When is the ‘Time to Commit’ – Lessons from Arch to Arc
What if the target had been 23 hours?… why do we rarely exceed our own expectations?
In every day life the greatest barrier to achieving true potential is that it is easy, often tempting to be distracted and then justify the eventual outcome by factors outside of personal control, often other people.
And therein lies the greatest lesson from sport – there can be no diverting from the core activity, you are either doing it, or your not – results can’t be smudged, spin doesn’t stick. What you learn from sport, especially endurance sports, is what it feels like to be utterly obsessed (in a good way!), the thrill of your own momentum and the value of working together.
To take my own best example – my target was 195 days to cycle around the world. I set the new World Record in 194 days and 17 hours. After half a year on the road do you think that a seven-hour margin on my target was a coincidence? People often ask me if I could have gone quicker, suggesting a change of route or better luck with the weather. Yes, I believe I could have gone quicker, but only if I had set a different target.
Thinking about the recent success of the London to Paris cycle, I witnessed a group of riders achieving what many of them, as individuals, could not. Everyone was performing out of his comfort zone, everyone had moments of feeling utterly sore and down, but there was no option but to keep the focus and momentum. Considering how tough it was, do you think it was a coincidence that the task was completely within 0.014% of the target time?
Relate that level of commitment and teamwork to the workplace and think how easy it can be to fall off the pace when things get tough. It is human nature to justify our situation, our results – after all we need to live with ourselves! With time this causes a huge mind trap – which is to get better and better at justifying results which are a long way short of personal best. Call this institutionalisation: humans need to always battle lethargy, to keep setting bigger targets rather than adjusting expectations downwards.
LDC’s Edward Hayter always quotes a time pedalling up a very long Scottish hill when I remarked to him ‘time to commit!’ Jokes aside, this is the perfect metaphor for life – to do well at anything will always be an uphill struggle and human nature dictates that most people will get off their bikes before the top. It is up to the individual whether they can and will always ‘commit’ to being that person who will continue until the top.
London to Paris was a joy to be part of, a shining example of what is possible when people commit to a common goal. Our own expectations are our greatest potential.
Sheryl Haddow, Business Psychologist and London to Paris team Psychologist
A great Psychologist called Albert Bandura dedicated his life’s work to proving beyond doubt that if you don’t believe you can do it, you won’t do it. If you take nothing else from Mark’s words, take this – believe with passion and without doubt that ‘you can’, even if it seems to everyone else that you can’t. It is consistently empirically evidenced that a person will never exceed the expectations they have of themselves. The expectations of important others can also be a powerful influence – so it is essential that we surround ourselves with people who encourage and support our aspirations and steer clear of those who are filled with doubt and negativity.
On the London to Paris challenge the going got tough – pelting rain and wind, endless punctures, being over an hour behind target, sleep deprivation and pain – so why did everyone keep going? In the absence of external motivators like money, what makes people do extraordinary things? It is our own powerful and overwhelming internal desire. In this case it was the absolute thrill of the challenge, the warm feeling in the pit of the stomach at being part of the team – sharing the laughter and the pain! Having a clear, common goal and providing and receiving encouragement to achieve it. Being successful in anything depends on finding and maintaining this kind of burning internal desire. If you’re doing what makes you feel good (even if it’s painful at times) then you are bound to be good at it!
Do you know yourself well enough to recognise what motivates you after a setback? What are you passionate about? Do you also understand that you can’t achieve anything in isolation? You must care about others achieving their goals, because without them you can’t achieve yours!
There are many lessons I could take from this physical challenge and draw parallels with our day-to-day lives. One of the most important is about the F word. Most of us fear it – a lot of us are driven by the desperate need to avoid it, in some instances we are paralysed by it. I don’t particularly like the word because it has such negative connotations, but the bottom line is that ‘failure’ is our greatest teacher and mentor. The more willing you are to take a risk and do things that most people wouldn’t dare to try (e.g. 260 miles in 24 hours), and the greater your belief that no matter what the outcome you feel successful because you challenged yourself to your limit, then the more you will achieve. When you face setbacks, obstacles, failures – whatever you call those little stabs life gives you, focus your mind completely on the fact that it is through those experiences that you will learn most, and it is at these points you have to say to yourself ‘time to commit.’
London to Paris was true mind over matter, positive psychology in action!
