What a Parkrun Taught Me About Business Strategy, Mental Agility, and Success | IHMIY Ep 11

Every week, I get up for a ParkRun.

Okay, most weeks. It's not for good reason that I'll often miss a ParkRun (yes, having your hair done the day before is a good reason) and I'll even visit other ParkRuns is I'm somewhere else in the country to make sure I don't miss out. 

But this isn't just about fitness. 

Showing up to the parkrun, seeing my time every week, and being able to see my progress is having more than just an impact on m health and business. 

I run with a podcast or audiobook in my ears - usually it's business, mindset, or marketing. But it's not those that are having the impact. 

I'm running my own race, against myself, every week. 
I'm seeing my progress, tracking the data, and looking at the 1% differences. 

Somehow, I'm learning all these things in the context of a parkrun, but I'm learning things about business too.

And in today's episode, I'm sharing what I've learnt about business mindset, mental agility and success from running the weekly parkrun.

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Music by Kadien: Instagram | Spotify | SoundCloud

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today I absolutely smashed a park run and I want to connect the learnings that I can take from absolutely smashing a park run with the way that I need to operate and that you could benefit from operating in business as well. Let me set the scene for you that it is 8.20am and Jason's alarm has gone off. Now, normally on a Saturday morning, I have no trouble getting up. I've been awake much earlier than any alarm. I don't even set an alarm myself, but this time the alarm goes off, and actually it must be at quarter past eight because we ignore it and then we get up at 8.20. Now I already know that I am missing park run next week, and that's because the big festoon is taking place, which you'll be hearing this a few weeks after. So it'll be a little bit of a sink. But I'm like oh, like I don't even really need to go. I'm having a break next week, like I'm gonna take two weeks off or something. Give myself a bit of a reset. Why don't I just skip this week? We're both clearly tired. We've slept in more than we normally. Well, I have. He normally sleeps anyway. Um, but let's just leave it and put it on. He's like no, I don't want to be the one to stop you running and I'm like, oh yeah, I'm tired too and it's a really good excuse not to. Um, don't stop you running, you need to go. And I was like, okay, well, I'll just go, I'll accept that it's like my last one, but for a few I'm just gonna take it easy and somehow we miraculously get out the door. Normally, we're out the door by 8 30. That's the aim. Um, we make it out the door. Normally, we're out the door by 8.30. That's the aim. We make it out the door by 8.35. I mean, I'm one of these people that does have contingency time in and therefore that is always going to have a five to 10 minute buffer in it anyway. So we're set.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Don't have my music, because I haven't ever been organized enough to charge my headphones. It's fine. I have one of those Beats charger things that you're just meant to put them back in the case and it charges it, but anyway, I'm still not great at that. That's fine though. So I'm going to run with no music, which sometimes is better anyway, like, cause I don't run to music. I listened to a podcast or audio book last week and I quite liked that, um, but I ended up having like thoughts and can't write stuff down, so like, okay, well, I'm just going to run.

Speaker 1: 2:03

The only thing that I've noticed is I'm wearing a vest running top and the weather is not really vest weather, but it was the only thing I had. Strangely, for some reason, I don't seem to have t-shirts around. Maybe they're just currently in the dryer and I haven't found them. Anyways, so I grab a vest and I've got a hoodie on over the top and I've said to Jason, like, oh, what are we going to do here, because I'm going to get too hot too soon. So we make a plan that he's going to be at the 1K mark, not at the start, like he normally would be, to see me off. Instead, he's going to see me there and at that point I'm going to, if I'm too hot and don't want to keep it going, to take my jacket off in anticipation of handing it over. So I do that.

Speaker 1: 2:38

I run the first K. That's nice and comfortable. I take the hoodie off and that was a relief, like it's, it's not that super hot outside, it's getting quite springy, but, yes, I get hot quite quickly from running, so I didn't need it for any longer than that and it's I could put it around my waist, but it is so much easier to just give to Jason to hold it's. You know one extra thing you've got on you. It's going to make you slightly hotter even around your waist. So off it came and there we go.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So I do my 2K, just steadily going along. I'm not really fussed about where anyone is, anyone overtaking me, whether I'm overtaking anyone else and we come to into the second kilometre, which means that we are headed into the sort of grassy section and the hill. If you've ever done chunks of parkrun, it's not even a big hill. Great Notley Parkrun, much worse. Oh my goodness, colchester Highwood horrendous for hilliness. This is nothing. It's nothing on any of the others really. It's, generally speaking, quite a flat course. So that was great.

Speaker 1: 3:36

So I come to this hill and I have. For the past few weeks I've been trying to run it and I have, and the kind of ethos and thought behind that is. I need to make sure that I can run the whole thing, except today I don't. You know what I've done. I'm so tired. I've had a migraine over this week as well, not to factor in. So I had a migraine on Wednesday period five during a lesson, migraine aura and I took the whole of Thursday off to recover and you know, I think that was that served me well for doing a nice job of content creation club on Friday Could show up chilled when I got back home and then went to see the 39 steps in the evening with Jason. But otherwise it's been a very, you know, chill approach approach.

Speaker 1: 4:20

So this is why I'm not going to push. I'm not right. Okay, body could still be recovering. We'll just stop right at the bottom of the hill. Uh, we'll do a good walk up. We're not just gonna stroll up, we're gonna move. What's it called stride? No, it's not stride. You're gonna do the thing with your arms, swing your arms, I guess. Um, as you go up and you're gonna as you get that tree I'd already set my sights on the tree you're going to run again.

Speaker 1: 4:42

So I did that very short stop, as it were, and I started running again and I'm near to these guys, two guys that are running together. One is a much stronger runner, faster runner. He's talking about oh, if you train on a hill, it's much easier on a flat. I'm like to his pal. I'm like, oh God, yeah, I know. But like the Imagine training on a hill, it does make sense, I get it. But yeah, so they're around and they were near to where I was last week and I'm like okay. So pace wise I'm kind of in the same zone as last week. That's cool.

Speaker 1: 5:09

Running along, I see that I'm at 19 minutes as I come into the 3k mark. Now, at that time I'm clearly not with it, because in my head I went okay, right, that's pretty standard. We'll just keep running, shall we? And I've realized in hindsight that actually means that my pace on average was six minutes 20. That's pretty good going, that's. That's not bad at all. That means we're doing well. We've only got 2k to go. So in my head I really.

Speaker 1: 5:33

The reality is, if I'd realized that there's a whole host of things that could have gone on, but I didn't notice that massively and I just kept running. And even during the third to fourth K I'm going all right, just keep going. You know, I can feel there's some people overtaking me and I'm like, oh, you could try and keep up with that little couple that were running together, the men. They're now ahead of me and I'm thinking, oh God, ok, I'm slower than I was last week, no worries, let's keep going. So just keep, keep on running, and not really that fast either.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Like I'm, I'm going, I'm going, but there's not a lot of intention, I am not focused. But as I come into you come through the underpass at the 4k mark. So I had not looked at the clock. Then I've looked at the clock as I'm approaching the viaducts at Chelmsford, which means I mean we've probably done four kilometres and maybe a couple of hundred metres on that, 250, say. I totally guess. I'm not great with measuring metres, certainly when I'm running it, something like that, though maybe, and I've looked at the clock and I've gone, wait a second.

Speaker 1: 6:31

We're at 26 minutes and my pace is roughly six minutes on a good run, if not six minutes, 30 on like a steady run, and I feel like I'm going steady. I'm like, wait, add six minutes onto this, that's 32. Like that's quite close to my pb, which in my head is 31, 24. I'm like, oh, I'm in the close realm of like doing this and I'm already part of the way into this, into this last kilometer, like if I run, run, run now, like I can make it. So I start to increase the way that I'm running, a little bit like I've been steady for a long while now I'm not out of breath by any means. The little walk has helped me. I've been steady and sort of playing with my breath as I've gone and there's been no nothing body wise has been like all this hurts or any any distractions. So I just start to increase my pace a little bit.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Normally I'm looking for Jason because I know he's going to be on the final stretch and I didn't even clock him initially. When I come around the corner of the park and see him, I do see him wave and he says go on, sean. So I keep running and I'm coming into the corner where you have to basically loop Central Park and you come into the final bit. Now, at this point I have no idea what the time is. All I had was what I had before, which was we're close. So we're running, we're running, we're overtaking people as we go steadily, but surely so that's cool.

Speaker 1: 7:48

And we come into the penultimate corner before the final and I look at my watch and we are on 30, something Like we are not at 31. We are going to be approaching it soon. So we're over 30, 30, but we're approaching it. So I'm like I've got to run, man, cause my 31, 24 is so close, like I can do this. And I have not, and I don't normally run a sprint finish ever, because why do it? It's a lot of effort. But at this point I'm like this is the difference between it could be 31, 31, 24 or like 31, 20. And I could like either get the same beat it or just miss it. So I'm like you're gonna have to run, go like there's no jogging or steady run.

Speaker 1: 8:29

This is run and maybe a little bit of a sprint, which I did right on the final corner. And as I come through the gate it is 31, 10 on my watch. Uh, the elapsed time is 31, 18, but I didn't start it. I started it before the bell went and then paused it, so it's always a little bit out anyway. So I'm like, oh my god, it's definitely definitely more than 31, 24. And lo and behold, a few hours later it's come in that it's 31, 02 as far as parkrun are concerned, and my old previous time was 31, 42, longer than I realized, and I realized that that's a bit of a whirlwind tale of my run and I haven't even got to the business bit yet, whoa, it's like a whole 10 minutes that you've listened to my run. I hope it's been interesting.

Speaker 1: 9:12

I said this before on a LinkedIn post and it really intrigues me that fact that for the majority of that time I wasn't looking at how fast I was going, wasn't looking at how fast I was going, what my time was, where I was going, what I was doing. I just did it and I just bloody got on with it. That was it, and I was actually taking what I deemed to be a nice steady pace. Don't get me wrong. I went walking and it certainly wasn't. I can't jog. It feels too hard to jog, jog, but like I'm not pushing myself and I'm not remotely aware of what the the end goal is.

Speaker 1: 9:48

I in my head it's 31, 24 if I'm running a fast run. This, oh mate in my head. When I saw the 19, somehow the maths in my head worked out to be like oh, this is going to be about 30, 36 minutes. Christ knows how I'm a maths teacher. I'm really sorry everybody. Um, great thing that I wasn't with it, because I think if I'd known that I was at 19 minutes then and I had done the maths accurately, I'd have realised that I was close because I'd have been like oh, okay, like, 12 minutes from now he's 31. Oh, like, oh, I can do this and I might have peaked too soon.

Speaker 1: 10:22

And I think about this in business, and whilst we know that we need to keep track of the data on what we're doing, sometimes we just need to keep going with what we're doing for a little bit longer without really taking note of of exactly what's going on or at least seeing that we're on track. I suppose it is good to know, but not letting that let us get carried away to change anything, but just being consistent at what you do. I was running and I really I thought I was running slower than I was. It turns out that my, my average must have been around 30, literally with the original sort of six minutes, 10, 12 seconds, right, my last pacing was five minutes 35. I was on my head, which is wild. I've never, I've never run a lap as quick as that. Um, not in my recent running years, as it were.

Speaker 1: 11:13

The sort of second chapter of running I did a little bit before in, uh, when I was sort of age 25, 26, totally different ball game. Um, I think when we get caught up in checking stats weekly, and especially when it comes to something like sales, it can, if you're not doing as well as you think you should be or want to be, that's going to be demotivating in itself. And I've done that when I've been trying to beat this 31 42 score, even though I've had it wrong in my head. I've been looking at the clock much more when I've been running and I've let that dictate what I've tried to do because I've gone. Oh, no, no, no, I'm behind, I need to, like, I need to move quicker, like now, and unfortunately I'm doing that like 2k, 2.5k in and that throws off the rest and it totally goes.

Speaker 1: 12:00

Obviously, you heard and I explained that the hill is something I've been trying to run. Well, hello, I just got a personal best whilst walking it because you know what. I had to take a rest so I could get my breath back and resume the rest. That's the hardest part of that course in my opinion, the single hardest. I don't know how many metres I told you. I can't estimate very well, let's look at something nearby that I can measure against. Okay, like, maybe I have no idea this is such a pun. Maybe it's like 15 meters long, I've got no idea. It's not long at all, you know it's. It takes a mere matter of seconds to get up when you're running and not many more seconds to walk. That's almost.

Speaker 1: 12:39

My favorite part is that when I walk it I looked at who I started with and I'm like you're literally five paces ahead of me, or or so you know. It doesn't make a big difference to walk that, and I think that's vital because I don't need to make this run any harder than I already find it. Actually, choosing when to strategically stop and not do something so you can go at a slower pace is much better if you're looking to achieve a long-term goal when it comes to business. Sometimes that means that we don't have to be running around doing it all all the time, but actually just doing it slower, taking it easier, can then give you the energy to get on with the stuff that you do need to go a little bit more full force, or when you suddenly realize you need to move it in the final section. You've got the energy because you haven't used it all up back in the early stages of the run or back in the early stages of your business and I share this because it is starting to be the way that I look at business.

Speaker 1: 13:40

I do track my stats. I know my sales. I haven't been tracking my calls as much like I was initially at the start of the year. I think there's some work to be done on that and that does need some stat tracking. But I'm also not letting my stats dictate stuff to me. I think that's important because there's a whole year. We're only just by the time you're hearing this, we'll be into Q2. So we're only just into Q2. We've basically had none, none of this year, really.

Speaker 1: 14:08

And okay, you will look online and someone will tell you that they are absolutely smashing Q1. And like they've already hit their goals for Q1. And they need to make their goals even more ambitious because they didn't make them ambitious enough in the start, or maybe they were ambitious, they've just managed to achieve it. Like there's all this celebration online and hopefully you've heard a sort of very open and honest version of it. I'm not I'm not smashing it right now, but I would like to think that by the end of 2024, I'll be able to say that I smashed 2024. Even if that doesn't mean that I've not had all the sales in the first three months, even if that doesn't mean that I didn't hit my target in the end. Okay, I don't know how I feel about that in terms of if I didn't hit my park. I mean, I've had a smashing year in park run already. I think I've had two pbs is it this year and and on both occasions I wasn't trying to get the pb and any other time that I've been like, oh, I should probably try and get the p I think there's a lot to be said for slow, steady, strategic moves, and this goes for podcasting as well.

Speaker 1: 15:15

It goes for social media, it goes for content creation, it goes for so many things, and other people will be like, yeah, but there's that guy that did it in three months and like doubled their income in that time, and this, that and the other. That is core, and there are strategies and there are ways, and I'm not saying that that's not great or successful or anything like that, and certainly not unachievable. What I keep getting the message of, though, is that kind of not slow and steady wins the race, but so, and steady lets you get to, and sometimes you smash your goals even without really having to try without having to exert yourself consistently and constantly all of the time. If you think that working in your business, even on your business, like 10 times more, is going to help you, I'm just not convinced that it will. What you need to be doing is slow, steady, repeatable actions that contribute to a result at the end, and maybe there is a sprint finish at the end. Maybe there is a launch that comes at the end that really accelerates all of the consistent effort you have put in for the first nine months of 2024.

Speaker 1: 16:24

Now we're not at the end of it to know that yet, but I am fascinated to see how this year goes for me, because it's not a motto. I have, in particular, although, saying that one of my coaches has just posted on my Facebook post that I've written about this and he said didn't want to go, but went anyway. I think that is something you've got to do. You've got to show up in business, even if you don't want to, and if you continue to show up, creating momentum, taking action and moving yourself like a little bit closer each time, with the actions that you're doing each week, in and out, every day, that is what will get you a result in the end, I see my progress at parkrun as something mental.

Speaker 1: 17:09

I don't believe it's purely physical. I think sometimes it's all to do with my mental agility and ability to adapt and move, and if I'm finding that I can achieve something inverted commas without trying or without having to push myself to an extreme, then maybe I need to take a little leaf out of my running book to see that the same could be said in business. Take my gas off the pedal, commit to consistent action, like I did with Chantal the coach. To be fair, there are a lot of lessons from there as well to be said, and let's see how the rest of 2024 goes. I hope you've enjoyed my little running story and you can take something away from this today that can apply in your business too. I will see you next week.