When you're learning to run you have to learn to resist the urge to walk. Being able to run over any distance means being able to recover in the run.
This is a great way to approach work also. Sometimes, we feel tired, overwhelmed... undervalued... and that's when the urge to walk comes in. By walk, we mean give less than your best - stop contributing to meetings, engage less with your People Leader, don't double check those numbers. After all, who cares? Well... you should. It's your life, your work, you want to create something of which you can be proud.
So, how to resist the urge to walk? In running, here are our three tips we use that also (of course) convert easily to work:
Focus on your breathing. If you want to quickly address your stress, while still staying in the moment at work, check out the Physiological Sigh and this post where neurobiologist Andrew Huberman (who we stan at Fortis St) explains how to do it and what it does to your stress levels. In running, when we focus on our breathing, it gets us out of our head and into the rhythm of the work;
Focus on your goals - why are you at this work today? Let's not pretend that you're forced to be there. You're not a tree, you can leave if you want. You've made a choice to work for this business today, so what are those goals you want to achieve by being there? Reminding yourself of your goals, writing them down and then using those as a mantra will help you push through that temptation to be less than you could. In running, when we focus on running to the next lamppost, the next corner, up the next hill, we constantly surprise ourselves about what we can achieve; and
Focus on your body - in running, this means doing a check on each component of our body, from our toes to our head, noting how they're feeling and checking whether we can do something differently, (slide those shoulder blades down, land on the ball of our feet) to be more successful. At work, this means checking in on the components you can control - Am I being organised? Am I delivering things on time? Am I taking regular breaks? Have I helped someone today? Check in on the body of your work and see if there is something simple you can tweak to make you more successful at work.
At Fortis St, we coach for success at work. But for success in fitness, we go to people who know what they're talking about - here's a shout out to our PTs, spin trainers, run coaches, pilates instructors, yoga gurus - you inspire us to be better, every day!