These Inflection Points Win Your Day (or Lose It)
Forget the need to win every hour
There’s a former pro athlete inside Tribal that has a major problem no one would expect…
He lost consistency in training.
He’s a young dad and runs a thriving biz. He’s a high achiever.
And that’s exactly why he’s in such a rut…
He hasn’t exercised in 6 weeks and feels like crap.
And since I know he’s not alone in this struggle, I want to share exactly how we’re turning things around…
How We Got Here
This athlete did his first 70.3 this summer, loved the race and immediately signed up for his next one.
Then got burnt out keeping his foot on the gas amidst a chaotic summer schedule.
So this past week, we had a check-in to recalibrate on training.
The first thing we did? Lean on the new emerging Tribal Law:
Lower the bar and raise the execution.
We shifted from…
90 minute weekday rides and 3+ hour weekend rides
To…
45 minutes mid-week and 60 minutes on the weekend
The goal?
Help the athlete building consistency and confidence by making our goals more bite-sized.
But even after that, I still sensed a larger problem…
Mindset.
Our Language Is Like Water (or Something Else)
I asked this athlete how he planned to execute on the new protocol day to day.
His response had the word “try” sprinkled in 6+ times in just a few sentences.
I’m gonna try to get on the bike after work
I’m gonna try to be consistent
I’m gonna try to get it done
It felt like we just laid fresh grass seed and had this vision for a lush, green lawn…
But then instead of watering the yard with the sprinkler, we were pissing all over it and expecting it to grow.
In my experience, a lush, green lawn is a product of two things:
the right amount of seed (foundations of the plan)
a fuck ton of water (positive and confident language)
If you listened to my Do Hard Things keynote, you know that “try” is timid language that infects our actions and executions.
I knew this athlete needed more boldness.
You can watch my Enter Action With Boldness keynote below
You Don’t Need To Win The Whole Day
After a few more prying questions, I realized this athlete was viewing his days as a massive undertaking.
He was defaulting to an All or Nothing mindset where he’d have to…
wake up early
get work done in the am
get his kid ready for school
win the work day (while not let his calendar control him)
find time to train after work (and execute)
be present with his family in the evening
And it felt overwhelming.
I was thinking: Ya, that sounds overwhelming to me too.
I brought him back to the initial goal:
Start training consistently again.
And that required one specific mindset shift…
Another new emerging Tribal Law applied:
Know your inflection points.
Instead of trying to win every single hour of a 24 hour day, we just needed to find the few inflection points that determine if the day is won or lost.
For this athlete, the inflection points were simple:
He’s on dad duty from 7am to 8:30 (while his wife works out)
His best training window is 8:30am to 9:30 (right after his son starts home school and before work)
When he wins those inflection points, the day is already won (and the entire rest of the day falls into place).
But there was still another step…
It sounds great to have a simple plan to execute on. But sometimes life goes sideways.
And if the 8:30 training session doesn’t happen, we cannot spend all day “trying” to fit a workout in.
We needed to create a check down window.
His was clear:
4pm to 5 (boundary on ending the work day and before family time in the evening)
And just like that, our plan was set.
win at 7am
win at 8:30am
(maybe) win at 4pm
How To Bulletproof The Plan
The biggest threat to our new plan’s success was clear:
A slow transition from dad duty to training.
10 minutes to get dressed…
another 5-10 minutes to eat something quick…
last minute check on what the training session is…
This is not sustainable.
So I highlighted the value in
knowing his training plan for the week
laying out his clothes/gear the night before
As we wrapped up this recalibration chat, this athlete said 2 things that stuck out:
he felt excited to have a plan he could execute consistently
he gained clarity and confidence on how he can get his mojo back
And in the first 3 days since our chat, he’s hit all 3 training sessions.
This is what it’s all about.