The Parallels of Running and Running a Business

A few weeks ago, I did a LinkedIn LIVE with my friend Eric Deeter. You might know him or recognize his name because I have been on his podcast, The Ultramarathon Mindset. Eric is an ultrarunner and mindset coach for business owners. During the 30 minute LIVE, we talked about running, ultramarathons, and how we could apply lessons and strategies from running to operating a business. 30 Minutes is not enough time to cover the full topic, but that’s just the right length of time to hold a LIVE on LinkedIn. After Eric and I ended our conversation, my mind flooded with parallels of running and operating a business. I quickly typed everything up, here it is.

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Running and running a business

• Have a vision

• Goals

• Know your why

• Try new things

• Challenge yourself

• Get outside of your comfort zone

• Ask for help

• Be in the moment

• Be grateful

• Be flexible

• Be strategic

• Enjoy the process

• Setbacks and failures are learning experiences

• If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it

• Use positive self-talk

• Prioritize rest and self-care

• Be curious about your doubts and what may hold you back

• Positive affirmations

• Accept feedback or constructive criticism and don’t beat yourself up over it

• Use motivation / motivational quotes

• Who inspires you and why

• Keep going when things get hard

• Know that everyone struggles, multiple times

• There is always someone with more experience and knowledge than you

• Be a learner

• Don’t wait for the perfect moment, it may never arrive

• This isn’t a sprint, it’s an ultramarathon

• Aim to do things right the first time

• There’s always room for improvement

• Plans can change unexpectedly

• Break your long-term goal up into really small steps

• Just show up

• Do your best preparing

• Be proud of what you’ve accomplished

• Celebrate your smallest accomplishments

• Pause and take a look at how far you’ve come

• Spend time reevaluating your plan

• Many pieces come together to make it work

• Be kind to yourself

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What are your thoughts?

If you’re an endurance athlete, do you typically pull from the lessons that you learn from your profession and apply them to your sport, or do you do things the other way around?

For me, I do it the opposite, I learn lessons from ultramarathon running and apply them to being a small business owner. I have been an ultrarunner for over twice as long as a business owner, which gives me more experience and confidence. As a business owner, I love it, but I’ve found that it can be more difficult than running an ultra.

When I work with someone who is having trouble identifying their strengths or suffering from low self-esteem, then one of the activities I do with them is to have them think about what they do for a living or a hobby (it’s usually something they enjoy). We discuss what they do for a living or hobby, list their strengths, and figure out how to apply them to the areas where they’re feeling weaker or down on themselves.

People usually feel positively about this activity because it gets them focusing on the things that they enjoy. These are things that are working for them and they’re good at it. They feel confident. Once strengths are identified, we plug them into areas that they care to work on, weaker ones. It’s great to see the change that people experience.

If you care to address weaker areas or low self-esteem, reach out to see how I can help.

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THE ULTRAMARATHON MINDSET PODCAST episode with Eric

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POWER OF WORDS TO HEAL By Eric

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WHY DON’T WE TAKE A SHOT?

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STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES INVENTORY WORKSHEET FOR ATHLETES

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