Back in January this year, I mention that I was ‘Back to Running‘
But, rather than having regular runs to train up for my marathon goals, I lost focus.
Deep inside me, I know I want to run marathon(s).
It was only when my waistline goes the wrong way that I decide to set things straight. Better to correct the problem now.
I set a goal. To trim my waistline (the benchmark is to fit into my pants easily; avoiding the need to invest in new ones).
I started going to the gym, adding cardio excercise and watching my diet. Within a month, I have reached this goal.
I also noticed that some part of my belief system is changing. I have previously set a goal to run my first marathon by age 35; 3 years away.
Today, I belief I can participate my first marathon this year, complete it and without injuries.
The whole ‘zen’ of it, is to balance my training between runs and walks. Workouts and rest.
Now, for the business part.
What has it got to do with marathons?
Running a business is a long term commitment. It is not a sprint. Sprinting is like building a business to be acquired. It is not about fraud. That is like doping in sports.
Running a marathon requires you to train regularly. To improve yourself constantly. But, more important it is to allow you to train and achieve all the intermediate goals; and hence your destination.
Running a business is the same. You have to tune your business to improve it. Example, being better with our sales process. Or writing better sales proposal. It is not about how many proposal we write, but the ratio of wins that we have.
Goals in marathon could be the 5k, 10k, 15k interval. Goals in business is your 3 year milestone, 5 year milestone and ultimately your vision for the company.
In a marathon, you don’t have to run all the way to complete it. In fact, most runners doing that finds themselves struggling as they cross the halfway mark.
It is more important to run-walk constantly. To let your body balance the workload on different group of muscles.
In business, we don’t have to learn how to rest, and think through how to get to our destination in better shape.
So, let’s recap the key points.
1. Beliefs (the vision)
Believe that you can do it. Believe in the business that you are doing. If it does not make sense, make adjustment.
2. Train Regularly (the system)
A business system will always needs fine tuning.
Companies like Dell, fine tune their processes so that they are more efficient.
Training also means spotting your mistakes early so that you can avoid serious injury when the time comes.
Example, you won a big contract, but your development team still do not have the proper processes in place.
This is as good as struggling in marathon during the halfway point.
3. Set your goals (the goals)
There are always more roads than goals. And if you don’t have goals, it does not matter which road you take.
And there will be times be it in business or marathon, that others will say you cannot do it. This is when the faith in it becomes ever so important.
Along the way, there will be times when you will be alone and then there will be times where others are encouraging you to move forward.
You just need to stay focus on your goals.