I don't remember what tempted me to do it then).

From the very beginning, I tried to train with some kind of plan and according to its guidelines, since I didn't know much about running myself and didn't know how it should be trained to achieve measurable results (in my case, it was mainly about increasing my ability to cover the distance at one time and improving my time on standard 5 and 10 km distances). And while at first I actually stuck to these plans and saw their effects, I also increasingly allowed myself to run according to my own whim and attitude that since I can already run longer and faster, I should try to get better and better at each workout (that means: try to improve my previous record at a given distance or do a longer distance). In this way, I was interfering with the effects of my training plans because I was exploiting my body to the limit, which resulted in the fact that at some point the desired results were no longer visible or were not as spectacular as I thought they would be. And then the only solution I used was to try again to improve my results. At each subsequent training session or street run. So what if the conditions were completely different because during training, for example, I had to stop at road crossings or other obstacles (the charms of running in the city), and during street runs the route is not always designed to make a personal best on it (the ascent of Belwederska or Agrykola Street in Warsaw could effectively knock such ideas out of a person's head). There have been runs during which one could actually make the result of a lifetime (such as the Independence Run in Warsaw), but they were exceptions.

It seems to me that this attitude stemmed from the need to feed my own ego with more successes and show everyone around me that I can constantly do something better, more, faster, more efficiently. It didn't help that in late 2013 I found myself in CrossFit, which is based on a strong community that cheers everyone on to bust out every workout and finish with the best possible result. This mindset suited me a lot, but at the same time exacerbated my ego problem even more. In 2015, I even ran the 37th Warsaw Marathon without any running preparation, in order to "prove" to everyone that it was possible to do the royal distance (42.2 km), lifting only weights, and finish it under 4 hours (before the marathon I ran a total of about 70 km, all the rest of the preparation was CrossFit and weighted squats). I succeeded, I did the marathon in 3:58:39 without any injuries or problems (it was great to be under 30 :D). And I took on such challenges many times, proving to myself that all you have to do is simply deny yourself, force yourself, and you can achieve anything (of course, as far as possible, my goal was never to win such runs - it would be absolutely impossible with such an approach).

Then I had a few years break from running because I decided that this is not a sport for me, I prefer to lift (and, after all, "weightlifters don't run"), and besides that, my priorities in life changed and physical activity in general went away. In 2023, I returned to running, and again I noticed similar mechanisms as before - I do each subsequent run much faster than I should because if I have a power reserve, why not? I have generated a Garmin training plan for myself, and whenever I have some slow run in the second heart rate zone, I can't complete it because I feel like it is a fast walk, not a run, and I complete the workout by running way too fast (relative to the plan).

I started thinking about this, and the deeper I dig into the mechanisms that control this, the more I realize that the same thing happens in business and when running my own company. We constantly want more and better, strive to maximize results, optimize costs, show continuous growth to investors (we have VCs and angel investors on board) and achieve spectacular successes alone. The fundamental question is - is this really the right approach?

Just as in sensible training with a plan, here, in business development, we should follow various guidelines aimed at increasing the probability of achieving the expected results over time. We should not rush blindly forward every time, striving to make all business indicators and parameters grow at all costs because this is simply impossible. The business environment, the market, the economy are changing, and the needs of customers, employees, founders, investors are also changing. These are factors to keep in mind and develop growth forecasts that can reflect real growth opportunities, rather than wishful thinking that "every run is an opportunity to break your personal best result."

It is worth remembering this whenever we see someone running slow, lifting lightweights or simply not trumpeting left and right what results their business did this quarter. This is part of the process.?

There is a time of preparation and execution of the plan, there is a time of competition and race day and a deload period.

There is a time of strategy development and planning, a time of execution and focus, and a time of evaluating results and learning lessons for the future.

Each of these stages is characterized by something different, and we should not expect a constant life form from ourselves or others because it is simply physically impossible.

It is certainly worth working methodically and head-on to achieve long-term results, rather than constantly trying to maximize all areas in the shortest possible time and burning ourselves out more and more, causing our efficiency and commitment will drop to zero.

Think about this the next time you catch yourself thinking that you are not good enough and should hit the gas.

See you somewhere on the road - running or business!