The Most Important Thing I got from Cycling 100 Miles
Endurance sports are super interesting to me because they give us a chance to see ourselves and what we’re capable of more clearly. And that perspective translates into our business, our relationships, and our lives. The century (100 mile) bike ride I completed last Saturday was no different.
This was my second century ride this year and fifth ever so I was a bit more in shape than my usual no-training approach (which, I can’t recommend by the way). I couldn’t find any races locally so I made my own and affectionately named it the Hawkins Classic Century Ride. Now, you might be wondering, why did I just up and ride 100 miles? It’s a fair question.
The answer isn’t immediately obvious in the decision to ride, and doesn’t come in the first 40 miles of riding the rolling hills leading up to the rockies. It kicks in around mile 50 heading up to an area called Lookout Mountain -- a roughly 2,000 ft. vertical climb. Backside is hurting, legs are burning and my brain, that internal conversation in my head spins out of control: Why are you doing this? Nobody will know if you quit. You don’t need to do this! And that’s exactly when I get to practice surrendering: radically accepting what is, pain and all.
Endurance sports -- or any hard thing: running a marathon, giving birth (from what I’ve heard anyway), fasting -- require your conscious mind (all those negative thoughts) to take a back seat. Things of this sort have a way of disembodying you to separate the pain from what is really happening. I find that the more I’m engaged with hard things, the stronger and stronger I become in turning off the conscious mind to push through when things get difficult.
Isn’t that what it takes to be successful at certain times? The ability to turn off all the mental commentary about why you shouldn’t, can’t, won’t… and just move forward with exactly what’s in front of you.
There’s tremendous power sitting in our subconscious. Our conscious mind only processes 50 bits of information for every 11 million bits our subconscious mind goes through. Surrendering gives us the ability to tap into that much greater potential without being stopped by all the concerns our conscious mind might have (most of which aren’t realistic anyway).
We need our conscious minds, of course, to keep us on track and in the right direction. On the ride I would set benchmarks (distances or locations) to make sure I was checking back in to where I was and how far I had to go. That translates directly into business and life as well. Instead of letting the conscious mind obsess about the direction, distance or anything else incessantly, setting checkpoints throughout a day, week or month gives some space to surrender to the subconscious in-between… doing the work that needs to be done.
These century rides, as with any of the adventures I do, are really metaphors of the #NoMatterWhat approach. #NoMatterWhat isn’t therapeutic. It’s going to be hard. Life is hard: when you lose your job, your stocks tank, COVID prevents business as usual. And it’s the muscle we build to be able to surrender to exactly ‘what is’ that lets us come back and/or create breakthrough growth regardless of what’s happening in the world.
Surrendering is one of the most difficult aspects of the #NoMatterWhat framework. It’s only through regular practice that you can strengthen that muscle. And as that muscle gets stronger, purpose, meaning and depth will start to arise.
It’s interesting to me that as human life in general has never been easier, we see a rise in depression, resignation and lack of purpose and meaning for many individuals. I’m not a doctor of any kind, and the only credibility I have is my observation and my own experience on this front, but it seems to me if we pushed ourselves more and gave in to surrendering, it would not only give people more mental fortitude, we’d live in a better place.
What don’t you like about where you are? What are you rejecting? Or, perhaps what aren’t you accepting? Building your ability to surrender will serve you in more ways than you know. I want to know, what have you done that’s so hard it forced you to surrender and continue on at the same time?
Join us in the #NoMatterWhat community as we explore what it is to surrender.