Trail 1/2 marathon thoughts on business building

Last weekend I "ran" a half marathon on trail - the Dam Half near State College PA.??

Sparks and Tinder 9/24/2022 - Business builder, this article is for you ... to give you ideas... sparks to light a fire, rekindle a fire, or light new fires of growth in your business.?When making a fire we take sparks and transfer them to a material like a fire starter or fatwood or very thinly shaved feathers...tinder...??Tinder?is the material you use to get your campfire going by building up the first heat that you later use to ignite kindling.??So I hope this email gives you some tinder too.

Read this about you... find something to jot in your journal about you and your business and world. You are running more than a half marathon in business and life daily.

I put ran in quotes above because there is quite a bit of running... but there is also a lot of climbing and rock scrambling.?The event website describes the race like this:??

The Dam Half course is situated within Bald Eagle State Forest, and you really get the feeling of being far removed from civilization when doing this course! Mostly narrow single track trails with some jeep trails and a little bit of dirt road mixed in to relax your legs (but not too much). The Dam Half has a total elevation gain of 2,300 feet. The course has several climbs with a few boulder fields mixed in to test your legs (and wits)! In between the climbs though, there are some nice flat and rolling sections winding through beautiful hemlock and pine forests with some stream crossings here and there. The toughest climb of the event is near the end, the dreaded Stairway to Heaven. Stairway to Heaven is a brutal single track climb with over 700 feet of elevation gain within a half mile straight up the side of Naked Mountain. But once you summit, it’s 1.5 miles all downhill to the finish!!!

So.... what thoughts did I have about business while running and after...

Well, very few things allow me to really take notice of my self talk or the voice in my head like a long trail race.?I just get a lot of time to notice that ever present chatter in my head.?There are times in a race like this where I choose to follow 1-4 people in a little pack and cruise within or at the end of the pack and let someone else lead.?You can't really look around during a rocky single track trail race...you don't get to enjoy the fall scenery... and when you get a bit better at it, you don't look at your feet either.?Your brain and body are an incredible machine and you actually look about 5-10 strides ahead and your brain remembers and feeds the info to your feet and you can step around roots and rocks incredibly well.?When in a tight rock crossing on a stream you may only look ahead 2 or 3 steps because there is less margin for error, but you are always looking ahead.?When you are in this kind of zone and your body is also working fairly hard... you can just pay attention to the dialogue in a different way.

• Do you notice the dialogue in your head about you and your future and the business and your fears??Who is the thinker??Where do the thoughts come from??Are they generally kind??Are the thoughts "true"???

So anyway... one of the things I noticed this time is that my SELF TALK was generally positive the whole race.?I ran this same race 4 years ago and I remember the chatter being much different.?Four years ago I kept thinking it was much farther... I kept thinking it hurt... I kept thinking the climbs were going to be hard... I kept thinking maybe this was a dumb idea... I kept thinking I can't wait for it to be over...I kept wondering if I should eat pretzels, gummi bears or nothing at the next station.?I was NOT really present and I wasn't enjoying it.??

This time my self talk was good... I enjoyed the people around me.... I enjoyed the experience... I wasn't thinking ahead to the end... I noticed a pile of edible mushrooms... when the negative thoughts and fears about finishing came up they quickly dissipated.?

One of the things that was different this time is that it is the 2nd time I've done this race AND I did a 31 miler in between the last time and this time.?13.1 miles seems kinda easy after you've done 31.?Also, I've just been doing a lot of work personally and with clients on the 3 Principles of Mind Consciousness and Thought... especially paying attention to my thinking and realizing it's just thought, it's not Me.

• I encourage you to pay attention to your thoughts.?Doing hard things will help improve how you notice the negative thoughts.?I think that recognizing you've done hard things before will help your self talk when you get in tough situations in business and life like employees or customers leaving, etc.

Another lesson for business builders... adjust your vision and anticipation about current and future situations

As I became aware of my footfalls I realized the difference in how far ahead I look in a race.?It is good to recognize the different time frames to pay attention to... just like in business.?In this race, I'm aware of the really long term intention I have... to be able to be in the woods and in shape into my 70s... maybe beyond... and I'm aware of what the finish line looks like and that it's 13.1 miles away... I check in with my GPS watch as I cross each mile but I can't/won't obsess about the distance...just check ins... and as I said, I look 5-10 strides ahead but not right at my feet.... and of course I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and make progress even if it's slow at times.

• Business and life are like this, right??How do you look at different time frames when planning and as you communicate vision to your team? Be intentional.?Know what you are doing and what time mark you are looking at.?Don't obsess about any of it.?You need to be MOST present as a leader to 5-10 strides ahead.?Let your team take care of the individual footfalls.??

What is your System??It's great to have dreams, but pay attention to your system.

I'm doing an advanced small group class with the coach and author Steve Chandler right now.?Last week we worked on Systems and Dreams as a way to help our clients grow.?Dreams are great, but we need to be conscious of the system to achieve the dream.?Hoping and praying IS a system, it's just not a very effective one.?If you don't achieve a dream it's because your system wasn't very good and you may not have truly made a commitment.??

I had a system of training for this race.?It is an app on my phone from Hal Higdon and the system tells me how far to run on which day and when I complete the task I check it off.?I miss very few and if I miss one the app sort of bitches at me.??

Some people say they want to be on time but they are always late.?It is a system problem not a problem with them as a human.??

• So, pay attention to YOUR systems and the systems of your business and your people.?Every system is perfect for the result it is getting right now.

Know when to run with the pack and when to break free

There are times during a race like this where I choose to spend a bit of time in a small pack.?This is a time to rest and enjoy being with other people.... AND they carry me along.?There are people who run a race like this and they take off and lead the whole time.?Most of us are not that guy/girl.?It helps to go far by going with other people.??

It is unclear who said it but it is oft quoted in the coaching world.... "If you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far, go with others."

During the race I had an incredible downhill with two people I do not know where we were absolutely in flow and in sync going down a rocky steep trail. It was exhilarating.... we had a mini celebration at the bottom and said "WOOH" and "WOW" together... and then I went along.?I passed both of the people and never saw them again until they finished behind me.?

Sometimes you run with a pack and it feels good to stay with them but you just know it's time to move on.?When you pass them, most of the time people cheer you on and say "go get em runner" or "finish hard".

• BBCamp is my pack for business owners and we go farther together.?Sometimes breaking free from the pack will mean staying in the community but being willing to pass the others in your group.?Sometimes it may mean going to a different group of people temporarily or permanently.?But.. I encourage you to find your pack in business if you haven't already.?It could be BBCamp or it could be a local group or Vistage etc.?Just find a pack, it makes business and life building more fun.

Finally, Be inspired by others, don't compare yourself to them.

I was feeling pretty good about doing this 1/2 and was thinking of how I could share with others that doing hard things in running ..... purposely entering the suck... can prepare you for adversity in life?and business...??The half seemed like a hard thing worth sharing.?:-)??And then, the day before my race I saw that my friend and business owner Brian Mininger was doing a 100 mile trail race in the mountains of SW Virginia.?Wow!?And when I woke up the morning of my race I saw Brian had FINISHED!?Amazing.??

But... I realized Brian ran his race and I was going to run mine.?I could be inspired by him and not compare myself to him.??I could use his success as motivation for my race.?ANd that's what I did.?And I thought about Brian during the race and I thought about the conversation we could have about the parallels between his ultra running and building his business?Bear Creek Outdoor Living.??

So when I finished I promptly texted Brian to congratulate him and we caught up and chatted. And, we both decided the podcast idea would be fun and creative and helpful to all of you.?We have it scheduled as episode 2 on the Business builder Way... so stay tuned!

• Don't compare... be inspired.

Do you run or do other hard things??I'd love to hear about it.??Coaching work I'm doing right now...

Last week I had a business builder come to the farm for a 1/2 day immersion.?We worked on how her blocks around money and spending were holding back the growth of her business and the realization of her dream.?We spent some time walking the fields and on the bench under the maple tree by the stream.?The farm is a great place to get clarity on your dreams....it's a change of space and place.

Next week a small group of the Business Builders are in town for live camp and preparation of their 120 day plan for the last Q of 2022.?This is going to be a recharge and insight filled week for me too... breakthroughs always happen when people are gathered together live, especially if the weather holds for a campfire on Tuesday night.

If you'd ever like to have a conversation about how this "coaching stuff" works, drop me a line and we'll get our calendars together for a conversation.

Go get 'em!?You're making a difference for lots of folks by intentionally building your business and life!