September 27, 2016 – Quick read you might like. Last night I was thinking about something as I sat alone and ate dinner. That thought was what if one day while out on one of my adventures my inability to quit actually results in my death. Hmmmm, now that’s deep. That thought led me to thinking about mental strength and the idea of goal accomplishment by filling your “Life Buckets.”
What’s a Life Bucket? I’m glad you asked.
When it comes to accomplishing tough goals outside of our Comfort Zone, I think you have 3 buckets you need to tend; A physical bucket, a mental bucket and a physiology bucket. The physical bucket is mainly about your physical fitness. Your physiology bucket includes things that are largely out of your control like being 5 foot 11 inches and wanting to play in the NBA, a person’s inability to acclimatize at high altitudes, or getting sick at sea. The last bucket is the mental bucket. How you internally deal with adversity. I’ve run marathons, biked long distances, and climbed mountains. One look at me and you can tell that I am more built to race down a 50-yard buffet line rather than run a 26.2 mile marathon. I’m lacking in both the physical and physiology buckets when it comes to running long distances. I compensate for this by making sure my mental bucket is full and running over. This is something anyone can do, but it’s not easy and takes time and practice. When I’ve been asked where does somebody start with building a strong mental game, my answer is simple and defined by two words; Start and Quit. Decide what you want to do and then Start working towards your goal. When you take massive amounts of action towards a goal, momentum from that action propels you forward. Then, once you start, don’t Quit. Just don’t quit. I still remember sitting in the back of a skydiving plane and seeing the green jump light come on out of the corner of my eye. My thought? This shit just got real! Jumping out of a plane required zero physical conditioning, but when that green light came on and that door opened to the roar of the wind and 14,000 feet of nothingness, my physiological response was immense and real. In short, the world collapsed. To me, that door was a Black Hole in space. I physically felt a change in reality. I couldn’t move. Why? Because millions of years of fight, flight, or freeze instinct kicked in BIG TIME. My body was in full self-preservation mode. Luckily, I anticipated this involuntary response and knew that I would freeze at the “Zero Moment of Truth” so I had actually been practicing the physical actions required to tandem skydive; standing up, giving the thumbs up, and saying the word GO over and over. It got me out the door. Mission accomplished.
Well, speaking of planes it’s time to get on my flight back to Austin. I’ll be glad to get back to Camp 1 in Waco. I miss my bed. And even though I got to see them this weekend, I already miss the family back at Basecamp in Idaho.
As always, my wish is that my little short life stories positively impacts your life. Now go find your adventure and Live Your Life.
PS – I don’t like talking about death and I’m not courageous, but I would rather die while on an adventure than while in my office at my desk wearing khakis. That would really suck and not make for a good story my kids could tell about their dad.
PPS – The Life Bucket idea can be adapted to non-physical goals as well.
PPPS – Growth and Comfort do not coexist. If you’re comfy then you’re not growing.