3 Useful Lessons You Will Learn As An Entrepreneur While Running A Marathon

An entrepreneur while running a marathon is a highly efficient brainstorming machine

The surprise you will experience as an entrepreneur while running a marathon is something you can’t explain with words.

Why? ….might be your immediate question.

David Schnurman describes in his article the 5 lessons he learned as an entrepreneur while running a marathon. They are all valid and how he makes the description shows clearly that he actually runs the marathon.

While running a half marathon two days ago, all ingredients to this blog post popped up in my head. And there you get a bonus answer to your “why.” Most of my ideas I get when out running. It’s like pushing a button, and the views seem to start coming at the same pace as my body is sweating.

There is no cell phone interrupting. There is nothing more than yourself, nature, the running course, and your mind working for you and with you. The total isolation from anything but yourself teaches me something that most probably won’t appear by itself without these hours alone on the run.

An Entrepreneur While Running A Marathon Is Laser Focused

All those interruptions you’ll find everywhere in a modern environment will make it hard to focus on what you have to do. When working with your computer and suddenly you get a pop-up window indicating a new email is coming in, what do you usually do? You read it, right?

All email marketing is based on getting your attention, and you’re not an exception. You leave for a while what you’re doing and check the email. Does it sound familiar?

However, by only leaving your work for a while, you’ll lose focus and a couple of seconds will quickly turn into minutes, as you need to re-take the job again from where you left it.

Further, professional email marketers know how to do their work. Once they get your attention, they will do whatever it takes to keep your interest up. Maybe you will opt-in on something, and there you go. The original focus of your work is gone, and you’re focusing on something else.

What I have learned as an entrepreneur while running a marathon is not to lose focus. Sounds easy but with all distractions around you, it’s likely that you will lose focus if you don’t set up specific rules.

In fact, studies show that exercising regularly improves your ability to stay focused.

Program time slots to check emails. Plan the day before the phone calls you need to do. Under no circumstances, you should interrupt the work you have in front of you for other things that catch your attention.

An entrepreneur while running a marathon, or any other person who focuses on the race, will not stop running because something cute, different, or unusual appears on the course.

An Entrepreneur While Running A Marathon Will Train To Combat Obstacles

The difference between a full marathon race of 42,195 meters and any other race, is that sooner or later you have to hit the famous wall. Usually, this happens somewhere around kilometer 30 (18.6 miles). It’s when all your energy is gone. You feel like it’s the end.

Now you need to mobilize yourself to complete the remaining 12 kilometers and crossing the finish line.

The corresponding “wall” in the life of an independent entrepreneur, you can compare to being overwhelmed, being stuck with something in your work, or just feeling demotivated for any reason.

An entrepreneur while running a marathon will learn how to overcome these obstacles.

When hitting the wall in a marathon, of course, it hurts. The pain you feel in your entire body is a sensation you wouldn’t afford without training. With correct training, you know that the pain is temporary.

Entrepreneurship follows the same pattern. You need to do the work. Change the working place. Going to a coffee shop can make a change. By sitting in an area with other people, perhaps with the same problem as you have, can help you to overcome your “wall.”

An entrepreneur knows that the obstacles in front of you have to be done. Other people would give up. See also my article from June 2017.

Not everyone is prepared to run a marathon, and not everyone has the guts to be a successful entrepreneur.

One Foot In Front Of The Other

If there is one thing you will never forget as an entrepreneur while running a marathon, is the characteristic of a long-term project.

To run a marathon is nothing you can decide one week before the race. It requires at least six months of organized training. Maybe more time.

To be a successful entrepreneur is not a sprint but a marathon. You need to settle many mental issues before even thinking about being an entrepreneur.

Watch this fabulous video where Andrew Johnston explains how marathon running forms an essential part of his entrepreneurial training.

Once you start your journey, you need to follow a well-defined program. The system that I joined for my entrepreneurial adventure caught my attention for a straightforward reason:

It is a system that is entirely compatible with my marathon training. You’ll get an opportunity to go forward at your pace. It allows you to train as much as you want.

When the fatigue sets in during the long run, there is a method to follow:

“One foot in front of the other”

In real terms, it means that the speed doesn’t matter, what counts is not to stop but going forward.

To follow the same advice as an entrepreneur is something that I often think about when out on my long runs. It sounds simple and uncomplicated, but the difference between applying it and not doing it is a way of pinpointing individuals with a winning mindset.