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Quitting

We quit in the dark. Or at least it is a heck of a lot easier to quit when you think that nobody is watching. And the people watching can just be yourself. Who do you tell about your ambitions? What does a goal sound like to you? How do you hold yourself accountable? When does this happen (if at all)? I had a buddy in college that shared a strategy that he used to hold himself accountable to commitments that he made: once he committed to something, he would tell at least 3 people. He's now sharing that wisdom over a lyrical beer out east . External levers can only go so far -- who you tell matters, what happens when things get tough, whether you have that conversation about commitment when you can actually do something about it. But it took me far enough. The conversation that you have with yourself about quitting matters much more, whether you're introverted or not. And in my experience, the negotiation keeps you in it long enough to avoid quitting. For me, that's largely ...
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Noise

There's three things that you can do when you feel that you're in the middle of noise, distraction, and losing focus. Block it out. Get away from it. Create space where there's no noise. The easy option is to move away from the noise. If you have control over it, you can take actions to physically or mentally stop it from distracting you. But what happens when you don't? Being able to get a job done, despite the distractions, is a superpower. There's evidence that being mentally focused (and not mentally fatigued) before endurance activities is critical to performance . When you're fatigued, your motivation drops, your cognitive function is lower and could result in worse form, and you are less present for the activity. You can still get it done, but it will detract from the effort and over time you will be limited in what you can achieve. The best thing to avoid the noise is to create a space where it can't go. While I haven't done this in the way that ...
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Irreverent

Is it crazy to think that every combination of words has already been written, spoken, or heard before? Or is it crazier to feel the need for ownership over a creation, however minor? Entitled. Self-centered. Main character energy. Taking yourself too seriously. The biggest barrier to finding your voice comes from the internal and external judges.  I certainly am guilty of thinking that there's a standard that warramts delay, or some captive audience that will assess the things that I create, and how far from true that is. You are the exception to this. And others who protect their acheivements, however small, are spending more time on measuring what they have then in creating more. Surely volume is not the only thing that matters, but when you think about the things that have been made rather than what you are making, you're no longer moving the plot forward. So be irreverent. At least I will be. That doesn't mean plagiarism, stealing, or commissioning a chatbot to create ...
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6:51

 6:51. That's a lot of time.  It's more than most songs.  It's more than most people can hold their breath.  16 seconds every mile of the marathon.  It's more than a mile for the youngest and fastest groups trying to qualify for Boston.  To anyone on that border, where you met the 2025 standard and have been cut-off, and  now have new standards to meet in 2026 , it's time to go back to work. Grieve but don't sulk. Refocus on things within your control. The bar has been raised, in service to all that you can become. If this race is the singular achievement that you're looking for in endurance running, you will get there. I struggle with people who believe that their best days are behind them and see their continued improvement as impossible. It's the runners who don't give up, that are consistent and bridge between seasons, that win in the end. You learn more about yourself in adversity than you will ever learn about yourself in success. So if you...
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