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Questions & Actions
When deciding priorities in my life, I ask myself... Will this change my life if it happens? I also ask myself the opposite... Will this change my life if it doesn't happen? There are very, very few things in life where the answer to both questions is "yes". The only Double-Yes I can think about is my marriage and the birth of my daughter. Most my high priority items are Single-Yes, if I complete the task then it will have a positive outcome on my life. However, if I fail then my life is going to be OK. Keeping that reality in my mind helps me deal with the inevitable setbacks that pop up along a journey. By staying focused on the goal, with a relaxed view on outcome, I am a lot more efficient with my approach. I'm also easier to live with and Domestic Harmony has a HUGE impact on recovery and efficiency. Racing Performance Inverting... would poor race performance change my life? Yes, it probably would because poor race performance would imply that I had lost certain aspects of my life that I enjoy. I will be specific... Looking fast is far more satisfying than being fast What I found amazing was by cutting back to 80% of my previous training load (and dropping the run volume by 50%), I was able to remain decent. I'm nowhere near my physical potential but:
There is a HUGE cognitive benefit to exercise around my aerobic threshold. It boosts my creativity and lifts my energy for hours. I can't report the same thing with either: (a) elite level training; or (b) extreme training (high intensity and/or high volume). Elite athletes are great people but they are tired to the point of chronic laziness most of the year. That's not a value statement - it's a fact about what happens when your physical output is close to its maximum. A lot of stuff slides when training at a high level. Some of that stuff is required to train at a high level for a long time (emotional support, financial stability, structural integrity in the body). Getting an elite card is easy -- living as a professional is challenging. As a result, most elites follow a lifestyle, rather than performance, approach. Makes sense in the short term -- not sure what happens in their 40s. Quite often, ambitious athletes do not understand what it takes to achieve their athletic goals. For that reason, a training camp with fellow athletes that have achieved similar goals can be eye opening. In life, we need to make choices. If you read the blog weekly then you can probably figure out my current choice. I'm leaning towards "look fast" these days. Besides, I need the surplus energy for the rest of my game plan! Marriage Communicate and Be Reliable - huge one for the guys. Reliability is a desirable trait in a husband. Monica does not mind compromising so long as we stick to what we agreed. Placing my training in a black box and being unreliable with schedule is a recipe for divorce and disharmony. If you think about it then it is the exact recipe that you would put together to torpedo a relationship...
Even if you are WINNING Kona... that's probably only sustainable for a few months per annum and a handful of years across a marriage. What seems important today, might be less important tomorrow. Remember to ask yourself the questions. Now that I know what it takes to screw up my marriage... just do the opposite!
It's also important to expose ourselves to other couples so we have relative benchmarks. It sounds strange but limited exposure to the occasional screwed up situation can do a lot for improving relative happiness. Saying, "I'm lucky to have you" is good. Seeing, "I'm lucky to have you" is better. Business I started this year with two questions:
Both of the above were Single Yes questions -- sorting them out would change my life but... not sorting... well, I'd still be OK. With the help of my programming team and the rest of the EC Team, we managed to pull off both questions. I have 77 emails in my inbox but that seems to bother me more than my clients! I don't have any irate clients (or the irate ones are quietly seething...), I like everyone that I work with, I am proud of the services we provide and Monica still gives me high marks as a husband! All in all, a great year. One issue... the family has a large HOLE in our Profit & Loss account! While we've achieved a substantial financial turnaround in Endurance Corner, the business doesn't cover our cost of living. While I might be OK to burn capital through the rest of my life, my young wife is looking at 50+ more years and it's my job to consider the financial future of the entire team (not just myself). How to close the gap? Let's start with a story about my career so far... There are two problems with working in financial services:
While far less acute, there are aspects of this ethical risk in coaching. Our ethics do not co-relate to compensation, beauty, speed, fitness or the results of our clients... the higher we score in those areas, the tougher it is to maintain the highest ethical standards. The world at large gives all kinds of ethical leeway to "winners". Do you really think that the most successful coach in triathlon would be tolerated in the absence of producing champions? What about champion athletes that cheat on their spouses? Or fast athletes that claim to naturally produce synthetic PEDs in their blood? We share a cognitive bias to irrationally give ethical credit to individuals to score highly in areas to which we aspire. Cheaters don't bother me. Rather, they show me that I have to create a life structure that keeps me well away from even having to make their decisions. Good people can make poor choices. So it's important to stay away from those situations. Another benefit to not being overpaid is that people are REASONABLE when they are receiving good value. While I would struggle to hand-on-my-heart deliver $1,000 worth of services to a client each month, I know that I can deliver $100 worth of value to ten people. Further, in receiving that "value" those ten are likely to be happier than the one athlete paying me 10x. More clients, happier... if we get the model right then it will work well for everyone. Not everybody is going to be happy but if you set things up properly then the chronically unhappy can weed themselves out over time. it's also important to remember that our toughest clients do us a favor. Reasonable people with high standards are great to have in our lives -- true friends! So my idea for the next leg of our business was helped by this article on the future of media. The article helped me understand what people are buying here at Endurance Corner. It also helped me consider what they would like to buy but we can't provide. I think everyone needs to read, and consider, that article. Consider yourself warned... ha ha ha On the face of it, we sell supported training plans but you can get decent training plans for less money so that can't be the only reason we get hired. There must be other aspects:
I stuck community into Desired because I feel (and the team tells me) that we haven't created a stickiness within the team. I've built relationships that are sticky to me (personally) but there are only a couple of links that are sticky to the team (collectively). To date, I've felt that Twitter, Facebook and other sites do a better job than we could. As well, if you asked Monica, she'd tell you that community is a personal limiter of mine. So the start-up business reflects its Founder in the early stages... no surprises. What's next? When I look at Endurance Corner, and the other successful coaching business models, I note:
Have you figured where I might be going with this? One of my athletes recently told me that he'd like to renew with EC and asked me if I'd continue coaching him in 2010. I forgot I had a choice! Questions I asked myself when thinking about the third leg for Endurance Corner (first leg is our Team, second leg is our Camps):
Let's see where we are in a year. gordo
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The last two weeks have looked backwards and FAR forwards. This week, I will outline my thoughts for what I want to get done over the next year.