3 Things I learned last week…10/19-25/2015

Another great week and another three lessons that I learned once again.

You are where you are because of what you did or didn’t do.  This past Saturday I ran my fourth half marathon.  Since it was my fourth, I knew what to expect from the race and the energy it takes to run it.  Unfortunately, I didn’t put in the right preparation leading up to the race.  Sure, I worked out and I did some runs like all runners do, but, I didn’t prepare the way I should have prepared.  I knew I didn’t have the correct preparation going into the race on Saturday and I was a little nervous because of it.  So sure enough about six miles or so into the race, I knew I wasn’t going to meet the goal that I wanted to meet.  I didn’t quit, I didn’t make any excuses. Nope, I sucked it up and I finished the race.  What I said to myself was this: Brian, this race tells me exactly where I am with regards to my fitness and endurance.  This race/test is a measurement of my preparation.  The great John Wooden said this: “When the opportunity presents itself, it is too late to prepare.”  In this case the opportunity just didn’t present itself, I knew about it well in advance and I didn’t do what I needed to do to prepare.  I will not make that same mistake again.

I prefer warm weather.  Like most Louisvillians there have been many times and occasions where I have said, I love Louisville because we get to experience the four seasons.  Sure it is true, I have enjoyed the experiences of all four seasons in the past. In the past that is.  I spent five days in South Florida last week and even though I knew I loved warm weather, especially as it starts to get colder here, I have come to the realization that the older I get the more I prefer it to be warm all of the time.

Disciplines are hard to develop and easy to break. This past week I have been taking some inventory on a few areas in my life where I have been a little undisciplined.  These areas include my finances, health and fitness, recreational activities, etc.  Now I agree that you have to splurge and have a good time. If not, you are crazy and you will never have any fun.  However, if your undisciplined tendencies start happening too frequently then you can no longer call yourself disciplined.  Most people aren’t disciplined, because it is hard to do.  Most of the disciplines that I have developed in the areas I mentioned above took me years to develop, and in some cases, have been broken in just a few months.  Now, what is the value of having disciplined behaviors that have taken years to develop?  The value is that even though I have strayed away from a few of the disciplines it is easier for me to get back on track because I realize that I am not as disciplined.  If you are always undisciplined you would never know that you were being undisciplined. That is the value of developing disciplines and habits.  When you have them, you know immediately when you are not following them.

To your success and your future.