Six Life Lessons Learned from Triathlon Training

Highlights include:

• Get started (NOW!)
• You have to do the miles
• Some days it’s going to rain
• Put your head down and take it one step at a time
• Find sources of inspiration

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Everest image source: twiga_269

This week I am heading to Miami to compete in the Miami Man International Distance Triathlon (swim .6 mile, bike 24 miles, and run 10k) on November 9th as part of my commitment to Train for Humanity.

Not many people actually know this about me, but I have wanted to do a triathlon ever since I watched Julie Moss (see video below- watch it!) collapse on T.V. at the Hawaii IronMan triathlon and then crawl across the finish line in 1982. Yikes that’s over 20 years ago…

While certainly not IronMan distance, the Olympic distance tri should give me a good feel for the event. Really, I would like to make it to, and compete in, the Hawaii IronMan event someday, but I am not sure that my knees necessarily agree with me.

To expand, and to get some differing viewpoints on the question above, “What have you always wanted to do?” I asked on Twitter and the following are the responses I received (I think you’ll be surprised by the answers):

afreytes: Surf and get stoked (Don’t have the body/grace for it though)

jalaine: to create the perfect work place for creative people and experiment on how to make it the most productive and fun place to be.

gabopagan: when I want something I go for it. The only thing I wish more would be… effect fundamental change on others.

terencechang: travel around the world and help poor orphan kids to live better in their life.

diablogue_chat: learn Spanish is still on my “List of things to do B4 I die.

corkymc: cliche, I know, but I have always wanted to trek in Tibet and see the Himalayas. No desire to climb, I just want to see them.

CoffeeDaze: move to Europe for a few years. Preferably Ireland, Holland or Germany.

annavhutchinson: I have always wanted to go to Italy, largely b/c it’s the setting for so many of the books I’ve loved. I’m hoping to go soon…

LucyFel: travel to Egypt to see the ancient ruins at Giza.

freelancesquad: I want to walk on The Graet Wall of China and go to The Great Barrier Reef:)

MinnesotaFats: spend a few nights in the Ice Hotel in Sweden.

melissamcd: that’s tough…start something that positively impacts the lives of many, not just a few - work for myself - move to Bonaire.

rosyblue: I have always wanted to ride a bike across Europe! One day, one day!!!

How about you - What is one thing you have always wanted to do in your life but have not done yet? And if you would like to further explain, what exactly is holding you back…?

Just about one month ago Leo Babauta, Dan Clements, Andrew Flusche, and I launched Train for Humanity, an innovative new humanitarian project to try and generate some awareness and raise funds for folks who are facing a dire situation.

We are bound in our belief that with a little creativity and independent thinking individuals can make a difference and effect positive change in the world.

In addition, we realize that many people are looking to capitalize on the web and use it as a tool to launch, promote, or grow a new or existing business. Train for Humanity, is of course, a non-profit, however, launching a humanitarian site it is pretty much just like trying to launch any other type of organization or business.

As such, we felt that a one-month recap might be useful to you and help to give some initial insight into some of the mistakes we’ve made and what is working well.

You can read the rest of the post at Train for Humanity: One Month After Launch: Ten Lessons Learned and if you gain any value from the post please consider giving it a Stumble, DIGG, or Reddit.

image: Village Big Man and Tribal Leader Erukai and family; Kakoro, Papua New Guinea

What could this marketing guy from New York possibly know about tribes? Does he know that in Papua New Guinea the tribal leaders are known as ‘Big Men’ or that in Samoa they call elders ‘Matai’ and they have different designations whether they are a village orator or in charge of land resources.

I have been a reader of Seth’s blog for quite some time now, and he has even been kind enough to answer simple business questions for me from time to time. But, for this book, “TRIBES,” I was not prepared to drink the Kool AId just because Mr. Godin wrote it.

Quite possibly, because the tribes I am most familiar with (literally) rely on each other for survival. Promoting products or trying to increase brand awareness could quite possibly be the furthest thing from their minds. If the tribes I know stop functioning or have a leadership breakdown, the reality is, they face life-threatening circumstances.

Nevertheless, after carefully reading the book and with the above being stated, my recommendation is:

Don’t buy Seth Godin’s new book Tribes just for yourself!! Do the world a favor and buy a copy of it for your friends and co-workers too.

My own humble opinion, but this book could easily be repackaged and located in the ‘Self Help’ section of bookstores under the title, “Life is to Short to be Mediocre” and I could NOT agree more.

Overall View of Tribes

Chances are, if you’re reading this site you are like me. Attempting to live some type of unconventional life.

You might want to work from home, start your own business, or travel the globe and you’ve learned (or are in the process of learning) how to control your fear and to pursue what *you* believe is important.

Seth’s book is, of course, everything you would expect it to be, thought provoking, intelligently written, and inspiring.

How can you argue with a guy that is trying to effect such a positive change?

I am not a marketing expert, just someone who got fed up with the status quo of working for other people. And who now owns a small business in the Caribbean and currently trying to get a fledgling humanitarian project off the ground using mostly social media and blogging to help spread the word.

What I truly like about Tribes is the fact that it’s not really about marketing at all, but about breaking the chains of mediocrity and living and pursuing your ideas!

With one of the primary tenets that I drew from the book being:

People are afraid to lead and create movements because they are stuck in a rut due too fear.

One of my favorite discussions in the book begins on page fifty-five where Seth writes about discomfort:

“It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers.”

“It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail.”

“It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo.”

I particularly like the “uncomfortable” discourse because a couple of weeks ago I posted regarding the best method that I have discovered (via my own trial and error!) to get yourself out of a rut, which is to make yourself uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was the title, Better Than Smacking A Fish off Your Forehead: How to get yourself out of a rut, but my “uncomfortable” missive did not do well and I thought, perhaps I was missing something.

My first thought when reading Seth’s discussion on making yourself uncomfortable; I (WE) get it.

But, oh man, would I love to be able to give a copy of this book to all of the entrenched government employees that I encountered while trying to introduce new technology as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consultant.

Fighting the Status Quo

Many people (not all!) that I previously worked with on a daily basis were truly fantastic human beings, but they had that glazed over look of the paycheck collecting, walking dead and appeared on the surface to be perfectly content with mediocrity and resisting (fighting?) change at every angle. (Note: To be fair, in many of the work situations that I found myself in, I was a complete outsider because I came from another country. So it was MY job to breakdown the barriers that can accompany new technology, data sharing, and collaboration.)

If this is how you choose to live, then that’s okay. Though many seemed to be stuck somewhere between – miserable and just barely content with their daily work lives. I know the look (WELL) because I have been there myself and think it’s a lifelong battle to keep from falling back into it.

I think Seth’s book is important when it comes to fighting the status quo because it’s really a thesis on the power of independent thinking. Specifically, how pursuing your ideas, having a plan, and a vision for where you would like to go, whether, marketing a product, working as a customer service rep, or as a method of leading your life can make a difference. It’s not easy

My Recommendations to Seth

A couple of days ago Pam Slim asked on Twitter if anyone had questions regarding Tribes as she was going to be having a phone discussion with Seth.

My immediate response, “How do we get this book infused into corporate America” so that it becomes the human resource manual by which all companies will be judged by?

Living outside the continental U.S. can be difficult when it comes to ordering products and services, but two recent interactions that I have had with customer service representatives REALLY highlight the need for independent thinking in some corporations:

• AT&T – we have been attempting to purchase a Blackberry, first online, and as of late on the phone. In fact, we’ve been on the phones so much with AT&T that my wife has spent at least eight hours (yes you read that correct!) trying to get our order sorted. The thing I don’t understand is, we WANT to give them our very hard earned money… But, as of 1:00p.m. on Monday, October 27, not one person at AT&T can tell us if our order has been shipped, how it was shipped, or when it will arrive. The general tone that we receive when we call is that we are idiots, don’t worry, and call back later (so someone else can deal with you). I even went so far as to ask on Twitter if my followers knew of anyone at AT&T that could assist us. Seth, please send AT&T a case of your books!! (You can send the bill to AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson. I’m sure he’ll thank you later.)

• E*Trade Bank – when we were working on getting Train for Humanity set up and launched as a legal non-profit, one of the things that you need is a bank account. I will not go into all of the details, but it took E*Trade over three months to tell me that setting up an account with them would not be possible. To get to this final result, three months into the process, I had to go through FOUR levels of customer service. Even though every time I got on the phone I explained that we were trying to establish this organization to help out refugees in Darfur. My frustration came not in the fact that we could not open the account but that it took three months to tell me…and they had my check, which I initially sent.

Hence, my question to Pam about getting Tribes into existing corporations, because nobody in either company wanted to help and certainly nobody wanted to take responsibility.

Last but not least, I would have liked some action items. I realize the whole book is about taking action! Yet sometimes when caught in a rut it helps to read a few simple points.

For those who would like to implement what Seth suggests, I recommend the following:

1. Make a conscious decision and acknowledge exactly what it is that you would like to be doing. Write it down on paper, or better yet, tell somebody (or tell ten people) because this will help to change your mindset. We ALL fail and have an inherent fear of failure. From my experience this is without a doubt the HARDEST and most uncomfortable step to take. Once you have done it (and you don’t die) you can begin to take action.

2. Get started TODAY. Set about making it happen because life is to short to be mediocre and to be unhappy.

You can do it!!

How about you…did you read Tribes? What did you think? Am I way off base?

I have always wondered, why do some people come up with innovative ideas while others appear not to? Or, does everybody come up with thoughts for new initiatives and projects but only a few pursue them? For example, what on earth ever possessed me to come up with the post 97 Remarkable Ways to Diversify Your Network in a Down Economy?

Why do only some seem to have this mindset?

image source: TrainforHumanity tshirt concept from Joaquin R. Kierce

Right now I am sitting here cursing Becky McCray, not literally, heck not even figuratively…because Becky is one of the nicest, most helpful, small biz folk on the internet.

However, you see, Becky recently sent a twitter message saying, “Think I might need a trip to Culebra this Feb.”

Of course, being the opportunist that I am, and not wanting to waste access to such a great talent if she actually comes to Culebra, my mind instantly went into creative mode and I replied back:

“maybe we could do a small scale small biz/social media meet up and try to land some other keynote people”

I thought the messages would just end there and nothing would come of it, but within seconds Becky sent something back to the effect of “that’s a great idea….”

Then out of nowhere, and as if the stars were aligning perfectly, the next morning I got this message from the indefatigable Liz Strauss:

@lizstrauss I’m doing well, Mark! Every time I see you I get an urge to plan an event at your place.

Again my mind began racing with the possibilities.

Where this campaign will go, I really have no idea, but I very much like the idea of some type of Idea Incubation Workshop here in the Caribbean during, let’s say, the middle of winter.

Are you an Ideanator (my new term for one who regularly comes up with ideas)?

To help ease my curiosity about the origins of idea generation and innovative thinking I recently asked some folks on Twitter for their input on Big Ideas, and the following are the responses I got:

@josephrueter to start: intentional curiosity, confident humility, sharing, information consumption, diligence, smart/engaged people around.

@sweetsfoods You know Mark, that several times unexpected big ideas come from ….night dreams!

@toddwaller Big Ideas: From reading, applying and seeing ‘other’ ways: assimilation and preparation.

@bgswanson re: big ideas. I think they come from someone who has the mindset to see a problem as an opportunity.

Where do your big ideas come from?

I find it absolutely astonishing how many new project thoughts I have while I am running. The other day I was out for my evening run and I began to think about some features that I would like to see included as an email or Twitter application (and I would greatly appreciate it if YOU would develop them).

The first, GeoTwit (or GeoEmail), would give the geographic coordinates, current weather, and the time of day somehow contained within people’s Twitter messages. Of course there are inherent security risks but you could enable the feature only for trusted friends.

The second, and the one that I think could have real monetization potential, is TwitFlick (or EmailFlick). This application would somehow offer me the option to view the latest Flickr photos based on where my Twitter messages or emails were coming from. For example, let’s say Jarkko Laine sends me a Twitter message from Finland; well I think it would be cool to have a feature that would allow me, based on user settings, to view the latest Flickr photos from Finland. For those who are interested in traveling to a particular “messaged” destination the application could be monetized with hotel and rental car offers…anyway, just an idea.

How about you? What ideas have you got going? Where did they come from?

(Editor’s note: Just for fun, please do let me know if you would be interested in some type of workshop here in the Caribbean dealing with innovation, social media and how to go about pursuing those ideas.)