How to embrace the hard things that will help you grow
Sunny. Humid. Mid 80s. 6,000 People. 3.5 Miles. Tornado Advisory.
Can’t stop. Won’t stop. It was time to race.
It’s been just over three years since I ran in any sort of competitive setting (thanks, Corona).
In that time, I kept exercising. I kept rowing. I kept walking.
But I wasn’t pushing my potential forward.
I felt like I was on fitness cruise control.
I needed the challenge back in my life again.
Accepting the Challenge
From 2017-2019, I participated in the world’s largest corporate running event, the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge.
What began as a way to escape my personal demons with burnout, the Corporate Challenge became a catalyst for something more—transforming my health.
Starting from basically zero activity, I trained and started working out more than I had in years. Over time, I got better and so did my times.
Then the Pandemic.
The Corporate Challenge, a kind of marker in time to help push me every year, disappeared into the ether for two years.
It was unclear whether the event would ever return or what it would look like.
Back Again
On Thursday, June 16, 2022, I found myself back in the queue with over 6,000 other runners.
The air was heavy, like passing through an uncomfortable sauna that you couldn’t turn down.
Unlike the previous years, this was a different kind of spin on the run.
I knew that the battle I was about to face wasn’t with the 3.5 mile run (just over a 5k). It was with the weather. It was with my willpower to push through anyway.
I hadn’t trained in this type of weather, but I had prepared as best I could. I had been walking, jogging, rowing, and lifting for the past two months and I felt as ready as I ever would be.
—
Bang.
I passed the threshold of the starting line, cranked up a music playlist, and pushed off into the mayhem.
What happened next was … rough.
I could feel the weight of the humidity on my skin.
I slowed my pace.
I knew I would need my energy later.
For the next 3 miles, I struggled. The race path was exactly the same as before—down tree-laden streets outside Delaware Park.
But it was far more difficult and I could feel the time I was hoping for slipping away from me.
Just Keep Going
Then something changed.
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to match my fastest time, but I sure as hell could control if stopped running or not.
For many avid runners, 3.5 miles is barely anything.
For me, in that moment, it felt like the longest distance of my life.
I remembered the tortoise and the hare.
It didn’t matter how slow I got as long as I kept moving my body the way I had trained it.
The battle was a mental one, not physical.
—
I turned the final corner and could see the finish line in the distance.
I had nothing left in the tank.
No extra push. No final sprint.
Instead—I just kept moving.
I could feel my face radiate in the humid, Summer heat.
I stepped over the finish line and felt like a complete success.
I knew my time was objectively “worse” than my fastest, but I had won the trial of the day—just. keep. moving.
—
I learned soon after that my time wasn’t the fastest, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either. Of the four years I participated in the event, my time came in just over my second best.
Doing hard things that challenge us keeps things in perspective.
They enrich our lives.
Could I have gone out on a day with a nice breeze and at a brisk 60 degree F temp with almost no humidity and crushed it?
Sure.
That would have been great.
But I couldn’t control the weather. I couldn’t control the challenge.
All I could control was how I approached the challenge.
That’s how I crushed it.
4 Simple Steps to Do Hard Things
And so, here are four tips to help you take on obstacles of your own:
Tip #1: Show up
Half of the battle is already over as long as we show up to the challenge in front of us. Working out isn’t nearly as difficult as getting ourselves to the gym.
Tip #2: Be prepared
For the challenges we can see coming, being prepared is the easiest way to ensure success. You can build up your skills over time to meet the challenge head on. A challenge is simply a test. You wouldn’t go into a test without studying. Don’t go into a challenge—a race, an important meeting, a big day— without setting yourself up as best you can to nail it.
Tip #3: Keep going
There will be a moment, a wall, that pushes back. Break through that wall. It won’t be easy, but the choice to move beyond that limit will give you the motivation to go further than you believed was possible.
Tip #4: Enjoy the struggle
We can’t control the outcome of the challenge, but we can control the effort we put into it. Moreover, we are alive. Challenges, those that we see coming and those we don’t, shape us into the people we are becoming. By facing challenges with grace and understanding, we can learn from them and use that experience towards the next.
Final Thoughts
Racing something like the Corporate Challenge or any event like it is a race against yourself. I wasn’t trying to win against anyone other than me. I was there to experience something. I was there to find myself again.
It’s the hardest things we overcome that shape us into the people we’re meant to be.
Until next week, here are links to what I’ve been working on and treasures I’ve found out in the creative wilderness.
Enjoy!
Recent Finds
Rich Roll — Steve Magness: Do Hard Things — The Science of Resilience (Type) | An absolutely inspiring podcast about how the things that challenge us, things that are uncomfortable, can transform us in wonderful, unexpected ways. Steve Magness is a former elite track and field athlete (4:01 miler) now coach and author. He has some fascinating ways to think about personal toughness and resilience. But Steve’s story is so much more. A whistleblower in a scandal with the Nike Oregon Project, Steve dives into how he made the hard choice to speak up for what was right, even if it meant the likely destruction of his career. A must watch/listen episode from the Rich Roll podcast.
Rich Webster — On Warren Buffett's "25:5 Strategy” (Instagram) | Sometimes we need strategies to simplify our processes and prevent overthinking. I love this breakdown of Warren Buffett’s 25:5 Strategy for setting goals because it helps us immediately recognize what is most important to us and cut out what’s not. We can’t do everything. When we try to do it all, the effort often backfires or kicks our goals down the timeline. But if we ruthlessly dial in to what we want first and commit to that, we can move mountains in our lives.
Ryan Holiday — 9 Short Rules to a Better Life (Video) | It’s amazing how a few simple steps can mean the difference between settling for what life gives you and building a life that fuels you. Ryan’s 9 rules can help you do just that. Short, sweet, and to the point. This is the jolt of inspiration you need today to keep moving the needle forward.
Quote of the Week
“Perfectionism is just fear wearing a tuxedo. It masquerades as a character trait, as if it's an asset, but it's not. It's a poison that pretends to be a vitamin.”
—Jon Acuff
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
