A big question really for an article.
Can I (or even should I) do all the things?
Again, like so many questions the obvious answer is it depends. We are probably the first generation where there’s been a dialogue about having it all, doing it all and being all the things. It might be that you feel an expectation that having all your shit together is the absolute holy grail of adulting or that in fact that it’s expected of you. It might be that your definition of all the things or even doing it all is very cumbersome on you.
I want to start this one with ~ we only have a certain amount of time, effort, energy & attention that is allocated to us each day. We need to be looking at the allocation of this. Yup, there’s some things that will be allocated time, effort, energy & attention which wouldn’t be on the top of your things that make me squeal with joy list but the consideration of how we are spending our allocation can be quite insightful. The 8-8-8 principle is one that I always find hugely impactful ~ if you work for 8 hours per day and you sleep for 8 hours per day then what’s happening to the other 8 hours a day?
So we get to decide in the short, medium and long term how I time, effort, energy & attention is used. Where the primary focus is. I often think of it as a circular food item (you decide whether you wanna go with cake, pizza, pie, whatevs). It’s spilt into 3. Me (my personal relationships, interests and the likes), Mum (my role as mumma bear) and mentor (my work role). Each of those thirds makes up who I am. None of the thirds is ever removed but the time allocation is changed, it ebbs & flows. Each bit makes up me. Rarely are they a 33.3% spilt.
Does that mean I can do it all? It means that I can allocate time, effort, energy & attention to the important thirds at the important times, when they are the primary focuses in my world. I can do that without guilt because I know that this ebb & flow is happening all of the time. I know where that allocation needs to be and where I want it to be. It allows me to adapt more to curve balls and when things come up. Sometimes, some things have gotta give a wee bit.
Anyway, not really the point of this article. The inspo for this article came as a result of a wee message that I sent a friend this morning….
It’s the Race The Tide 100k coming up. I did it last year (you can even read about how I ugly cried my way to the finish if you just >>click here<<
I have a few things that I wanna do, I few things that are pulling my hair. I can’t do them right now because I can’t do everything all at once. I’m committed to marathon training. I want to run my qualifying time and put that challenge to bed. I’m eyes on. I’m focused. The things that I have on my radar as challenges have to wait. I’m not saying no to any of them, I’m saying no just now. When we say YES to going in on something it doesn’t mean we are saying no to everything else, it may purely mean that we are saying not just now, you’ll have to wait a wee bit. So, whilst I’m not usually a goal stater (I usually like to shimmy about after my goals without public declaration), I’m hoping that this one just disappears into the internet abyss really quickly as I’m writing a daily blog, here’s what I might quite fancy;
David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge ~ run 4 miles, every 4 hours for 48 hours
A Backyard Ultra ~ the premise of these events is to run a loop of 4ish miles every hour, the winner is last man standing
A 50km – I have a personal best waiting for me over this distance, I wanna push my own time for this one
A 50 miler I’ve been further (100km) but I think that 50 miles might be my sweet spot, who knows ~ gotta give it a bash.
The Lyke Wake Walk ~ traditionally a walking route which is a 42 miles in 24 hours challenge, my Dad walked it when I was little, I’d like to run it.
FKTs – a pretty new phenomenon (or at least it’s gained much more popularity of late) is the concept of a fastest known time. It was born out of people not being able to say for sure whether their attempt was a record or not but it’s the fastest time recorded. I have 2 long, local routes I have my eye on for this. I ain’t disclosing these as I don’t want any fasties to hit out there and set the time out of my reach (the current times are achievable 😂).
So, I can do all the things eventually, but I can’t do them all at once is my conclusion on this article 🙌
