(Kerrie Kerkman pictured in the middle)
My training is a source of fascination for people and although I sometimes lose sight of that, not a week goes by that I don’t hear several comments related to the time I spend on it.
Most often the comments are in the form of people wishing they had the time, wondering where I find the time, how I make myself get out of bed, and my very favorite….wondering if I work for a living!
I then pull out my magic wand, crystal ball and fairy godmother and offer to loan them out.
I don’t have any of those things and here is the real truth. I am often up at 3:30 am to get everything ready for my workday, have enough time for my run and then take approximately 12 minutes to shower and attempt to be presentable for work. There are days I have a pony tail and no make up, not because I don’t care but because it was the difference in getting in the extra mile. By the time I drive home from work, I have usually worked at least two and sometimes three jobs in a day. When I finally get home I am usually so tired I don’t even want to eat dinner before I go to bed. Dinner at my house becomes a fueling effort, which also competes for my time I could be doing something else. A half an hour icing my back, a few minutes stretching and usually it’s time for bed.
When you read those things if you think of the things I am missing out on or how tough my schedule is, believe me that’s not the point. I often hear comments about how I make it look easy, and the reality is it is anything but easy. When my alarm goes off at 3:30 am, there is nothing easy about pulling myself out of bed. I want to stay in bed just as much as you do! At the moment it goes off, or when I am so tired the last thing I want to do is train, I have a decision to make. I make a decision about what I want right now in the moment, versus what I want for my life. I know that as bad as I feel getting out of bed, I will feel something much more powerful at the end of my run or bike ride. I know that each workout makes me a little bit stronger and builds discipline that helps me in every area of my life. In the middle of my training, whether it’s running, cycling or anything else I make decisions. I can keep pushing or I can listen to the voice in my head telling me all the reasons I can justify backing off, slowing down or even quitting.
One of the questions I hear is wondering how I stay focused. I have an alarm that goes off on my phone seven days a week one hour before my bedtime. A memo pops up with the alarm, and it is my commitment to myself. The memo? “Remember to focus on your desired outcome rather than instant gratification”. It’s my way of resetting my focus, at the time of the day I am most tired and at the highest risk of losing focus. It’s a reminder that no matter what my feeling is in that moment, it’s the big picture that counts. It is a daily challenge to myself to stay focused on what is important to me, not just in my physical training but in every area of my personal growth.
One of the surprising and most amazing parts of my training is not the results I see for myself. I wish I could keep track of the number of times somebody has told me they did something because my influence. I have had people say to me “If you could do it, I figured I could.” Or somebody who thought they could never be a runner later tells me they started running or began running again after talking to me. When I returned home from Africa a member at the gym told me she took a class every day! She thought of me running across the desert and if I could do that she could work out for two weeks consistently. What an amazing compliment.
I certainly do not set out to intentionally sway people to make choice in their day with me in mind! But when I think about influence I am amazed at the opportunities we all have every day to influence hundreds of people in small ways and in big ways. By living my values and staying true to my focus I affect people unintentionally and hopefully in a positive way. I wonder what would happen if we all began to be conscious of a positive and intended focus, living our lives with passion and purpose and modeling?
When I think of my goals I have so many of them. I want to do a million things, go a million places and see it all. I want to hit every one of my goals and live life to the absolute fullest. We all have goals and sometimes we fall short of achieving them. It is not because we don’t have intention. We all do. What bring us to that accomplishment are the daily actions we take toward achievement. It is the endurance, the character, the effort that brings you to the end result. I hope my influence touches somebody else along the way. I don’t take any credit because everything I am today is because of those who have influenced me. Choose your influence, choose your goals and choose your plan for achievement. Think about health and how your every action affects the health of your community and your culture. What will you do today to be an influence?
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” Jim Rohn