How to find what you love to do !

This is for anyone who has came home from work pissed off at their job, wishing they didn't have to go into work the next day, or wishing they were doing something else when they were at their job. Or numerous other reasons we all stress from our jobs.

The below article was taken from this website: http://briankim.net/blog/2006/07/how-to-find-what-you-love-to-do/ I posted this on my facebook account back in November of 2007. I remember that stumbled upon it on the internet from some website. I really found it amazing and a good test. I have yet to do the test myself, because I can already see where it's going to go and I am not ready for that yet. I am still too content with my job and life right now. I guess you could say that right now in my life I like what I do, but I don't love what I do. So when will the fact that I only like what I do and not love catch up with me? I don't know the answer to that question. Another question will be will it be easier on everyone around me to go and find what I love to do now or later? Who knows? So for all those people out there older, younger and my age, READ this article and do what it says and let me know how it turns out. I think the very fact that I wrote the above paragraph just less than a minute ago has now made me committed to doing this excerise as well. I also want to now do it because I am sharing with people in my life and many others.

So here goes it, its long but stick with it and really think about. 

This article was inspired by Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University. In it, he says the advice we’ve all heard a thousand times:

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” - Steve Jobs

Well then, the question naturally arises:

How do you find what you love to do? It’s such a big question.

What absolutely boils my blood is that we hear we should be doing what we love to do all the time, but there’s not any step by step advice out there on how to find what you love to do. The advice that is out there helps to a certain degree, but it’s just a bunch of pieces thrown together with no coherent logical structure or order.

A perfect example is this. In order to find your passion, we are told to ask ourselves: “What would you do if you had a million dollars (tax free)?”

The typical answer ensues: “Well gee, I would put it in an account that yields high interest and live off the interest each year. Then I would move to Hawaii, buy a house, sip margaritas all day, play video games, go to the beach, swim, travel around the world, taste all the cuisines, read the books, play the sports, and on and on and on.”

Does this really help? Not really. Sure, you figured out what your lazy butt likes to do, but it doesn’t really answer the question that’s hidden, which is “How do I make money doing what I love to do?

What’s the result? People working in jobs they hate, feeling trapped because they can’t quit as they rely on that sole source of income to finance a lifestyle tailored to escape their grim reality, drifting aimlessly in life, in short, leading lives of quiet desperation, as so eloquently put by Henry David Thoreau.

Why don’t they just quit their jobs and pursue what they love to do you ask?

Two Reasons.

Reason #1: They don’t know what they love to do.

Reason #2: Fear. They’ve got a lifestyle to uphold, bills to pay for, families to take care of, fear of no steady source of income, fear of what other people might think or say about them, etc. Fear.

Conquer indecision in Reason #1 and ACT, and you will most definitely conquer all fear in Reason #2.

The very fact that you are seeking to find what you love to do (by the very fact you came across this article and started reading it) is a BIG step believe it or not. Many people in their lifetime avoid or do not even seek to find the answer to that question. They hear the question in their head but have become extremely adept at silencing it.

It is extremely important to answer the question on how to find what you love to do.

You must decide what destination to steer your life in. Otherwise, you leave yourself wide open for others to direct your life, as well as at the mercy of the winds and storms of life. If you know where your destination is, the rest is easy.

You will find once you know what you want to do, all uncertainty and burden will be lifted off your shoulders and you will have clear vision as to what your journey is and that journey will truly be joyful.

By the time you finish reading this article, I sincerely hope you experience that.

What about how to make money doing what you love?

The question of how to monetize doing what you love is certainly a valid one. There are bills to pay, stomachs to feed, families to support, etc.

Don’t worry about that for now. That will be covered later in this article.

First things first, you’ve got to find what you love to do.

Why is it so hard to find what you love to do?

The answer is:

It’s not hard at all.

You read right.

It’s not hard at all.

Then why are so many people having difficulty finding what they love to do?

Because they’ve never truly asked themselves.

What amazes me is that there seems to be a stigma attached to spending time with oneself. You have to constantly be doing something, whether it’s going to the game, drinking beer with the buddies, going to that hot party or club downtown, etc. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with doing all that, but I suspect the vast majority of people who engage in this “I have to be doing something every minute because I can’t be by myself” mentality are just putting up a front to show people how satisfying and fulfilling their life is, when in reality, it’s just the opposite. The irony here is that spending time with oneself is EXACTLY what you should be doing to lead a satisfying and fulfilling life.

People think you have to travel around the world, experience new things, etc to find what you love to do. No. You just have to sit down and decide. The answer is already within you. You just have to dig it up and avoid procrastinating. Your brain has absorbed all sorts of information and experiences and it has the answer ready to be unraveled.

Just let it out.

Be honest. Have you actually sat down by yourself with no distractions, with your sole focus on asking yourself what you love to do without picking up your cell phone, surfing the net, watching TV, chatting on AIM, listening to your favorite song, playing solitaire or minesweeper, checking your email, returning a call, getting a drink of water, going to the bathroom, looking at the clock, reading a magazine article, I could go on and on but you get the point. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you haven’t for the sole purpose of you reading this article. Why is that?

Fear of what the answer will be if you ask yourself what you love to do.

The answer is: I don’t know.

But that is exactly why you MUST find out. You’re avoiding the question because you know the answer is you don’t know, but that’s ok. Admitting you don’t know is perfectly fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. You’re way ahead of a ton of other people who learn to quiet the voice within that asks the question of “What do I love to do?”

And let’s say you’re one of the few people who actually specifically know what they love to do. The next thought that pops in their head is “Oh, I can’t make any money off of that.” The seed that was planted never grew.

I hate vague answers. I want clear, logical, definitive answers to questions.

So let’s do this.

Step 1: You WILL find the answer. No doubt.

You will find the answer. You will find it. No doubt.

Approach the question with this mentality and you are sure to find it. How long will it take? It doesn’t matter. Bottom line, you will find the answer.

By doing this, you automatically instill an anti quitting mechanism within yourself, because you know you will find the answer. If you know what you want to do, then you will do it.

For example, if you know you want to arrive in New York, you’ll find ways to get there. You’ll hop a train, bus, or plane going to New York and will arrive in New York.

If you don’t have the cash, you’ll borrow it, or get a job and save up, or get a job as a flight attendant to get there for free. It doesn’t matter how long it will take or what you need to do because you know you’re going to New York.

All your actions onward from the decision that you want to arrive in New York will revolve around getting to New York.

Read that last sentence again.

All your actions onward from the decision that you want to arrive in New York will revolve around getting to New York.

Finding what you love to do = Deciding to arrive in New York.

Step 2: Make a list of your skills and interests in two columns and WRITE THEM DOWN (I’ll explain why you must write things down later):

I’ve taken the liberty of creating a document you can print so you can easily fill in the blanks. You can download it here. KEY is to WRITE THESE DOWN!! I cannot emphasize this enough. Don’t think you can do it all in your head. WRITE IT DOWN.

When I mean by skills is any skill. It could be an intangible skill. Empty your clip here, list EVERY skill you have. It could be programming, making web pages, talking, listening, persuading people, typing, flirting, analyzing, giving speeches, making things easy to understand, whistling, blowing bubbles with your spit, it could be anything. Don’t be bashful. List everything you perceive your skills to be.

On your other column, lists your interests and don’t be shy here as well. List EVERY interest you could possibly think of. Spiders, shoes, hair, makeup, basketball, tennis, thinking of ideas, babysitting, walking, hiking, fireworks, helping people, making fun of people, fishing, tai chi, karate, seashells, seaweed, can openers, anything goes. Yes, I did say can openers. Your interests can also include subjects you are knowledgeable about as well. Computers, economics, biology, baskebtall plays, football plays, magic tricks, etc.

To help you write down more interests, think of what you were interested in at your previous jobs and write them down. Also, think of what you were NOT interested in your previous jobs and write the exact opposite.

Asking yourself the following questions may shed light as to what skills and interests you possess.

If you went in a bookstore, which section do you naturally gravitate toward?

Ask friends for any skills and interests they see in you. You’ll be surprised at how much insight they have on you that you’ve never thought of before.

What do you spend most of your time doing? What do you look forward to doing?

Go back and think of your accomplishments as a child. What kind of skills and interests revolved around your accomplishments?

What did people praise you on doing?

What did your teachers or parents say you had a skill or knack of doing?

Why am I emphasizing skills and interests here?

Skills: Because you’ve got to leverage what you’re strong with. And don’t say you don’t have any. Everybody has skills. You’ve just never sat down and thought about it and wrote it down. By using your skills, you’ve got a head start, a catalyst.

Interests: Simply because you’ve got to love what you do. By including interests, you include another form of an anti quitting mechanism.

Focus on generating as many skills and interests you can possibly think of and WRITE IT DOWN!

You may find that your skills are gravitating toward one or two particular skills. The same may hold true for interests. Keep that in mind for step 3.

Step 3: Set aside some TRUE alone time with no distractions to focus and figure out what you love to do by asking yourself the right questions.

It amazes me how people set aside time for taxes, cooking, watching movies, reading, but when it comes to their own personal future, they NEVER set aside any time. How much MORE time should you set aside to figure out the path that will make you happy?

Ok, you’ve set some private alone time with no distractions; now what?

You must ask yourself an extremely clear question. Clarity is key here. The clearer the question, the easier the answer will be.

For example, if I ask you what 12 times 12 is, the answer comes easily, 144.

However, if I ask, what is some even two digit number times some other even two digit number? Guess how long it’ll take you to answer that question?

Clear questions lead to clear answers.

Another key thing is to WRITE it down. I know you’ve heard it a billion times and it’s so cliché but there’s a reason. Writing things down allows you to easily make connections you’ve never thought of before because you see it on paper. It also allows you to “free room” in your brain for other thoughts because they are put in another container so to speak.

If I ask you, what’s 257 times 852, try doing that in your head vs. writing it down. When you write it down, the answer comes out easier, not to mention more accurate.

If you haven’t already wrote down your skills and interests in the previous step, STOP and DO IT NOW. It won’t do you any good having them in your head.

So, let’s use your alone time to ask yourself a clear question in writing. What is the question you should ask yourself? Is it: “What do I love to do?”

That question is a bit broad, so let’s narrow it down a little. Try asking yourself:

What would I love to do on a daily basis utilizing both my skills and interests that will add significant value to people?

See the difference here? The more detailed and clearer the question, the easier it is to answer it. Why did I add the add value part? Because that will lead you to find a way to make money doing what you love.

By incorporating the question of how to add significant value by utilizing your skills, you automatically filter out all the “common answers” that people come up with when asked what they love to do. Common answers such as: “I love to watch TV.” Or “I love to play video games.” Answers such as that discourage people because they see no way of making money from it.

Adding to that, many people tend to make the mistake of focusing on how to make money. A lot of people fail to realize that money is just a byproduct of adding value in the form of a product or service to people.

When you know how you can add value to people, you’ll know how to get money.

Open up Word or get out a blank sheet of paper and write that question up at the top. Here it is again in case you don’t want to scroll up.

What would I love to do on a daily basis utilizing both my skills and interests that will add significant value to people?

The KEY is to WRITE YOUR ANSWERS DOWN!! I cannot emphasize this enough. Don’t think you can do it all in your head. WRITE IT DOWN.

Looking at the two column list you made in the previous step, start writing down a list of answers. Just write. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t have to make sense because sooner or later, you will connect the dots. Here’s a story to illustrate what I’m talking about.

There was a story about a small town with a ski resort which attracted a lot of tourists, which in turn helped the town’s economy. However, when it snowed, the snowfall collected on the power cables, until the weight was enough to collapse the cables, resulting in several power outages. Slowly but surely, tourists stopped coming, so the town held a meeting to discuss how to solve the problem of having snow collect on the power cables. Solutions were tossed out for quite some time.

Then somebody shouted in a loud voice from the back of the room and said “Let’s hang pots of honey on the power cables to make the bears climb up. When the bears climb up and get the honey, their movement will shake the snow off the power cables.”

The audience laughed and somebody else deciding to play along said “How will we refill the pots of honey?” “We’ll use a helicopter”, another person said.

Then the answer dawned upon them. By having a helicopter fly by the power lines, the wind from the propellers would shake the snow off.

The main point here is that answers, no matter how ridiculous they may seem, should not be feared because more often than not, they lead to results. It’s all part of the process.

Even if an answer seems ludicrous, write it down. Write down all your answers. Do it until you have 20 answers and look them over. You will find that as you write down answers and look at them, it will in turn propel you to think of new creative answers that you would not have come up with before.

You will be amazed at all the things you wrote and the different solid creative ideas that come about.

Now the time comes for focus.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the sun and magnifying glass analogy pertaining to focus but I’m going to say it again. If you try to do a bunch of things at once, nothing will get done. If you wave a magnifying glass around on the hottest day, you won’t burn anything. You’ll dissipate all your energy among the trivial many.

By focusing and harnessing all your power, energy, time, focus, thinking, etc. on one goal, you will be amazed at how deep and quickly you can accomplish that. Just as you steady a magnifying glass on a single object, with the hot burning sun rays analogous to your desire, focus, power, energy, time, etc, you will make an impact.

The notion of focus is so important that I’m going to use another analogy. Imagine you’re a cheetah and you see two juicy gazelles grazing in the grass. Spending your time chasing both = no food = death. Hunt one down. It might take time to catch it and kill it, but when you do, you’ll be recharged. You will soon start collecting information on how the gazelles run, which direction they run, where they like to graze, etc, which will help you catch more gazelles in the future, thereby putting you in a favorable cycle. Case in point, focus on one.

So look over your list you just made and choose one idea that seems the most appealing to you. You may find you can combine a few ideas into one idea. Nevertheless, choose one idea that you will garner the greatest satisfaction not just for yourself, but to other people.

You might want to zero in on the ideas that combine your skills and interests that you’ve listed in the beginning. The reason being, psychologically speaking, you’ve probably listed your greatest skills and interests first and then as you started listing them downward, so did your degree of skill and interest. This might not be true. You might have 20 different but equal skills and interests, which if you do, I congratulate you. Just a tip I thought I would throw out.

How Will You Know You’ve Found What You Love To Do?

Does it make you feel good? If you feel it in your gut that you’ve hit the jackpot, you’re right.

If your friend were to bring up the idea you picked, would you be all over it talking about it?

You have to have no reservations about it. If you feel the slightest doubt that it’s not your passion, then it’s not. You must hunger to overcome any obstacles to pursue your passion.

Update (03/15/2007): A reader just posted this comment way below (#87) and I wanted to include what she had to say in the article so you don’t miss it. I think it ties in very well here and is also well written. Thank you Bronwyn for sharing your story with us and adding such great advice to the article.

“So when you look over your goals, and one seems right, but you’re still finding excuses to not do what you have to do, that’s not it. It might be a close relative, but it’s not the one. Keep looking and you’ll find the goal that makes you counter every objection with a solution, the one where you’d happily pay whatever it takes, cash and years on the barrelhead right now. The path that makes you quiver with eagerness like a hunting dog on the point, the one over there you’ve been ignoring because you’ll have to learn a difficult new skill like drawing, or face big mistakes and big fears, and you didn’t believe you could do those things? That’s the one. Admit how much you really want to go down it, tell yourself you really can do it, and then your passion will take over and you will not let anything keep you from it. “

Once you have that, your search is over.

That, right there is what you love to do.

As for how to make money off of it, you might have already found ways when you wrote down your answers. If you still want to find more ways to make money doing what you love, just follow the same steps.

Step 1: Know you will find the answer.

Step 2: Write a clear question, write down the answers, and you will be amazed at the many ways you can make money from it.

I’ll leave the money making question up to you, but it shouldn’t be hard to do.

Now that you know what you love to do and how to make money from it, you must ACT.

That’s a whole other story. Most people get to this stage but don’t act and it doesn’t make any difference in their lives.

Comfortably Numb

As I sit here on a Friday night at 10pm in my apartment by myself I am sitting here thinking two things. One what are you doing staying in and going to bed at 10pm on a Friday night. Second is of the thoughts that will soon be wandering through my mind as I ride 40 miles tomorrow morning while the sun rises over farmland in south Dallas. I purposely am staying in so I can go ride tomorrow morning. I also have come to the conclusion I almost prefer to ride by myself sometimes too. Tomorrow will be a day in which I will wake up rested and relaxed and feel great about the day to come before, during and after my workout. See tomorrow I will be on the bike for a little over 2 hours all alone, probably not a car to be found on the road. This 2 hours will be a great time for reflection and mental preparation for the upcoming race in a week. Staying in for tonight is all worth it for just tomorrow morning.

The week sped by and before I knew it I am sitting here on Friday. I have a very good outlook for this weekend. I am hoping it will be a very relaxed weekend, which is what I need. For the next 2 weeks will be very busy at work and in my training and racing. I will comment on one thing and very few people who read this will understand but to be blunt, I had a lot of fun last night, and we'll just leave it at that.

Following the ride I will be going for a 30 -40 min run I will be testing out my Tri Top. I bought a zoot top to help block the sun off my chest and back and maybe keep me cool??? We shall see what its like to ride and run it in. I tried swimming in it on tuesday morning and it wasn't bad at all. It will be great under the wetsuit. Lets hope the Tri Top doesn't chafe or rub me wrong. I am testing it out so I don't go into the Half Ironman blind with out knowing what its like to ride and run with a shirt on. Sounds funny but true.... I have never worn in a shirt or tri top in any triathlon I have ever done.

So I leave you here tonight comfortably numb and peacefully sleepy.....

Quote

The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet.....

--William Gibson

A thought of what may come.....

A boy in a small town gets a horse for his birthday. Everyone in this town is so happy for the boy. It is a great thing for the little boy to have a pony and the small boy could not be more happy.

Many years later the young man is riding his horse and falls off and breaks his leg. Everyone in the town says how unfortunate it was that the boy fell and broke his leg. Everyone in the town shares their sympathy with the small boy.

A few weeks later a war breaks out and there is a draft, all the men in town are drafted to serve their country. The young man is unable to go to war because he has a broken leg. All of the other young men are killed in a horrible battle. Everyone in the town thinks how fortunate the boy is to have broken his leg as not to go fight in the war.

What does this all mean, think about for yourself. In this case, Good begot bad, bad begot good. Could it go on for ever, will it go on forever? I don't know and no one can be for sure. So what moment are you living in the seemingly good (getting that horse for your birthday) or the seemingly bad (sitting with a broken leg).

Even if you may think you having a rough time in life, always remember this story and always be looking forward to what better things may come.

So after a little break time, I have some good news to share. I have finally broken the ranks of the Age Grouper Triathletes. On June 7th I raced in a triathlon in Dallas. It was only a sprint distance race but still a fast one. The distances were a 400m swim, 11 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run. I completed all of this in 50:46. I won FIRST PLACE in my age group. I am in the 20 - 24 year old age group. There was a total of 300 people in the race and 22 in my age group. Follow this link RESULTS I would have broken 50 minutes but in my transition #2 (from bike to run) the bike rack fell over and I couldn't just leave my bike on the ground and not rack it. For 2 reasons its a penalty and then all other 5 people who would have to rack their bikes after me would not be able to. No worries though I still got first place and took my trophy home. My friend Mike also got first place in Clydesdales. I also didn't really push myself on the run, because I knew I had already won my age group. I only average 7 min miles. The wednesday before I ran 2 miles after a 21 mile bike ride at 6:30 per min miles. 

Needless to say it was a great feeling to win this. When I started running and doing triathlons, never did I think I would win races. Here I am now, actually getting pretty good a racing these things. I mean I did the Katy Trail 5k this past May, and I got 5th in my age group out of 56 people. I guess I am now beginning to realize that I actually might have a little bit of talent at this stuff. I still am humble and don't think I do. My friend Mike says that I have talent but I don't believe him. This stuff is still hard for me, even though I might make it look easy. I am looking forward to a better week of training compared to last weeks. I was in Long Beach, California and only ran 1 day last week, then caught a little cold from the travel and shaking hands with people for 2 days straight all day long. So ease back into this week and make the commitment to do around a 3 hour ride next saturday morning. I am going to go all by myself back down to Lancaster, TX. I am gonna ride my hill there for a bit too. I love that hill because someone spray painted on the road "You can do it!" Then after this weekend is Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3 I am really excited for this because some of the greatest racers in the sport of triathlon will be there. I mean the beauty of the sport of the triathlon is that I get to race shoulder to shoulder with past world champions in the sport. How many other sports that you can participate in can you say you get the chance to play with best of the best. I mean I am just a normal average guy, and I am getting to race with equivalent of the Troy Aikman or Michael Jordan of the tri world. Pretty cool huh? Off to bed for now, and maybe start reading a new book tonight.

How do I know I am ready ?

I stumbled upon someone's website tonight and thought I would make a quick post about it and provide a link to it. A few things stood out to me...

1. I went running with a friend the other day and we had casual conversation and I said something and she said that it was very deep. Well she may have just been bull shitting me or be serious, either way I took her literally. I have been told this many times by different people about alot of the different comments, quotes and sayings and more or less the way I think about life in general. I was reading this guys website about Ironman racing he said something that made real sense. What he was dscussing was what he thinks about when he runs, swims, and bikes. Then I started to think about this, and I realized that many of the things I say or comment on to friends, that in some ways could be "deep" or "meaningful" I have thought about while I was running alone or on the bike alone. Then I realized again, how this sport has made me a different person all around.

2. I read this article on his website called "How do I know I am Ready" and it made me realize that I am going to be ready, and that this season of racing isn't about goals or times or anything. Its about getting myself ready for next year and my quest to become an Ironman.

So that is that about the website, but its pretty cool and his articles are good, but I don't think he updates anymore.

Another quote that I saw the other day in a magazine was from an Addidas ad. It read as follows:

There will be days that I don't know if I can do a marathon, but there will be a lifetime knowing that I have.

Its so true for anything. If you have done it once you can do it again, maybe not as fast or as easy, but you certainly can do it again.

Personal Success

So here is a little story about me and some friends. So a few years back, I used to be on the heavier side, as in I weighed 253 lbs and was like a fat tick that had been sucking on the hind side of a cow for 3 days. I loved to smoke, drink, and eat unhealthy foods like a pirate enjoys rum. The only problem was that by leading a lifestyle like this was what led me to be so over weight. So one day I stepped on a scale and decided to change it all. I wanted to eat better, exercise and loose weight. The way I went about doing this was to begin by eating 3 meals a day and raising my heart rate for a minimum of 30 minutes per day at least 5 days a week. The main exercise that I would do was running. I would get on a treadmill and run for 30minutes everyday no matter what. As I began this process, the weight began to drop from my bones like the rain from the sky. At first it was hard then it became easy and enjoyable.

I guess I have better will power or self-control and some people just can’t do it, but loosing weight is simple. Don’t eat shit and exercise. Also works out to this simple equation:

Calories Burned Per Day > Calories Consumed Per Day = Weight Loss

It’s that simple people. Anyways through this process I lost a bunch of weight and I am now down to 178lbs. Thru this whole process it wasn’t the big losses that impacted my life the most it was all of the big gains. What I mean by that is I gained something that has truly had an impact in my life in some many ways. I gained a love for running, and eventually swimming and biking. This new found love an appreciation for an active lifestyle have not only impacted my outlook on life but I feel have had an impact on others lives as well. This was most apparent this past weekend in Madison, Wisconsin.

Back in November 2007 a long time friend Laura approached me about running a half marathon. I gave her a run down on everything I knew about running and all of my lessons learned. I told her that day that if she signed up for a half marathon, I would come and run it with her and support her the entire 13.1 miles. Well come February of this year she signed up for her first Half Marathon in Madison, Wisconsin on Memorial Day Weekend. It also turns out that my sister lives in Madison. So I planned on visiting with them and hanging with my friends for the long weekend. While all of this was happening my sister has become a triathlete and set her sights on a sprint distance triathlon. I was so happy to hear that she has also found the sport that I love.

On Saturday morning I went with my sister for her first open water swim in Madison. I could tell she was a bit nervous but I knew all along she would do just fine. We got into the water and swam for about 25 minutes. It was a good swim and the she came out of the water saying all the same things that people who have never swam in open water say the first time they swim. I gave her a few pointers here and there but she did great, and I was really happy to be there for support.

Endurance sports are an enigma in the sense that while you are racing you have no team to support you but you can rely on others for encouragement and support while racing. Its perplexing but every race I have ever done people will also be there to encourage you and help push you forward. To complete an endurance event requires that one put time and effort into training for it. Most of this training is many times done solo, with just yourself and no one else. It can be mentally taxing at times but rewarding. In fact it is one of the reasons I like the sport because, my training time is my time and no one else’s time. So with all of that being said, I wanted to be there for my sister and for Laura as their team.

I am glad to know that I can help support others in their effort and search for endurance sport achievements. I am appreciative of the fact that I was able to run with Laura for 13.1 miles and encourage her along the way. It also was extremely nice of her to say that she enjoyed my presence along the course and express her gratitude for the encouragement I provided her. That was one of the best feelings in the world to hear her say those words.

With this story now being told I want to bring it full circle and comment on how my losses (weight) turned into gains (love of running), which in my heart has made me who I am today. I also feel like this transformation that I have undergone has had an impact on others lives as well. I can think of numerous people who are close friends or family that gone and since done similar endurance type events to what I have completed. I have since day 1 always encouraged everyone and anyone who expresses interest in running in a race or something to do it. I am always glad to offer anything I can do to help them along the way as well. I hope that I can eventually reach out to many other people to set a goal and achieve it.

There is no better way to describe how you feel after completing an endurance event; that is “PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT”. I feel that the reasons for this are numerous and plentiful as the sea is deep. One of the major reasons this feeling encompasses your body when you finish an endurance event is that “YOU” and no one else but you ran that 13.1 miles or swam, biked, and ran 140.6 miles. All of this you did and no one can ever take that away from you no matter what. I am glad to see others achieving personal success and allowing me to be a part of it, for that I am grateful.

Have a good day!

This busy life, this busy life, we're all just hanging on...

Well I had a 6 mile tempo run this evening and wanted to make it 7 but I had to cut it short. For quite sometime now, I have been interested in purchasing a pair of racing flats. The reason for this is 2 fold. One its widely known amongst runners and published many times in runnersworld that a runner can shave 2 seconds off his mile/min time with each ounce you drop in shoe weight. The current shoe that I have been wearing weighs in about 13 - 14 oz and shoe I purchased weighs only 9.5oz. I purchased the Zoot Ultra Tempo +. I suggest you click on the link and check out all the specs. So right off the bat, I am shaving approximately 4 seconds off my minute per mile time and in say a 6.21 mile race this would equate to a total of almost 50 seconds off my entire race. That is alot of time. The second biggest factor is that it gets hot in Texas and I sweat profusely, especially my feet. My other running shoes may start out at 14oz but by the end of 7 - 13 miles they could weigh upwards of my guess 20 oz. I know after my Half Ironman, my shoes felt like bricks, from all the sweat and water I was pouring on myself. So these ZOOT shoes have special drainage holes and also don't hardly retain any water. This was one of their goals in design. I feel this will help me significantly. They also are designed to wear barefoot, so I can save an extra 30 sec in transition.

So today I went for my first run in them and I wore socks of course and will slowly start to not wear socks a little bit each run every now and then. Because remember these shoes are also only for my races. All I can say is that I felt fast and I think that guy in the store that told me he is very surprised someone recommended me the shoes they did 3 years, because I needed a neutral shoe and not a mild stability shoe. I felt smoother running in the and my foot strike felt more natural. My next pair of shoes will not be a pair of New Balance 768's. I will go with what he recommended a pair of Brooks Defiance. For me I always thought if its not broke don't fix it but, I guess it always helps to get another opinion on what type of shoes I should wear. I think I will go to another store and see what type of shoes they recommend as well. I will also not tell them what I wear and I what others have said. This will be like my own little science experiment. 

So this is a big training week for me. I have about almost 6000 yards in the pool, I will have almost 20 running, and end up with about 65 miles on the bike. I am doing the Memphis in May Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday. Its in Memphis obviously ! We have a free place to stay so Tommy, me and Mike are all gonna do it. This will be Mike's first long distance triathlon. Its gonna be a great day for him.

For me, I am just excited to race and be amongst good company. I feel like I can set a new PR for myself and hope that the weather is great. I am looking forward to averaging above 21 mph on the bike, and also hoping to hit less than 8 min/mile on the run. For the swim, I would like to see myself end up with a time of about 26 - 28 min. I really want to ice my transitions too. I will be for the first time trying to jump on the bike with shoes already on it. I think even though I don't use rubber bands when I practice I am gonna get some and try it on Saturday evening. I am actually really glad I am doing this race before my next Half Ironman race. It will be another good gauge for how my training has gone since my march race. I did alot of traveling and didn't do all I wanted to do.

But really the truth is work is really busy and so is training. I just have to start to suck it up because I also know that there will be times at work that it is not so busy too. I am thinking today I will put another quote on the wall to look at. I already have:

Discipline is doing what you don't want to do so you can do what you really want to do.

I will add this one or something like it...

Even if you had a bad day, an evening workout will always make you feel better.

These quotes are kind of for morning and night respectively, in that when you want to hit snooze, don't because if you do you will never get the joy from finishing that second half ironman. And also when you just want to eat and go to bed at 8pm don't because you can get in an hour workout and then eat and be in bed by 9pm instead, and if you had a shitty day the endorphins from the exercise will make you feel even better.

Oh by the way if you see these things in the grocery store called sweet potatoes buy them. They are great, and you can really easily cook them in the microwave and unlike a potato they actually taste good with nothing on them, and I think they might be better for you too, I am not sure on that one. I am now hooked and they only take like 6 minutes and they really fill you up.