It seems crazy now that I think back on it. I just biked 100 miles in 10 hours. That’s like going from Washington, DC to Baltimore 2.5 times! It’s a long freaking way!
My friends and I talked about doing the Apple Cider Century ride (100 miles) starting in Three Oaks, MI last year. When we discussed it in passing, it was a goal I just threw out there. But as the Summer 2017 rolled around, I asked myself, could I actually do this? After earning my second degree Seido Karate black belt in June, was that enough physical challenges for one year?
I like to set outrageous goals to challenge myself to achieve them. It forces me to answer the question…Could I actually do this? More importantly, how would I do this? I broke it down like any other business problem into small pieces to achieve a successful outcome. I put together a 12 week training plan. I would gradually build up to a long ride of 80 miles and weekly distances of 120 miles to be able to complete a 100 mile ride.
As I rode that day (where there is a lot of time to think), I realized riding 100 miles is a lot like small business.
Any goal achieved is better in a team. I trained with two friends and we finished together. During the race, we encouraged each other to keep going. Almost every goal achieved in business takes a team and it is easier to get there with the help of others.
It’s all “fair”. The biking terrain was very hilly. Many times, I angrily thought that having hill after hill in a ride wasn’t fair and it was too difficult a route. But, I would look at the next hill to climb, lower my head, say “fuck”, and then prepare myself by shifting to the right gear. Like nature, the market does not care what’s fair. You need to decide if you want to take that business environment on and then work in it to be successful.
Sometimes, you can’t think too far ahead. There were rest stops in 20 mile intervals. From training, I knew on average how fast I rode. However many times, I had no idea how much farther I had to go to get to the next stop. I just tried to face the road directly in front of me and not think about the entire distance. That kept it from getting too overwhelming. In daily business, sometimes thinking about all that has to get done can get to be too much. Prioritize tasks and deal with them one at a time.
Set big goals and prepare. It’s important to set big hairy goals for your soul. In business, this is what pushes your company and team to go where you never thought it possible to go.
