Patience

My wife tells me I'm a very patient person, especially with the kids. This is a good thing. Especially with kids. I wasn't always a very patient person. Training for marathons and the Ironman has made me patient.

When training to run 26.2 miles you can't dive right in. Ok, maybe you can, but I couldn't. When I first started training for the Chicago marathon my first "long" run was 7 miles. I thought I was going to die. "How will I ever run 26.2 miles?" I thought to myself as I leaned against a mailbox at the 1/2 way point. "What the heck was I thinking?". The problem was I was focused on the endpoint already instead of where I was in the training program. By sticking with my training plan I learned that I could do it if I was patient and kept at it. Pretty soon the 7 mile run was just another run. The mileage crept up - 9, 12, 15, 17, 20. Yes it was hard. But I stuck with it - willing myself to be patient. I completed the 18 week training plan and finished the Chicago marathon (my first) in under four hours. That was the big payoff. After 18 weeks of patiently sticking to the plan I pulled off what in the first week appeared to be an impossibility.

Don't rush into it. Be patient. Make a realistic plan and stick to it. If you try to jump in to far, to fast, your chance of succeeding is not as good. Worse yet the resulting failure could crumble your resolve and undermine your goals. As long as the plan is realistic and your are patient you will achieve your goals.