Lessons from the "15 Initiative"

The mission for the “15 Initiative” is for people to uncover their true potential to see that they are capable of pretty much anything they put their mind to. The people I run for live this. They do not accept the world as it is, they go and change it and make it better, make the most of it and never give up.

1. Have a vision of where you want to go: If you have no idea where you are going, it is easy to get lost and not even know it. There were some goals established for the initiative, there could have been more. We had simple goals, complete 15 endurance events and raise $15,000. I never gave a story that was more compelling than the fact that I wanted to raise money. I did not talk about the challenge or the mission just the how and what, never the why.

2. Have a flexible plan: Know where you want to go, have direction be open to change course. The campaign presented a lot of opportunities to prove this to me over and over again. I struggled on choosing a strict course that was never left to just letting things happen. When you have the strict course you miss out on so many opportunities but when you wander you never get anywhere. If the titanic would have changed its course, it may have made it, instead it kept its course. Do not let your predetermined course be the reason you sink.

3. Be All-IN: It is scary to be all-in, when we are all-in we can get hurt, we are vulnerable and exposed. It is where the magic happens where we grow. This is the place where you learn how great you really are. You always have a choice in life, you can sink in or you can do a cannonball and make some waves.

4. Embrace the suck: Pain, suffering, agony and struggling we are told are bad. That when it happens to us we must be getting punished for something we did. We begin to think that we are far too weak to handle it and feel bad for ourselves.

The truth: Embrace the suck. Embrace what hurts and learn as much as you can from it. You are not being punished; you are being given an opportunity to learn and to grow. Ask for help, people are always willing to help.

5. Act: We freak ourselves out way too much, we worry that if we act we will fail and the humor of it all is that when we refuse act, we have already failed by default. I know from personal experience. In the initiative when I was stuck instead of doing anything I would just think about it and worry about it and surprisingly nothing ever happened.

We are addicted to perfection. We want every decision that we make to be perfect. Life does not work that way. No matter how hard you try, something always could have been better. There does not need to be a winner and a loser, in fact everyone can win but that by no means it will be perfect.

6. You are going to fail: This initiative was a failure; I did not raise as much money as I set out to raise. Failure happens, it is nothing to be afraid of and it is nothing to shy away from or to deny. When we talk about failure, even when we talk about how it is a good thing, we are afraid to say it out loud. Stop being afraid, embrace it, learn from it and grow from it. The only way you will not fail is if you do nothing your entire life and that is the greatest failure of all.

7. Define what matters: 15 endurance events in a year while raising money takes up a lot of time. It means sacrificing a lot, early mornings, late nights and barely a social life. If this sounds like it sucks, it did, but what this means is that you are forced to decide what really matters to you. Your time in general is limited, so invest it in people, things, and ideas that you truly believe in.

8. Busyness is an addiction: Since completing my last event for 15, I have a lot more free time. It felt that when I was not doing anything I was doing something wrong and I was lazy. I was addicted to being busy. When you are busy it feels as if your life has meaning, that you are contributing in some way and that you are not wasting a single breath, no one wants to wake up and realize they wasted their life but do not be so busy you forget to live.

9. Be consistent and persistent:  Just keep after it, repeatedly, this is how you build a habit. The only way you are going to get better at running is to improve upon your running, is by practice. This is just like life. The only way you are going to improve is if you constantly try to improve on being better. When you start, it sucks but it gets easier. The challenges should not get easier, but it will become easier to start.

10. Trust Yourself: We are capable of so much we know that we just have a hard time convincing ourselves that we are right and that we could be that freaking amazing. We trust so many people in our life and yet the person that we should trust the most, our self, is the person we trust the least. We are filled with self-doubt that keeps us down and stops us from doing so much. Trust yourself, there will be pain, it will hurt and it will be uncomfortable but you can handle it.

11. Have Fun: If a terminal cancer patient can have fun, you sure as hell can have fun in your life. This is not written to make you feel bad about yourself. My hope is that it inspires the hell out of you to constantly look for ways to have fun and ways to enjoy life, to make the most out of it.  Fun is not goofing off, you can have fun working and making a huge difference in the world, it is all about how you look at it. Be intentional and see the greatness of the world. Enjoy every moment even when it sucks.

12. Get back up: One of my half-Ironmans was with a myTEAM Triumph-Wisconsin. I was lucky enough to be placed with my friends Rebecca and Chris. The swim was crazy but lucky for me, I had Rebecca, one of the best swimmers I know to lead us. Swimming past the breakers the waves kept getting bigger and I could not catch my breath, so I stopped and tried again, it happened again and I tried again until I finally gave up and was taken out of the swim.

I did not complete the swim portion of the triathlon, I was able to participate with my team for the bike and run. I got back up. When something goes wrong does not mean you jump ship, it means you readjust.

13. Intentionally Be Present: Live in the moment but realize what you want life to bring to you. Do not worry about looking stupid just be present. Make the most out of every situation and enjoy it. Stop thinking and just start living. We ruin some of the best moments in our life by wondering what could have been better and where we could have improved, while it is important to have a path to grow, do not let your mistakes get in your way from growing and enjoying the moment.

14. Step outside your comfort zone: It is the only way to grow. It does not have to be a leap; it can be a baby step but keep expanding that comfort zone so you can see what you are really made of. The challenges will come. You can seek them or you hide from them. Life does not become easier, you just become less afraid.

15. Be Unlimited: Your life is only limited to your belief.  You can do whatever you want, even if you fail, who the hell cares, at least you tried. If you are not there yet it does not mean that you will never be there, it will take work and it will hurt but you are going to get there, you have to believe that to get there. Trust me, you will get there. Your potential is unlimited.