Our limits are unknowable

Last week I went out to the Baja peninsula in Mexico to pre-run this year’s Baja 1000 course. The Baja 1000 is the longest non-stop cross country race in the world – and one of the most dangerous. My son Tanner and I do it on a motorcycle. (See our YouTube movie “Into the Dust” for our first race in 2015). Last year we decided to enter in the “Ironman” class, which means you have no teammates – you do it solo. Riding 855 miles non-stop in the desert over rocks, deep sand, sand with rocks, river crossings, in close quarters with hostile cacti and barbed wire, with cattle and horses all over the course, with desert racing trucks screaming past you at twice your speed while being sleep-deprived and fatigued beyond anything you have ever done before…what could go wrong? 

Last year, Tanner finished in 28 1/2 hours, becoming a member of less than 20 people to ever finish this class in the Baja 1000.  I got hurt (whiplash) at mile 200, but persisted for 400 more miles to tap out at mile 600 in 27 1/2 hours due to the injury.  I am going back to finish, and Tanner won’t let me go alone. Being fully informed, he doesn’t want to do it again, nor do I – but I have to. 

This year’s course, 1134.4 miles – 279 more than last year. It starts in Ensenada, Mexico and weaves through the desert to LaPaz. That’s like from my house in Connecticut to Miami Beach, Florida. It starts at midnight on Nov 15 and there is a 46 1/2 hour time limit. I have trained all year. I have prepared. I have planned. I am ready.

In order to find out what your limits are, you must attempt to exceed them. In the end, most limits are mental ones of our own construction. 

Push your previous limits. It’s how you grow.

Employers are concerned about this…

Did you know that most employers are struggling with their employees spending work time on their smart phones?  Social media, text conversations, personal email, web surfing…

Employers don’t want to pay anyone to do these things. They want you to help them accomplish goals – and whoever does that the best will be favored over those that don’t. That makes sense, right?

Did you know employers feel like they are in a tough spot? On one hand they want to be nice and not be jerks, but on the other it drives them nuts when they walk in and an employee sees them and ducks their phone down.  

Your employer doesn’t know what to do about this.

Here’s what you can do. Go to work for the company, not a wage. When you go to work for your team, you don’t think about how much time you can waste without getting caught, or allow distractions at work. You have a work ethic that will be noticed, and you’ll get more results for your team and for you.

Creative vs. Reactive

These two words have the same letters in them; only the placement of the C is different, but it makes all the difference.

Creative work is where much value is made. Reactive is where much time is spent.  

When you get up in the morning, do you check your email or phone first? That’s reactive. Don’t do that.

Instead, do your creative work first. Focus your mind on your important work or project for as long as it takes – even if the reactive stuff doesn’t get done.

Create more, react less.

Talent vs. Persistence

Talent is a wonderful thing. But it won’t matter if you quit.

Good things take time and focus.

The Google within

Your brain has a search capability better than Google – but you have to tell it what to search for.

Do you have a goal that has been broken down into micro-goals? Have you told your brain what needs to be done today? What resources do you need now?

Start the search with intention, and you’ll find it.

"Deep Work"

“Shallow work keeps you from getting fired. Deep work gets you a promotion.” – Cal Newport from the book, Deep Work

Do you go deep on anything?

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"WMD Treaty"

Smart phone – weapon of mass distraction. 

Technology is awesome, but we have to be its master, and not be used by it as a tool for others’ agendas and time frames.  

To do great work we have to focus our attention. Try this. Turn your phone off when doing a project, then put it out of sight. Then focus that incredible brain of yours on a high value task for an uninterrupted period.

Try it. Call a WMD treaty and focus.

Wired to be lazy

In our tribal days, we humans didn’t have grocery stores. Food was often scarce and hard to find. So we are wired to burn no more calories than we have to. We are wired to be lazy to survive.

Doing things that require lots of effort (energy), mental or physical, is a hard sell to the brain. We have to act despite our emotions telling us we don’t feel like it, wait, or making excuses. We have to lead with our body. Once we are in action, the brain says “ok, this is what we are doing now,” and goes along with it.

Behaviors lead to emotions more than the other way around. Act despite your feelings.

Execute "the" things

There is a huge difference between acquiring information and understanding it. There’s an even bigger gap between understanding information and executing on a daily basis and developing skills with it.

You don’t have to know everything. You just have to know the right stuff relevant to your goals, focus on it and bring it into action in your life.

What knowledge have you collected, zoomed in on and put into practice?

"Open tickets"

The mind doesn’t like “open tickets.” 

Finish what you started and you’ll be able to focus on the next thing and crush it.