lessons learned when my wife signed me up for a marathon.
by rob nixon
to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want in a manner that you want then you’ll start feeling good about yourself. if you do not feel good about yourself then you will probably hate your clients.
more on strategy: you can’t lavish time unless you have time to lavish | put your own oxygen mask on first | define client wants vs. needs | the entrepreneurial accountant: an oxymoron? | growth is all about the clients | order takers and history writers | why old pricing models are unethical | 8 ways to improve firm profits | be an ‘object of interest’
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you need to be happy with what you see in the mirror. you need to be fulfilled and you need to be excited about life. you need to be happy with the way that you execute your goals.
it may mean you need to change some of your dietary and exercise habits to get into shape. the healthier you are, the more energy you have and the better you feel about yourself.
it may mean you need to upgrade your wardrobe to feel better about yourself. there is a lot of truth in the saying, “the clothes maketh the man.” do not be a cheapskate when it comes to the way you look. if you want to be a success, start looking like a success.
it may mean you need to upgrade your travel style. substantially better accommodation does not cost that much more. having a driver pick you up does not cost much more than a taxi. upgrading your airline ticket to business or first class makes the world of difference to how you arrive. my wife and i always travel in business or first (depending on what is available) and we put the kids down the back in economy. much to their disgust, we tell them they have to earn better travel themselves – just like we had to.
it may mean you need to become an object of interest. to become an object of interest you need to be interesting to be around. you need interesting stories, worldly experiences, good social skills and be seen as someone who is achieving something.
feeling good about yourself is about looking after yourself. it is more important than looking after your clients.
marathon – part 1
two weeks after my 40th birthday (when i received a ticket into space on virgin galactic as my present), nat casually said, “by the way, i have also signed you up to run in the london marathon in richard branson’s team.” a space trip and now a marathon. i was wondering if she was trying to kill me. i had never run more than 2 km so always up for a challenge i said yes without hesitation.
the virgin group was the primary sponsor of the 2010 london marathon so there was a detailed training plan that came out. just to be safe i verified the virgin training plan with a four-time marathon winner – he added some ideas and gave me some support along the way, which was great.
i had no idea what it meant to run a marathon so i set three goals.
- the first was to finish without stopping,
- the second was to finish without walking and
- the third was to complete it in less than 4 hours 30 minutes – the average was 4 hours 41 minutes.
i told everyone i met my three goals – even all my clients – and i announced it on my forum as well.
marathon – part 2
to help me, and keep me accountable, i enlisted my personal trainer, craig, to train with me – except on sundays, when i did the long runs on my own. after six weeks i was up to 8 km in distance and i got a very bad knee injury. it turned out the knee injury (which actually occurred playing golf in new zealand) was aggravated the week before while i was trekking up a mountain in the caribbean. i was out of action for seven weeks while i had 15 physiotherapy sessions. time to restart my training program. i had a 26-week program with only 17 weeks to do it in. for the next 17 weeks i grinded away, meeting my trainer at 5 a.m. each weekday morning for a 1-hour session. i averaged 40km per week running the 17-week timeframe. i was training six days a week to get at least partially ready for this event. my last big run was 33 km (this is what the plan said) before i headed off to london to run 42.2 grueling kilometers. natalie was trekking the himalayas for a charity the week prior so we met in singapore and traveled together to london.
marathon – part 3
time for the day of reckoning – race day. i was as ready as i would ever be. i was up bright and early to get the train to the starting line. it was about 90 minutes away. i was told to go to the green start, which i found out was reserved for celebrities, potential record breakers and people wearing crazy costumes – even sir richard was dressed as a butterfly with 2-meter wings! i thought i was the celebrity, however i subsequently found out that i was in a celebrity team.
there were 37,000 competitors and 750,000 spectators lining the streets to cheer me on. the atmosphere was brilliant and very motivating. there were 80 pubs along the way and each one had a theme and a party going on. there were people drinking, singing and partying while i was slogging it out step by step. every few pubs the partygoers would thrust a beer out to you and shout, “do you want a beer?” i thought i would love a beer, however, if i had a beer then i would need to stop or walk and my goals would not be achieved.
the halfway mark was the tower bridge over the thames river. i was feeling good and energetic and crossed the halfway marker in exactly 2 hours. full of confidence, i was thinking maybe 4 hours was realistic.
i was pounding away as i listened to my 4½-hour motivational playlist on my ipod when at 30 km the battery went flat – right in the middle of kenny loggins’ “footloose” song. i said to myself, “the crowd will have to bring me home.” more partygoers were thrusting beer at me and i started to dream about having a beer – you think crazy thoughts when you run a marathon.
natalie gave me two affirmations to help me when things got tough. she told me these affirmations got her through childbirth and trekking the himalayas the week before. i said to myself, “there’s only one way home, rob” and “it’s only two hours of your life, rob” and then as the finish got closer, “it’s only 45 minutes of your life, rob.” these affirmations helped me enormously.
the crowds got thicker and thicker as we neared the finish line and my pace got slower and slower. the last 5 km or so was just exhausting but the crowd, my determination and goals got me through. my name was on my shirt and the crowds were cheering for me. the end was in sight. i knew that once i could see buckingham palace there was one corner and a few hundred meters to go. exhausted as i crossed the finish line (i was practicing my stylish photo finish for weeks but could not muster the strength to do it), i completed my marathon without walking, without stopping and in 4 hours 20 minutes and 57 seconds. woohoo – i achieved all 3 goals. i collapsed in a heap then got myself together and went and celebrated my greatness.
did i feel good about myself after running a marathon? you bet! it was a life achievement that i will remember for a long long time. i also learned some powerful lessons during the process. i call this “marathon success”:
- set goals and tell others about them.
- someone else has done what you want to do; follow the leaders.
- if you want something bad enough, often you have to sacrifice.
- create a plan and stick to it.
- avoid temptations that may derail you.
- if the dream is big enough the facts don’t count.
my favourite maori (an indigenous new zealander) word is “mana” – pronounced marrnna. it means presence. when you feel good about yourself you will increase your mana and you will attract much more success.