A voice whispered in my head this morning..."trust the training..."
The voice was not mine – but an old running buddy’s. She said this over and over as we prepared for the NYC marathon back in 2019. Trust the training.
Fast forward a few years and here I am - training again. For another race yes, but gosh, kind of for life. Aren't we all? Which makes it seem more like a process than just a training plan. And now that voice is mine, and it is saying, “Trust the Process”
When we want to show up as our best selves, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of our strengths, to invest in them, and learn to leverage them. Choose to put the work in, and then trust the process. Because it does take time. But boy is it worth it 🖤
Discipline is my #34. I will never be that person who consistently gets up at 5am to run no matter what. And while I have often beaten myself up over it, shamed myself, or engaged in a lot of negative self-talk, I have learned and accepted that it's simply not who I am. Over the past years, I've gained such a deeper understanding about my strengths and what I lean on to achieve success. It's still a process – but isn't everything?
I was running this morning. In the rain – not at 5AM but at 7AM which these days is still early for me – because I decided I was too tired yesterday when it was sunny and beautiful. But the work needed to be done, and so the rain and wind were the result. I also have high responsibility (#7) resulting in a very real emotional commitment to doing what I said I would do. During my run I was thinking about two particular topics:
Pace of our goals:
When is it smart to slow down, think, and trust the process?
Under what circumstances is achieving a milestone necessary?
Who defined those milestones? When should they be re-defined?
How we show up: Under what circumstances can we find consistency when the very definition of the word is not in our DNA? And my answer was this → When we can determine the why behind our goal, our strengths tend to raise their hands and say, “I'm here, and you can lean on me." The why behind our goals is authentically us. As are our strengths. Knowing our why and our strengths help us understand why we behave in certain ways, how we achieve success, and what motives us. When we use our strengths, we are energized. When we are energized, we come back for more. When we come back for more, we are productive. We are achievers. And perhaps most importantly, we are showing up as our best selves. Consistently.
As I was finishing my run, I was feeling pretty good about these thoughts and the journey that I and so many others are on. And then one other notion came to me – one other nugget that for me, is very helpful at times. And, that is sometimes a YES or NO is all you need.
As coaches, we are trained to always ask powerful, open ended questions. It's the details that reveal, guide, make you reflect, and often lead to the transformation that professional coaching can have. But at the end of my run, and a #choosestrong podcast, I was reminded that sometimes those details get in the way. Sometimes, the feelings are too much (#3 in empathy). Sometimes, all I need to know is: did I/you do the work?
Yes.
Or.
No.
And that's when I realized again – to trust the process. Because putting in the work, I believe, will always mean something good is going to happen.
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