Is Your Life a Sprint or Marathon? You Decide
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Sprint vs. Marathon
Sprint versus a marathon. Which is better?
After deciding to take on a challenge to be unreasonable with my personal expectations, this analogy came up on how to accomplish my unreasonable demands.
Life is a marathon. As long as you cross the finish line, you’ve won. I’ve finished two marathons and it’s a great experience, I recommend anyone who has a desire to go for it. Honolulu Marathon is a fun one for your first.
The marathon analogy is a great lesson on persistence to stay the course knowing that you will win if you keep walking. The only way you lose is if you quit.
Marathon Completion Tips (How many of these can you apply in your life?)
1) Stay on the course - Why run more than 26.2 miles if you don’t have to? Why risk getting stuck or lost? Stop chasing shiny objects or every great new idea that is not on your course.
2) Take walk breaks – Walking in between runs allow us to catch our breath and our muscles to rest to have enough physical energy to finish.
(5 min mental breaks every hour keeps your focus high)
3) Build up to long runs – Start where you are at and build up your endurance. Doing too much too early can risk injury or burnout.
4) Stay hydrated and properly fueled - If you want great performance, you need great fuel.
(Being just 5% dehydrated could mean losing 20% of your mental performance. 10% dehydration can be as much as a 50% loss)
5) Visualize yourself celebrating crossing the finish line – Walt Disney said “If you can dream it, you can do it.” All achievement is created in the mind first, then created physically. Make it fun by seeing yourself celebrating. (Thank you Coach Judy Zavislak for this tip!)
6) Never quit – Keep walking and eventually you will cross the finish line that less than 1% of the population will ever do.
Marathon by Jeff Galloway
The marathon is your big picture vision.
From a performance and energy standpoint: The challenge is that very few marathoners have more energy after they finish than before they started.
To reach your full potential there will be seasons in your life where you will need to add urgency. In order to reach peak performance levels, short term sprints of urgency will increase your productivity and efficiency.
Sometimes a sprint is what you need by collapsing the timeframes to get more done in a shorter period of time.
Sprinters are more energized after the race than before they started. They have their blood flowing and adrenaline pumping.
Now remember, sprints work only for short distances. Sprints do not work for long distances or extended periods of time. People who sprint over long periods of time often burnout and it’s tougher to light a candle that has burned out than to keep one that’s already going.
Recently I made an unreasonable challenge to accomplish in 2 months what is reasonable in 1 year. This is my sprint that is aligned with crossing the finish line of my marathon.
In order to prepare and warmup for this sprint, I did several things.
Warmups and Preparation:
Step 1) Make a decision. – Everything great starts with a decision to raise our standards be personally accountable. A decision means to cut off all other possibilities other than the result you want or better.
Step 2) Get a coach. – Getting coaching has been my #1 most effective strategy in achieving results faster and more efficiently. A coach points clarifies direction, points out blind spots, strategize actions, plus gives the leverage to see it through. (Tip: Get coaches who eat their own cooking and have coaches themselves.)
Step 3) Make the Main Thing the Main Thing. – Prioritize your life by scheduling most important first. For example I scheduled my spiritual life and my family first then on my most important business tasks.
Step 4) Optimize Your Environment. – Share your decision with your team whether it’s a spouse, business partners, friend, or family member that you are engaging in this fully for a season of your life. You will enjoy less distractions and interruptions of non-important requests.
Step 5) Get a Celebration Partner. – Doing a challenge with a partner makes the journey more enjoyable with added support. If you are unable to find a partner then find someone you can report your progress and celebrate your success with on a daily basis. These interactions should be short and sweet no longer than 5 mins.
It’s important to warmup and prepare for a sprint or you might pull a hamstring. Get clear on what you want, get support, get leverage, and make your environment set up for you to win. This is the sharpening of the axe before you cut down the tree. Without it, you’ll wear yourself out trying to chop down that tree with a dull blade.
Oh by the way, if you need assistance with Step 2, we are holding a contest where a few lucky winners will win a full scholarship given out for coaching. Click here for details.
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Eiji Morishita is CEO of Genius Squared and Founder of Six Figure Speaking Secrets and Genius Millionaire Academy.
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Wow Eiji! I LOVE that post, and what an incredible analogy! Everything your wrote really resonated with me! You are truly a gifted writer, and I’m thankful for having found your blog!
I’d like to point out one thing that I’m SURE you do, but didn’t mention. Successful athletes also VISUALIZE crossing that finish line, just like your picture of the athlete celebrating!
Thanks again for all you do!
.-= Judy Zavislak´s last blog ..What would your future self say to you right now? =-.
Judy I appreciate your feedback!
That’s the first time I’ve heard that I am a gifted writer. Thank you!
It means a lot because I’ve worked hard to improve my writing skills. The more I blog, the more I improve.
My natural gifts are in training and coaching through my body language and voice. My intention is to transfer that passion in what I do into my writing.
Visualization is a integral part of my trainings and coaching. First it has to be created in the mind, then it is created physically.
It is very important part and thank you for pointing that out. I will add it to the post and give you the credit. =)
I’m happy to hear you are getting value from my posts.
Thanks Eiji, I have a tortoise and hare story somewhwere that I’ll forward you. It’s a play on the old fable and truly has lots of merit. Thanks again.
.-= Bill Cowan´s last blog ..Motivational Tip #3 Dare To Dream =-.
Thanks Bill!
Look forward to seeing that story. I just remember the old Bugs Bunny cartoon but never read the story.
To Your Genius,
Eiji
.-= Eiji Morishita´s last blog ..Be a Playful Kid Again – Secret to Unlock Your Genius =-.
Eiji,
I enjoyed this post and I love the “Sprinter’s and Marathoner’s mentality.” when my husband and I started our business few years ago we had family members in disagreement I mean after all what did social services background know about running a business. One of the things that kept us going was the marathon mentality. We put gas pedal in our life and add urgency. So I do appreciate your words here and as Judy Zavislak said you are a ‘”gifted writer.” And all we ever did then is the philosophy we hold now and it is in alignment with your message “The marathon analogy is a great lesson on persistence to stay the course knowing that you will win if you keep walking”
I do believe that hiring a mentor is the best thing you can do. They push you to the limit you never otherwise knew you possessed within your gift ability. And optimizing your environment is definitely crucial. And I am deeply honored you are part of that environment.
If you need a celebration partner I’ll be here for you too. Thanks for your candid reminder to add urgency. Most of all to keep in mind Both a Sprinter’s and Marathoner’s mentality.
I will for sure re-read this wonderful post =)
Thank You Thank You!
.-= Therese Miu´s last blog ..Lessons on Life from a 3 year old.from his first hiking adventure =-.
Thanks Therese as always! I love your positivity that always brings a smile to my face. Lots of love, Eiji. =)
.-= Eiji Morishita´s last blog ..Be a Playful Kid Again – Secret to Unlock Your Genius =-.
Wow Eiji this is an awesome comparison. I really like this and it comes at a great time too. Thanks for a great post.I will be sharing this with my friends.
Beverly
Thanks Beverly for stopping by! I appreciate the fact that you shared it friends. =)
Gratefully,
Eiji
Eiji,
Great metaphor. As I kept reading, I realized it is important to know when to sprint and when to just keep walking, knowing you will eventually cross the finish line. When I began building my online business presence, I thought I needed to sprint. I wanted everything finished immediately – and then felt totally inadequate, overwhelmed and annoyed with my mentor and techies. Now, after many pieces are in place, now I have the choice of sometimes sprinting and often just continuing to move forward.
Erica, thank you for your comment. Yes having the patience with persistence is a unbeatable combination. Sprinting is a great way to build momentum and for sure not a constant way of being. After a sprint, it makes walking all the more enjoyable.
.-= Eiji Morishita´s last blog ..Avoid Burnout Easily =-.
Hey Eiji,
Great post. I love the analogy between the Marathon runner and the Sprinter. You put them together in such a great package that it was so clear the value of each and how we need to be able to be both in our lives. There is a time for sprinting for sure…
Being clear on where you want to go is the most valuable things anyone can determine for their life. Keeping it in front of them all the time will help them move through everything that shows up along the way to take them off course.
Thanks again for sharing this with us all.
Make it a great day!
God Bless,
-ed
Thanks Ed! As always you bring up a great point.
Without a clear goal or destination, you are unable to go full out 100% towards that direction and have some doubt. Kind of like driving behind a car who is clearly looking for an address they’ve never been to.
Being crystal clear in where we are going allows us to sprint.
God Bless Ed!
-Eiji
.-= Eiji Morishita´s last blog ..Be a Playful Kid Again – Secret to Unlock Your Genius =-.
If you could only sprint a marathon….that we be awesome. But the truth is you can’t. I am actually training with my wife for the breast cancer marathon next year and I realize that alot of the time, planning and effort will take place before we even start running.
It is the same in business. A solid marketing plan with the right tools, attitude and partners/coaches is the only we you will be able to execute your goals.
Go be great,
Rafael
.-= Rafael Cantu´s last blog ..How to increase Lead Generation for your Small Business – Part 1 =-.