Tri, Tri again.

Sometimes I think about the mentality behind a triathlete, the thoughts that go through the mind of someone who can push themselves past boundaries and through walls.  It's really fundamentally quite different from the way some people react to issues.  At the end of the day, the truth is we are all going to hit a wall, encounter an obstacle, run into problems.  There is no controlling that, it is the way the world works, the only thing we can control is how we react to the issue.

I see two extremes  one is that we throw our hands in the air, throw a little tantrum, whine to everybody around us hoping they will tear down the wall for us, and when they don't, we scream and pound our fists till we eventually get too tired and fall asleep.  Just like a toddler.  Once this show is all over, we go in another direction, deeming that the first was impossible and a failure.  We stop running, stop biking, stop trying to swim, because it was too hard, because "I can't swim" because "it is too far" whatever.  Then the reasons and excuses come out and we rationalize our way out of the truth, which is that we quit.


The other extreme is that we instantly evaluate the failure, realizing that it is simply a stepping stone to be overcome, talk with our advisers about what went wrong, talk about what went well and hatch a wiser smarter plan.  Then we get back on the horse / bike / road and try again.

The truth is that success and failure are not two possible outcomes of our efforts in life, but they are one and the same.  The truth is that failure is on the road to success, and we must break through failure to get to success.  We are all of us somewhere between these two extremes   Some closer to the second, some closer to the first!

Honestly it's not about the mind of a triathlete at all, it's about the mind of a well adjusted butt kicker!  I call the people who are most adept at this barrier breakers!  Sometimes, just the fact that there is a barrier is enough motivation to go break through it!  It's really not even about athletics, this is as true for the issues you've been having with your spouse or child, to the hesitation you feel about finally starting your own business or opening your own shop!  Today is the day we must take a stand against the todler mindset.  Let's evaluate our past failures and tear down some walls!