SAL Lessons from a Half-Marathon

As many of my readers know, I have run 13 marathons in a quest to qualify for the elite Boston event, yet never succeeded. My best time fell short by 9-minutes.

Following my 13th 26.2-mile run last year, I "retired" from the marathon distance feeling deflated, defeated, and disappointed.

Yesterday, I felt a measure of vindication by conquering an elusive personal goal of breaking 1:30 in the half-marathon. My time was 1:27.30 (6:40 mile pace). The purpose of this blog post is to share some of the Self-Action Leadership lessons I was able to take away from the experience.

1. Self-sacrifice precedes all meaningful accomplishments and growth.

I am not very good at regulating my personal diet. I am particularly weak when it comes to my love of soda pop -- especially caffeinated and diet soda. I was never strong-willed enough to give up soda during my marathon training. But over the Christmas holidays, I received a providential challenge from my Father-in-law to give the stuff up. It was the trigger of motivation I needed. I have not had a drop of soda pop for 10 weeks. This no doubt helped my cause yesterday.

2. Consistency is a key to the achievement of any meaningful goal.

I travel a lot with my work. My wife and I are also busy raising a 2-year old. These two life realities made it difficult to train as often and as much as was necessary to achieve my ambitious marathon goals. Insufficient training was a key component in my marathon underachievement. Fortunately, the past ten weeks, I have had a much lighter travel schedule as I have been working more from home building my own business. This schedule change provided me the opportunity to train more consistently. Instead of getting 3-4 runs in per week, I was able to get in 4-6 runs per week. The results were clear: consistency is a key to the achievement of any meaningful goal. It's not just about doing the work; it's about doing the work consistently to prepare your muscles in a way that only consistency can.

3. Your chances for success go way up when your goals align with your natural strengths.

I have known for most of my life that for races longer than a quarter mile, my natural talents are better suited to shorter races than longer races. My PR for the 800 meters (a mere half-a mile, is 1:55 (a 3:50 mile pace). As races get longer, I get slower. My next best event was the mile/1500 meters. I once ran a 1500 meter time that was the equivalent of a 4:15 mile. My 5k PR is 15:18. Without exception, my talent lessens as the race lengthens. No wonder I had such issues with the marathon!

The half marathon distance is a fascinating one for me because while it is half the distance of a full-marathon, it is only about 1/8th as difficult. I know, it doesn't make much sense, but there are many other runners who would agree with me. Without having to face the dreaded "wall" of the marathon somewhere between miles 17-24 (depending on the day), the half marathon is genuinely a pleasure by comparison. The results of turning my attention to events I have more natural talent in are already starting to bear fruit. After I get tired of the half-marathon, I am eager to turn my attention once gain to 10k and 5k races, where I will, no doubt, do even better at than the half marathon. And someday as an older guy, my goal is to compete on an elite masters level at my beloved 800 and 1500 meters.

Self-action leaders are wise to pursue personal and career pathways that align well with their natural talents and abilities. Successfully doing so requires that you try a lot of different work tasks and hobbies to figure out what you are best at. Socrates once advised: "Know Thyself." The more self-aware you are of your own innate talents and abilities, the better you will be able to plan for success now and in the future.

One of my favorite verses of scripture reads:

"For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God. To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby." [1]

Despite the gifts I have been blessed with, I am profoundly aware of the many gifts I lack. With the minimal amounts of time we have in this world to make the most of our lives, it makes sense to spend the majority of our time focusing on our strengths. That is not to say we should ignore or neglect our weaknesses; it just means that every one is better served when we become the best You and I that we are capable of becoming, which involves a primary focus on our strengths.

For example, I took algebra I three years in a row in high school. Higher level math has never been a strength of mine. It was necessary for me to work on my weaknesses in order to pass algebra so I could eventually graduate from high school and go on to college, but it would have been foolish to try and become a mechanical engineer like my wife -- who is brilliant at math. I am better suited putting my efforts and focus on my gifts, and then enjoying and being AMAZED at the remarkable gifts others have that I don't.

Words can hardly express how glad I am to not be running marathons anymore. Good riddance to 26.2. The distance simply doesn't suit my natural talents, abilities, or desires. While I am grateful I ran 13 marathons because of the lessons I learned and the confidence I built doing hard things, it is enormously satisfying to be working on events that better suit my natural talents and abilities, and it is incredibly rewarding to be breaking personal records and becoming competitive again.

Points to Personally Ponder: 

1. What is one area of your life where you could benefit from exercising more "Self-Sacrifice?"
2. What is one area of your life where you lack Consistency? Make a plan to be more Consistent in this area beginning this week.
3. What are your greatest strengths? Are you currently neglecting them in a way that is impeding your long-term success?

Footnotes:
1. Doctrine & Covenants 46:11-12

The Self-Action Leadership Master Challenge

Imagine having only ONE goal that would provide on-going self-improvement throughout the entire year.  What would such a New Year's Resolution look like?

Are YOU...


Interested in a New Year's Resolution that is different from all the others you've tried in the past?

Searching for a goal that is ambitious, yet realistic?

Looking for a doable opportunity that could make a REAL difference in your personal and professional life in 2015?

If so, you have come to the right place!

Freedom Focused is proud to introduce a SPECIAL New Year's Resolution for 2015 that will provide you with the following:

• Page-turning reading material throughout the year     
• 25 doable requirements that will enhance your self-awareness, personal vision, and lead to personal change.
• A medal and diploma as tangible recognition for your personal success upon completion. 

Welcome to the Self-Action Leadership Master Challenge!

The SAL Master Challenge consists of 25 Self-Action Leadership exercises that accompany your reading of the book, Self-Action Leadership: The Key to Personal & Professional Freedom.  In coming chapters of the book, you will begin noticing these exercises show up one-at-a-time throughout the remainder of the text.     

Self-Action Leadership Master Challenge Requirements

1. Find an Accountability Partner (e.g., spouse, family member, friend, supervisor, colleague, mentor). Review with them the SAL Master Challenge requirements. Invite them to be a witness to your efforts and serve as your accountability partner.
2. Read all five sections of the book.
3. Complete the 25 SAL Challenge Exercises throughout the book.
4. Share the book—and what you have learned and experienced—with three people who have not yet read it. Invite and encourage them to read it and complete the SAL Challenge.
5. Submit a copy of your Self-Declaration of Independence and Self-Constitution along with your completed requirement sheet, including initials & signatures, to Freedom Focused. If you wish to keep these documents personal, you may submit a 10-page paper in lieu thereof. The paper should discuss what you have learned about SAL and how you are applying it in your life.

To print a hard copy of these requirements, click on the image below, save the file on your computer (right click), and then print.

Detailed explanations of a Self-Declaration of Independence and Self-Constitution are provided in Book the Third to come later on this year--and in May when the hardcopy book is published.

Upon receipt of your completed requirement sheet and deliverables from requirement five (5), a member of the Freedom Focused faculty will review your work and verify your completion of the established requirements. Upon passing this faculty review, you will receive your SAL Master medal and diploma in the mail at no charge to you. Your name will also be added to the SAL Hall of Fame located online at the Freedom Focused website where it will remain indefinitely as a virtual recognition and reminder of your hard work and accomplishment.

That's it! We invite you to accept the SAL Master Challenge in 2015 as part of your never-ending pursuit of world-class personal and professional development.  We also invite you to share this challenge with your friends so they can benefit too.

Next blog post ~ Friday, January 9; SAL book Chapter 16: The Power of Personal Experience

The Satisfaction of Goal Achievement

Last weekend, I traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to run the Mississippi Blues Marathon as part of my SMARTIES Goal.  It was the first of four marathons I plan to run this year in my quest to qualify for the elite Boston Marathon.

I am pleased to report that I met my goal of running under 3 hours and 30 minutes.  I also broke my March 1st goal of running under 3 hours and 20 minutes.  My time for the race was 3:18.00.

While I still have my work cut out for me to qualify for Boston (I must run under 3:05.00), it was very satisfying to meet two of my goals for the year so early on in January.

Having experienced the defeat and deflation of missing the mark by 70 minutes after my second marathon, it felt pretty good to narrow that margin down to only 14 minutes after my 9th try at the distance.  Most importantly, I ran my best time ever by over 12 minutes.  Getting a new "PR" (personal record) was one of the highlights of the day for me.  It definitely made the hard work feel worth it.

The Self-Action Leadership (SAL) philosophy teaches that self-competition is more important than competition with others, and that it is the only authentic form of fair competition. No two people are exactly alike in this world, so the concept of fair interpersonal competition is really a misnomer.  If you can honestly say to yourself at the end of a day, race, project, school year/program/degree, etc., that you have given your best effort, then you are, at that moment, consummately successful in that area, and there is no comparison in the world that can or should tarnish the joy and exultation of that priceless self-knowledge.  The SAL Theory and Model is designed to always focus your mind primarily on becoming your best, not on bettering the performances of others.

This is not to say that competition with others is bad or should be entirely avoided.  Interpersonal competition has its place, but that place must always be secondary to the intrapersonal competition that motivates you to become your best.  For example, it felt good to know that I finished 28th place out of 827 finishers on Saturday, but I wasn't about to let the fact that 27 people beat me dilute the enormous satisfaction I felt at having just run a marathon 12 minutes faster than I have ever run before.  In next week's post, I will share the journey that led me to change my thinking to focus primarily on self-competition instead of competition with others.

In the meantime, I wish to thank all my readers for being my "Accountability Partners" for my Boston Marathon qualifying goal.  Knowing that I am committed to report to you after each of my marathons this year has already provided me with much positive motivation to invest my best efforts to achieve my goals.  It is helping me, and I thank you!

In consideration of my performance on Saturday, I have adjusted my new goals moving forward as follows:

March 1st Marathon in The Woodlands, Texas: Run under 3 hours and 10 minutes.  Also, lose 15 more pounds prior to race (I've already lost 10; I have 20 to go to be in top form).  This goal will prove the most challenging for me because discipline and temperance with sugar, soda, and other less healthy foods has never been my strong suit.

June 14th Marathon in Provo, Utah: Run under 3 hours and 5 minutes and qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon.  Lose an extra five pounds to weigh in at #160 or less on race day. (I weighed about #180 on race day last Saturday)

October 4th in St. George, Utah: Break the 3 hour barrier.