Running Man
Ultrarunning teaches about how small business success takes planning, practice and endurance.
My friend, Mike, is an ultra-runner. These are a rare breed of runner. Recently he completed a 24-hour race in Eugene, Oregon. Literally, they do not stop running for 24 hours around a 1-mile forest loop except to refuel, hydrate, and go to the bathroom. It’s insane!
But, it is achievable through months of training. He completed this incredible feat not just by training over the past several months, but through working his way up to it over years of shorter practices and races.
Globally, for the 24-hour ultra marathon, the record is 198 miles set in 2022 by 41-year-old Aleksandr Sorokin - that means he averaged 7’15” per mile (ridiculous!). Mike ran 102 miles (averaged 14’12” per mile), and placed 3rd overall (for his first 24-hour race!). How someone can do either of these paces over a continuous 24-hour period is beyond me, raising the question, how do you become accomplished?
While my mind is blown that the human body is capable of such feats, this story also illustrates how you can do anything with belief, practice, and consistency. Let’s break those down into why they matter:
Belief
Any accomplishment begins here. It’s the vision and the momentum toward a goal. In Mike’s case, it was “I believe I can run 100 miles in 24 hours with the proper training.” Belief alone cannot achieve a goal, but taking the next step to planning how to get there can make the belief a reality.
Practice
Study what the greats do, then set a routine of practice week by week.
After one makes a plan, then establishing the goals, milestones, objectives and actions, is essential to making sure you arrive. Goals need to be mapped out and backed up with real life steps. If your goal is to reach $30,000 in monthly revenue for your business you need to put together the actions and then follow through on them. Anyone can get there by following a plan.
Consistency
This is showing up every week, every day, even when he does not feel like it because he knows that in order to reach his goals it is the only way. Consistency showing up is the key to what keeps us relevant in the world for anything we do.
Mike came into this initially quite a few years ago with a minimal knowledge about running and then began to challenge himself, practice by practice, race by race. It is a lesson in perseverance and acceptance of the challenge.
What are you doing to consistently continue down your defined path to be a better business owner and have a healthier business? For me, I am trying to post to The Biz Path Blog every week. Thanks for following along.
