Something I'm working on this week

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Now, onto Issue 67.

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How to train your mind

Hey y’all – 

It’s a special midweek edition of The Process.

I’m writing to you because I wanted to give you insight into something I’m actively working on this week.

As I mentioned in Issue 64 and Issue 66, I’m running my first 100-mile race on October 5 with a couple buddies. We’re 6.5 weeks out and in the final stage of training.

We’re continuing to build fitness and strength each week, but that’s not the most important thing we’re training right now.

What we’re most focused on is training our minds.

We’ll be physically ready to run 100 miles come October. How well the race goes will depend on if we’re mentally dialed in.

So, how do you do that?

Over the last 4 months of training, we’ve done it in two ways:

1. Putting ourselves in boring situations

2. Putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations

In boring situations, your mind drifts. It loses focus. It starts wondering when you’ll be done. It gets impatient.

In uncomfortable situations, your mind panics. It gets anxious. It gets defensive. It goes into fight-or-flight mode.

In both cases, your mind becomes a weapon against you. Not good!

So we need to learn how to be bored and uncomfortable while remaining calm.

This week, I have a few opportunities on the training schedule:

• A lot of yoga (boring)

• A big hill repeat day (uncomfortable)

• A 2-hour spin bike in a humid garage (boring AND uncomfortable)

There’s physical benefit in all of these, but they were intentionally programmed as mental training. 

The key lesson here:

Seek out situations that are boring or uncomfortable. Resist the urge to lose focus or panic. Focus on staying calm, patient and present. This is how you build a resilient mind, and that skill will serve you in every area of life.

Hope you enjoyed a “live” look into my training this week and something specific I’m working on. If there’s something you want me to write about, reply to this email and let me know.

Thanks for reading.

See you again on Sunday.

I’d love to hear from you

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