Fresh Start Monday #056: Seeds vs harvest
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson
Are you too hard on yourself?
Do you feel like you're never doing enough? Are you constantly criticizing yourself? Do you feel like a failure?
I see this pattern in several clients. The cause may come from several factors, but it often stems from wanting results immediately.
We start going to the gym, and after the first session, we're in front of the mirror with our shirts off looking for our abs(Look, we've all done it!).
Thinking about the quote above, imagine planting a seed and then immediately examining the ground for the first signs of a leaf? How silly would that feel?
It's this intense focus on the end result. It's either you have a job or you don't. You weigh a certain amount or you don't. You have a certain amount of followers or you don't.
This perceived stagnation leads us to believe we need to do more.
If you plant seeds in your garden, you may need to water them daily, but they don't necessarily need more water. More water can be harmful.
Just like overtraining at the gym or running too much or working 80-hour weeks can harm our bodies.
I've been training for my first 50k ultramarathon on October 7th. Two weeks away from this race, I want to share how I separate what seeds I’m planting and watering vs what I'm harvesting and how you can too.
Seeds
When I first started training for this race, I looked up training programs and they included hill workouts, tempo runs, VO2 max workouts, running strides, and dozens of other workouts that overwhelmed me.
I decided on two metrics. I tracked my weekly mileage and kept most of my runs under a heart rate of 150 bpm (Zone 2).
I'm not following a specific training plan because running a certain type of workout that I don't understand on a specific day of the week doesn't feel sustainable. And that type of plan is awful for my perfectionism.
I can't be hard on myself with this type of simplicity.
For most people, staying on track is more important than the perfect plan.
Depending on your goal, pick 1 - 2 main actions or metrics. Keep it simple.
The second part is to stick with it for a predetermined amount of time.
For a 50k, I stuck with it for six months based on the length of standard plans. If you're building a personal brand, it could be a year or three.
How long are you committing to planting seeds?
Harvest
My only goal is to finish this 50k on October 7th. I want to be fast and strong on that day. That is what I'm harvesting.
In many of these group runs in Boulder, I'm still toward the back of the pack. I'm capable of running at a faster pace, but that comes at the cost of a higher heart rate and potential for injury.
The reminder to myself is that I'm training for a specific event and date, not to be fast on this group run on a random Wednesday evening. That is not my goal. Even though it hurts my ego a little bit.
When are you harvesting?
There seems to be a general overall pattern in most lives, that nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then all of a sudden everything happens. - Fay Weldon
Local to Boulder, CO?
Join me this Wednesday (9/27) on Meetup for a biweekly journaling group!
Wine & Words on Wednesdays - Journaling Group - 20s and 30s
Wednesday, September 27th at 6pm MT at Silver Vines Winery