Tag Archives: Goals

Trail Running Part 1

I entered the trail running world years ago after watching The Barkley Marathons. I’ve always wanted to experience new ways to maintain my fitness and I never ran for the purpose of running too much in the past. I enjoyed running while playing sports like basketball but running for the sake of running was not enjoyable. Trail running on the other hand, hooked me and pulled me in. The ability to escape into a forest, running along a trail became a meditative experience with me. The meditative experience was especially powerful as my father entered his last years of life and I had a diffcult time coming to terms with death so close at the door. Regularly, after silent visits with my father I would return home and “escape” into a forest reflecting and having conversations with my father and eventually saying goodbye to his physical presence. While I have yet to reach, and most likely never will reach, the levels of trail running associated with world class atheletes that compete in the Barkley Marathons, I have run over 20 km many times. I have learned so much while trail running and this is my Part 1 in the lessons I have learned while trail running. These lessons are in no specific order.

Lesson #1 – Manage your stress I have a Garmin watch I purchased years ago and I monitor my heart rate while on the trails. I know that if I get over 170 bpm heat rate it will affect my ability to recover and maintain pace. If needed, I will slow down and bring my heart rate down knowing my limits. In life we don’t have a Gamin watch that will tell us when life is moving too fast. There may be other signals we need to pay attention to – sleep patterns, overall health and resistance to common colds, headaches and overall happiness. Find your measurements in life and slow down when you need to. The danger of not slowing down may result in a longer recovery time.

Lesson #2 – Don’t be embarrassed to walk the hills Yes, it is more difficult to run up a hill than on level ground. Running up a hill uses more energy and there is a much higher potential to exceed your stress levles. On more than one race I have walked up a hill or two, sometimes you will hear someone saying “Don’t walk, keep running”. Me, I know when I need to walk up a hill and most of the time I have ended running past that person that had that need to run up the hills. In life there will be times when you have an imposing hill in front of you. Don’t be embarrassed to slow down and walk up the hill if you need to. Only you can determine when you need to walk or run.

Lesson #3 – Enjoy the journey and don’t be a trail running snob More than once I have been on a trail that has a lookout. Looking at my watch and timing I would quite often run past the lookout, trying to maintain my pace and beat my last time. Take some time, stop at the lookout, take some deep breaths and enjoy the view. You will never get a chance to enjoy that specific view another time – we only have the present.

Lesson #4 – Splash in the puddles Who doesn’t remember running in the rain, looking for puddles to splash in. Somewhere along the way we stop jumping in the puddles, not wanting to get our shoes and clothes wet. It was fun, enjoying a nice rain, rolling in the snow or finding a new swimming spot. We look for dry ground or don’t go outside when it is raining – we want to stay in our comfort zone. You learn so much and can have so much enjoyment getting out of that comfort zone and trying a new path.

Windshield or Rear View Mirror

When you are setting out for a drive, how often do you only look at the rear view mirror to get to your destination? Not too often I am guessing. The results may not be favourable. So why do we look backward at events in our life, yes it is good to learn and adapt but let’s look forward.

30k+ Rear View Mirror Pictures | Download Free Images on Unsplash

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

Change the Plan, Never the Goal

In an earlier post I referred to the importance of finding your North Star. The North Star is your reason to be, why you get up in the morning and provides clarity to your life journey, It took me almost 40 years before I could formalize my life goal. For me, I have three goals:

Get to heaven.
Help as many others get there as possible.
Enjoy the journey.

Those three goals guide my decision making everyday. Each year I take time out to review progress and develop plans aligned with those goals. From year to year the plans may change but the goals don’t.

Everyone Needs Their North Star

When I was young my father taught me how to find the North Star. If I was ever lost, I could look up, find The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and locate the North Star. This was a way to reset, find my bearings and get home if I was out hiking and the sun had set. It didn’t stop there, my father also showed me the Belt of Orion and the Seven Sisters (Pleiades). As I got older, I took a university course in Astronomy and ended up buying an 8” diameter reflector telescope that would allow me to see light years away. Although the telescope helped me to see further, it was always the North Star I picked out on my walks. Not only does it centre me and give me direction on a dark night, it also takes me back to the teachings of my father and the importance of values.

Everyone needs their North Star. You can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where the destination is. Every year I take time out to review where I am, what my goals are and I write them down. It took me about 40 years to really figure out where I was headed and how I would keep centred on where I was headed. Now my annual exercise is more on how to reach the goal rather than setting the goal.

Yes, when I walk at night I still look up at the North Star. Every time I find myself walking at night with my wife or my kids, I stop and point out the North Star to them. Last week I was walking with my daughter and her dog. As usual I was walking with my head up, looking at the sky and thinking of my father. This time I was lucky enough to see the Northern Lights and the opportunity to share them with my daughter, the first time she had ever seen them. If you haven’t found it yet, sit down and think about where you are going and what your North Star is.

Key Goals for Any Business

One day while my son was studying Economics he came home and dropped a question on me. At the time I was a senior executive at a company so I should have been ready. He asked me a simple question – “What are the key goals for any business?”. I couldn’t quickly and clearly summarize my thoughts so he bailed me out. He walked me through the points below.

Key Goals for Any Business

Simple and clear instructions for anyone in a leadership role and I have kept these on my dashboard ever since. I learned two leadership lessons that day – you learn lessons from all directions (in this case from my son) and to ensure all business plans, strategies and plans address these key areas.