What I’m learning training for my 5k

One of my mentors says “you have to give up something of a lower nature to get something of a higher nature.”  Here are three examples of how I’ve been seeing this play out for me and my clients lately…

One:  My daughter, Sammi and I recently took up running. I exercise regularly but have NEVER been a runner.  In fact, I remember many times proudly stating that I couldn’t stand running and that it hurt every inch of my body, from my toes to the roots of my hair.  What’s more is that just running to the corner would leave me huffing and puffing.

Sammi and I figured that if we were going to do this we’d do it right.  We signed up for the class, “How to Train and Eat for a 5K” so we have a coach and each other to keep us going.  Over the past few weeks we have both made astounding progress.

This past Saturday morning in class our coach announced that we were all going to complete a 5K (3.1 miles) that day.  I decided that I’d push myself to run 2 miles and walk the rest. After all I know I’m not a runner.

I got to the end of the first mile, I was tired but I started thinking about my goal and realized that there was only one thing stopping me and it had nothing to do with how tired my legs were, it was my “knowledge” that I was not a runner.  In order for me to complete the two miles I had to give up that belief. In the end I ran 2.5 miles before I started to walk.

Two:  One of my clients often jokes about his “seed mess”. Every time he decides to clean up he goes through all of his piles.  He makes decisions to toss a lot of the things and put away some of the others   but he always leaves one small stack of papers…these papers he tells me (with a smile on his face) is the seed for the stacks that will inevitably come because he believes that he can never be a neat and organized person. He believes this so he’s right.

Three:  On the online forum of the CarrieThru 3C’s Boot Camp there is a discussion going on about the decision one participant needed to make about whether or not to keep notes from coaching sessions she had participated in a while ago.

She decided to let them go. Her thinking is that she knows where she was and she knows where she is…there is no need to hang onto her old self anymore.  She felt relieved as she tossed all of her old notes and files detailing the life that she had moved beyond.

So where does this leave you?

On the surface you may think that you should be able to get organized, you should be able to stop procrastinating and that you “should” be able to set your priorities and stay focused so that you have a profitable business that you enjoy.  In fact you “should” be able to do a lot of things that just aren’t happening. BUT what I’m finding, both personally and professionally is that thinking you should be able to do it has very little to do with reality. If you are finding yourself having trouble moving forward ask yourself what your thoughts really are?  Are there some beliefs you need go leave behind in order to truly accomplish your goal?

I’d love to know your thoughts on this.  Please share them with me on my blog.