For the past twenty or so years I have been devoted to spending my time on this planet in some meaningful way. Along this journey I lost a lot of weight, gained a little bit too much attitude, became competitive and then collaborative, learned a few worthwhile things and developed into a runner, a triathlete, a coach and an athletic trainer. Perhaps most importantly, I’ve developed into a student. In point of fact I really became not much more than an avid people watcher with a point of view and the willingness to express it.
Many people are content to live their lives by doing what is expected of them, they go to work, do their job, pay their bills, take care of their family, go to barbecues and perhaps even go running, or play tennis. They’ll keep doing this until something or somebody tells them to change or until they retire or die. They will have been fulfilled, have left some sort of a legacy and will be remembered fondly by friends and family.
Alas, I never got that gene. I think I was tossed out of the womb already wondering how I could possibly improve the process of childbirth. “Do the lights really need to be so bright?” “If only the doctor had put himself into my shoes, he would have been able to do a better job.” If I had known PowerPoint, how to create a placemat or walk the obstetrician through a process flow, I would have been reviewing various options with him before the chord to my mother had been cut. I know what you are thinking, I also would have had to know how to talk. That’s just a minor detail that would have gotten in the way of communicating effectively through gestures, head bobbing and drooling. After all, ninety percent of communication is non-verbal, even as adults. Because I also see life as one big game for someone elses amusement, I also would probably have been tying knots into the chord on my way out just to confuse the poor doctor. Never mind that it would have cut off the flow of oxygen to yours truly, I’m a trusting guy and I believe he’d have gotten me breathing on my own soon enough.
This means, as a child and young adult, I was categorized as “special” which is nothing more than a euphemism for “big pain in the ass”. Not much has changed except that I get paid for my point of view, I continue to act like a salmon most of the time, swimming upstream trying to champion ideas that often seem to be just a bit too ahead of their time while avoiding bears that would rather have me for dinner. Maybe that’s why I’ve always liked the color of salmon, or coral - whatever it is; it’s not pink.
As an adult, I pursue this innate combination of irreverence, curiosity and condemnation for the status quo by stepping into my phone booth every morning and putting on the appropriate outfit for the particular task at hand. Sometimes it is that of an endurance coach, and while wearing this costume I have had the pleasure and honor to help thousands of every day people achieve the extraordinary by completing a marathon or triathlon or some other challenging physical endurance event.
On other days, I will step out of the phone booth wearing a slick Donna Karan suit helping a not-to-be-named and yet distinctive professional services firm further its strategy to be a preeminent provider of services to the healthcare industry. In this role, I help a great group of people to establish our identity in the marketplace, develop our capabilities to serve our clients and build a sense of community within an organization that is overwhelmed with complexity, contradictory incentives and rewards, and bureaucracy. Essentially, it is an organization with a lot of really smart people that are all trying to be personally successful, solve their clients issues and make money for the firm with an undertone of anxiety and insecurity because the possibility does exist that you won’t. Don’t get me wrong, this is an important part of any very successful group mentality, and there are some fantastic people in this organization. Every now and then I get to unbutton my shirt just far enough to show just a little bit of my Coolmax coach’s shirt underneath and by getting the ear of a few muckity mucks, drop a few thoughts as to how developing the passion and purpose of the community of professionals is as equally important as developing their technical skills. Oh yes, there is indeed a difference between determination and inspiration, but I’ll write about that in a future post. On the best days, I get to feel that I am helping to push the string a bit further uphill because maybe, just maybe, the associate working on improving the supply chain function of a healthcare provider feels that somehow her work is contributing positively to improving the quality and sustainability of the US Healthcare system. Perhaps she might work just a little more effectively, or be a little more creative or do a little bit better job knowing that her work may actually someday benefit her family, her friends or even herself if she is ever in need of medical services from a hospital. Because maybe, just maybe her work will help to reduce the 1.5 million injuries and 7,000 deaths that occur each year due to medication prescribing errors alone. That’s the equivalent of one 727 airplane crashing each week for a year. Thanks to Greg Tullman for that sobering factoid.
And then I run, or I cycle or I swim, or I do whatever it is to get outside and recreate myself under the canopy of sky, sun, trees, squirrels and birds and all of the things that so many of us that work in big cities take for granted. Sometimes I’ll run while listening to podcasts like Zen and the Art of Triathlon, Simply Stu, Pheddipidations, Get Your Geek On, The Leonard Lopate Show, Which Way, LA?, and The Loh Life and through these intimate interactions have established virtual friendships with people with odd names like Texafornia, Simply Stu, JetPack (or JetSack depending on who you are asking), Steve Runner, Dr. Monte, IronWil, and Kahuna - most of whom, I’ve never personally met. Sometimes, I’ll run while listening to nothing but my own breath and the sound of my Asics hitting the ground. Because for a person like me, running above all else is the one thing that quiets the voices in my head. No I’m not talking hide your children and lock your doors voices, I’m talking about the ones that simply cannot see things for what they are. Rather they see things for what they could be. Yeah, you guessed it - try living with me - sorry Cindy. Some people are envious of this quality, others are outright frightened or feel threatened, but I can tell you that that I relish the times when I can just be without thought, when I can listen to a podcast or music like Five for Fighting or Counting Crows and simply be. But for those who find value in what these voices say, I think I’ll use this blog as an outlet of sorts to give them their due.
This blog, therefore, will be a compilation of not so deep thoughts mixed with a hint of irreverence, a dash of unnecessary sarcasm, an infrequent observation or two and just enough technical knowledge and experience to create opportunities to improve human performance. Because I’ve never been a fan of duplicating something that is already being done well, I’ll try to include insights and information that you might not find elsewhere. I’ll also try to include links to podcasts, blog posts and weblinks that I find to be particularly valuable. Finding relevance to triathlon, running, endurance sports or just to your own life, I’ll leave to you.
Special thanks, as always, goes to El Professor, Erich Hafenmaier who dedicates his free time to helping active schmoes like me to get up on the web. Shameless plug of appreciation: If you are a wildly successful game producer/developer with tons of money to throw at someone, he’s the guy to throw it at.
Cheers,
-Coach Adam
“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.” R.W. Emerson
