Of one thing I have recently become convinced, endurance sports – specifically triathlon – make me more effective in the workplace. Or am I a more effective triathlete because of my experience? Good question. I thought I knew the answer until I started writing this post.
The more I think about it the more fascinated I become at the parallels between my professional career and the sport of triathlon. What a perfect match. It is as if all my years of arts education, teaching, small business ownership, client relations and motherhood were secretly in cahoots about my future as an age grouper triathlete, and they weren't going to let me in on the secret until I turned 40. What a great secret it was.
As an interior architecture student I spent days pouring over the smallest of details, each one was monumentally important to the eventual success of the project. Years later while pursuing my masters in photography, I spent equivalent time alone in the darkroom extracting beauty and form from light. In its essence, photography is the perfect blend of science, inspiration and sheer magic. Are you starting to see the parallels? Four years teaching photography to college students should have taught me patience. Not so much. As a small business owner, I learned to tackle issues head on and understand the importance of ownership and accountability. Motherhood demands that you juggle ten unrelated tasks with ultimate precision and timing – I am nearing master status. In recent years my print and Web design projects have spanned anywhere from a few days to many months – sprint tri or Iron distance?
Hours spent training each week leave me plenty of time to pull from my experience in the darkroom, classroom and boardroom. Triathlon training can be lonely if you don't embrace the solitude. I enjoy being alone in the pool or on the road – it's the only quiet I get in the course of the day. On the flip side, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to run through a hill or tackle speed work without a friend or teammate to inspire you. If you love what you do it can be difficult to separate yourself from work – what you do is tied to who you are. The same is true with triathlon. I can't imagine anyone putting themselves through the weekly rigors of training without harboring a deep love and respect for the sport.
What I have taken away from endurance training is far more meaningful. Besides the aches and pains that creep up and heckle me from time to time, I've seen my spirit renewed by the tiny successes that come from consistency, hard work and even failure. I've come to know a me that is stronger and more tolerant than I ever gave myself credit for being. Creativity, I have learned, can be coaxed from within when deadlines are looming and the phone keeps ringing – it just takes focus. I feel motivated in areas of my life that have nothing to do with training – like being a better pet owner and paying off debt. More importantly, I am inspired to be one of the people that lights a fire inside of someone else – a pay it forward of the multi-sport kind. If you've ever looked at triathlon or any major obstacle and said, "I could never do that" I hope you'll give it a try. For all you know you could have been training for it all your life.
