Tag: Spartan

Why are our Challenges Challenging? (11-30-22)

I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  We are winding down for the year, so the next few entries will be things to think about as you wrap up.  This week is about reflecting on why our challenges were challenging this year.

As you might know, obstacle course racing is my new hobby.  Let me be clear.  I’m not good at these races.  I fail a lot of obstacles and I’m slow.  With that said, usually I can get up and over the 6-foot wall obstacle with little difficulty.  I have the strength and skill to do that one (other obstacles, not so much 😉)  Recently, I completed a race in Arizona.  When I got to the 6-foot wall I struggled a few times before I got over it.  I started thinking about why I had an issue with something that I can normally do on the first try.  I realized a few things.  Usually, the 6-foot wall is one of the first obstacles and happens early in the race around mile 1.  Also, I was used to races in the Midwest where I was running on dirt and grass.  This particular 6-foot wall came around mile 3, after I had completed other obstacles and spent a fair amount of time running on loose sand.  Clearing the 6-foot wall on its own is challenging, but doable.  Clearing the 6-foot wall after getting through a series of challenges BEFORE I ever got there, made it more difficult because my legs and body were more tired than usual.

What does this have to do with anything?  As we finish the year, we likely will have some kind of end of year discussion.  During this time, you’ll likely be asked to talk about your successes as well as the areas where you struggled and could improve.  When you think about those areas where you could have improved, spend time thinking about why it was difficult.  Was it difficult because you didn’t have the knowledge or skillset to do it?  Or was it something you normally could have done, but it became a challenge since it came after so many other obstacles that popped up in your path?  As I reflect, there were some things I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, because they were new to me.  There were other situations where I had the skills and talent to handle them well, but since they came at the end of a slew of barriers, I didn’t handle them as well as I could have.  As you can see, these are two different root causes for why you could struggle with something, and each root cause has its own set of solutions.  I know I’m continuing to reflect on what I can do to improve in each instance.

The challenge: Why did you find certain things challenging this year?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Spartan Race, Wellness, and Energy Flows (11-10-21)

Last week was about managing your energy and watering a cactus.  This week is about a Spartan race, wellness, and understanding how energy flows to and from you.

Back in September, I accomplished a fitness goal and completed my first ever Spartan Sprint.  It’s a 3 mile race filled with obstacles (monkey bars, mud, cargo nuts, bucket carries, rope climbs, etc.) you need to overcome.  Leading up to the race, I made sure I ate foods that would fill up my energy reserves, so I would have enough in the tank to get through the race.  During the race, I exhausted a lot of those energy reserves trying to get through all the obstacles.  After the race, I spent most of the day just being lazy.  I also did some foam rolling and took a nice nap to recover.  The rest of the week I did stretching and active recovery to fill my tanks again.  (Look, it’s the cover of Bucket Carry Magazine😉)

How does this connect with energy flows and wellness?  Last week I talked about wellness as it relates to managing your energy.  If you look at my Spartan story, throughout the day I was either adding energy (eating, napping), being energy neutral (lazy sitting around), or spending energy (racing).  It’s important to understand how the energy was flowing in each of these situations, because it helped me figure out what was best for my recovery to refill my tank.  Now think about work/life for a moment.  Have you ever done an energy audit?  What actions/projects refuel you?  What is neutral for you?  What causes you to spend energy?  What sucks your soul and causes you to lose a lot of energy very quickly?  I do an energy audit from time to time and the reflection helps me build a life that refuels me in the right ways, which leads to better holistic wellness for me.

Embry Energy Audit Learnings–  On the work side, I avoid roles, situations, and people that will primarily drain me and take roles that have more work that will refuel or at least be neutral.  I invest time in “non-critical” work things, like blogging, mentoring, sending memes because they energize me (I put “non-critical” in quotes because I’d argue these things are probably more critical than some “official work”.)  On the life side, I used to workout at night.  I’ve found that working out in the morning gives me a boost throughout the day, so I’ve changed my routine.  As I get older my appreciation for sleep and active rest have increased a hundred fold.  Work will always be there, but once you lose hours of sleep you never get them again.  I’ve learned how much being at a computer all day drains me, so at night I try to minimize my screen time at night and instead read from an actual book.  I’m also more cognizant about whether an activity (or person) truly refuels me or if it’s just neutral.  Sometimes you just need a neutral activity, but sometimes I’ve found that I confuse neutral with replenishing and those aren’t the same.  I try to spend more time on refueling activities/people than neutral ones.

The challenge: How is your energy flowing?  How are you adapting to make this flow work better for you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry