Focus: Now or Later?

We are officially past the “Happy New Year” on every possible calendar.  

How are your New Year’s resolutions going?  Have you lost the weight?  Stopped smoking?  Have you spent more time with your family?

Those are all great questions and while I don’t know your answer to any of them, I can say that there is more work to be done.  Regardless if you have spent the last two weeks diligently chasing something, you can’t stop now.  You’ll gain the weight back, start smoking again, or over work yourself and miss your kids’ big moments.  

Once you start moving in the wrong direction again, it will be even harder to stop.  You’d be strengthening the bad habit. 

Habits

I believe habits are either getting stronger or weaker.  There is no stagnancy.  Stay the course.  Read The State of Motivation for some insight on consistency.  

This is not a musing on motivation, but remember The Harder You Work the Luckier You Get?  Keep up the great work and momentum.

Focus is one of the most important components to accomplishing something challenging.  You have to pay particular attention to whatever it is you want to do.  This applies to your resolutions, your spiritual goals, life goals, and your business.  

Goals

Have you ever heard of a “WIG” (Wildly Important Goal)?  Read this Forbes article about the book, “The 4 Disciplines of Execution”.

Goals are excellent for keeping you motivated and focused on the desired result.  However, if you don’t focus in the moment, you’ll go off track.  You’ll need some drastic Mid-Course Corrections.

F-O-C-U-S

I once heard John Lee Dumas share an acronym, F-O-C-U-S.  He’s a world class podcaster and has provided some extremely valuable information for me.  See his company: Entrepreneurs on Fire.

I have been podcasting for almost seven months now.  It’s been a grind.  You may not realize the amount of mid-course corrections or tweaks I’ve made to the plan, but it’s been a great ride.  I haven’t lost sight of the goal, but I’ve also not been concentrating on it daily.  I’ve been focused on the things I need to do in the moment, otherwise I’ll never even approach the goal.   

F-ollow

O-ne

C-ourse

U-ntil

S-uccess

I like this acronym because it assumes that your goal and planning have been sound.  You’ve done your homework; spent the brainpower needed to prepare.  It’s now about the action.  

I call on the immortal Marshawn Lynch for some wisdom.

John’s thoughts resonate with me because they give me confidence that I’m doing something good.  Just because you run into some bumps, doesn’t mean you’re chasing something uncatchable.  It means it’s hard and going to take a little longer to achieve.  

I don’t see a mid-course correction as abandoning your course and choosing a new one.  Unless you give up, or retrace your “steps”, what you have already done is part of your course.  It will always be.  The bumps, or mini-failures, are learning experiences.  You had to tweak the course after you began, but you’re not restarting.  You’ve probably learned some Indelible Lessons along the way.

There is a long list of successful organizations that have had multiple failures, but ultimately found triumph because they followed the course until success.

Check out Behind the Garage Door:  12 Famous Companies that Started in a Garage.  Think of the struggles that these progressive organizations had to go through to prove they had life-changing ideas.  Also, watch/read anyone of the many documentaries on Steve Jobs.  This guy was incredibly focused.

The 2013 Ironman Man

I have done some dumb things in my life.  Many of them I would not do again…like the time I inhaled an entire packet of Sweet n’ Low.

On the short list of things I am proud of and would do again is completing an Ironman before I turned thirty.  Well, I didn’t actually compete in an Ironman and I can no longer do it before I’m thirty again (maybe a second before forty?).  

I completed all three of the legs of a traditional Ironman race, but on different days.  I said I’ve done a lot of dumb things, but I am not dumb!  I knew there was no way (with no training) I’d be able to actually compete in a real Ironman.  But, I could handle each of the elements in an isolated day.  Or, at least I thought. 

The dumbest thing I’ve ever done.

I’m glad I did.

Here were my thoughts going into this personal challenge:

-I have experience cycling on Spoke Folk. 

-I hate running.

-How hard could swimming be.  Do you even sweat?

-I have a decent bike.

-I have running shoes.

-I don’t have a Speedo.

-We have bike lanes in Weston.

-We have a track at the park.

-We have community pool.

Reasonable thoughts, right?

An Ironman requires that you run 26.2 miles, bike 112 miles, and swim 2.4 miles.

I expected the run to be brutal mentally and physically.  I thought the swim would be nearly impossible to complete.  And I didn’t even think about the bike ride-piece of cake.

On Super Bowl Sunday 2013 (remember the lights going out? What a wild game.) I ran a marathon (26.2 miles) around a track.  Crazy, right?  Yes it was.  But it was safe, enabled people to know where I was (I had some people come out and run a lap or two or mile with me.), and easy to chart (it was also across the street from church which consequently I waddled to after finishing, the Lord knew I had some prayers to say after what I did).  It required 105 laps (just under).  I kept track of where I was with a post it note and pen in my pocket.  I had headphones, a fully charged phone, and plenty of podcasts (even back then I was a podcaster).  I also had all kinds of snacks to keep me energized.

The run, which started at 4:30am (it was pitch black except for a blinding light at the park ranger building), took me six hours!  Professionals runners do this (albeit on a course) in about two hours.  I have a long way to go.  I ran extremely slow, but pushed through.  Honestly, I thought about the end a lot and just ignored any pain or feelings of boredom.  The monotony was incredible, but it was an amazing mental accomplishment.  The physical was the dumb part.

We went to a Super Bowl party where I sat with ice on my knees and ankles.  I ate.  A lot.  

A month later it was time for what I thought would be the easiest portion of my Ironman.  I mapped out a sixteen mile loop that I would have to complete seven times.  With the experience that I had, I figured it would be a long day, but I’d feel fine afterwards.  I thought very wrong. 

The day started out great.  I cruised through the first loop at a great pace and felt terrific.  However, the second loop brought a flat tire.  I fixed the tube and got back on the road.  Lap three brought another tube leak.  But this time, it was barely noticeable.  I ended up realizing the problem at the corner of a huge intersection (probably the busiest in our town).  I pumped it up with my small portable pump and kept moving.  The problem got consistently worse and was not longer unnoticeable.  At a certain point I was stopping every few miles to pump it up. I was determined.  

At the end of lap six I determined that my bike was no longer rideable.  I had no extra tubes and I was pretty mad.  I had given up on calculating my finish time hours before.  I was focusing on getting through the moment at hand.  My only solution was to call my mom and have her bring her beach cruiser type bike over to our house.  

“Mommy!  Can you help me!?” - I AM an only child.

I finished lap six on the rims of my wheels and switched out bikes as it was starting to get dark (I started early in the morning again.).  

The last lap was incredibly hard and dangerous.  I was biking in the dark without a lot of reflective gear and on bike that was not the right size or style.  I looked ridiculous.  Thankfully, I have no pictures.  I should have had a Go Pro.  I had to fix the seat, breaks, and handlebars at various points and was feeling nauseous.  I realized I hadn’t eaten much other than a snack when I was at the house switching bikes.  

Looking back, if I had thought about all the problems that I knew would arise when I started having troubles early on, I never would have made it.  I needed to focus on what was going on at the time.  I knew there was a goal, but I was nowhere near close.  I relied on my cycling experience to keep me safe and keep the bikes in functional order.  Twelve hours after heading out, I pulled into my driveway and my extremely concerned (and probably confused) wife was waiting.  I had survived.  We took an impromptu celebration trip to Applebee’s.  You as ask why…It was half price appetizers…no other worthy reason.  

I learned from this bike ride that I need to complete the small things along the way in order to get to a big goal.  Focusing in the moment is important.  Otherwise, execution never happens.

You’re probably thinking that I nearly drowned in the swim portion of my dumb idea.  Actually, it was the easiest part.  I had to complete 100 laps in our community pool.  Another odd place to do this, but early in the day it was not hot, no one was in the pool, and keeping track of the laps was easy because I had the help of my wife who never turned down a poolside chair.  

I zipped through the swim.  And enjoyed the entire accomplishment and the rest of my day.  

Challenges Make or Break Your Focus

Ever since my big day on the bike, I have tried to make every challenge into a lesson.  I can’t say I have been completely successful.  But, I’ve done pretty well and can say that I am much wiser from making that a daily practice.  

If you Follow One Course you’ll find a much shorter road Until Success.   Trust your research and your instincts as you reach for a goal.  The road to impact is not often easy, but it’s an educational road.  The journey will teach you amazing things if you concentrate on the elements along the way.  Don’t get distracted by the possibly of success.  After all, it’s exactly that, a possibility.  

Reality is way better than possibly in the world of goal setting.

Stay strong.  Keep on.  And F-O-C-U-S.