Dan Waldschmidt's Blog, page 16

When You Tri More.

Swimming was everything Karen knew.

While other girls her age were playing with dolls, she was in the pool — on her town’s swim team competing against older, stronger, faster kids.

At Princeton, she led her swim team to win their conference division championships three of the four years she swam.

But when Karen graduated in 1983 and jumped into her first job, she faced a crisis: how would she continue to stay active when she was stuck inside a cubicle most of the day?

So she biked every day to her job at a computer consulting firm. But she was itching for more.

Her roommate was training for a triathlon, so she tagged along — but only because she knew she needed to keep active. But it wasn’t anything serious.

But it wasn’t anything serious.

A year later, she entered her first triathlon ever, riding the same bicycle she rode to work every morning. She didn’t win. Or even get close. But she did finish. And was eager to take her game to the next level.

So she did another one. And another one. And another. And another.

It was her 6th triathlon that year where she won her age group, finishing 2nd overall. But she missed out on the $500 cash prize because she checked the “amateur” box.

Karen Smyers was no amateur.

Five years later, after finishing 4th at the International Triathlon Union World Championships in France, she decided to compete full-time.

Her dream was to get on the podium at the Championships. To do that, she needed to train full time. But after a year of hard core training, her return to the Championship was disappointing

After swimming nearly a mile in open water and biking almost 25 miles, she was stuck in 4th place 4.5 miles into the 10-kilometer run that would ultimately determine the winner. And it sucked.

Physically, it sucked

It was a hot, humid September day in Orlando. Mentally, it sucked worse. After all of her training and after exerting every ounce of effort through the swim and cycling parts of the triathlon, she still wasn’t good enough to earn a medal.

Out on the course, her friend, the 1985 Ultrasport Athlete of the Year, Scott Molina, saw her struggling and shouted: “Karen, you gotta want it!”

Those five words burrowed their way into her soul, reigniting the flame that the miserable conditions had begun to put out.

Off in the distance, she could see three people: Erin Baker, Joy Hanson, and Carol Montgomery. She began to drive. Pushing herself to the edge of breaking.

She churned her legs madly and soon slipped past Erin. She pulled even with Joy and Carol with only a half mile left. She had been gaining on them, and they didn’t even realize. They had passed Karen long ago and forgot about her as a threat. To Joy and Carol, it was just the two of them battling it out to see who would become the best triathlete of 1990.

And as Karen slipped past them too, she took them by total surprise.

She pushed her way through the final minutes of the race and into the heart of Disney World, the most magical place on earth, with a performance that could only be described as magical.

Nobody forgot Karen after that. Between 1990 and 1995, she twice won the St. Croix International Half Ironman Triathlon, took second in the Gatorade Ironman and fourth in the Ironman World Championship in 1994 (her first time competing), and won the USA Triathlon Elite National Championships in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994.

Karen Smyers clocked the fastest marathon time to that date for new entrants in the 1994 Ironman World Championships.

In 1995, she forever left her mark on the sport.

She won the USA Triathlon Elite National Championship, was named Triathlete of the Year by Triathlete Magazine (for the 3rd time in 5 years), was named the US Olympic Committee Triathlete of the year for the 2nd year in a row, took gold at the Pan Am Games triathlon, and pulled off an accomplishment no other woman ever had.

Karen Smyers won both the International Triathlon Union World Championship and Ironman Championship in 1995 — the two most prestigious races in the sport.

She was unstoppable.

And then life happened. In a freak accident, a storm window she was carrying slipped and sliced through her left hamstring in 1997. It was a setback. But she fought back.

In August 1998, three months after giving birth to her first child, an 18-wheeler sideswiped her while she was out cycling, breaking six ribs, dislocating her shoulder, and leaving her with a collapsed lung. It was another setback. But she fought back.

Four months later, she was back on the bike training for another triathlon. She refused to stay down.

In September of 1999, she finished in the top 40 at the ITU World Championships — despite being sick with debilitating bronchitis. She was tired and beat down, but not out. Fighting back was her move. She refused to quit.

But weeks after the World Championships, doctors came back with devastating news. It wasn’t just bronchitis she was fighting. She might have thyroid cancer.

Knowing what could be growing in her neck, she decided to compete in the Ironman Championship a month later — finishing just 7 minutes behind 1st place over the nine-hour race.

Then she did it again.

Postponing the biopsy on her neck until after her next triathlon in Mexico.

Cycling through the streets of Ixtapa, Mexico, tragedy struck again. A cyclist ahead of her lost their balance, flipping their bike–causing Karen to spill off her bike and tumble into the streets, breaking her collarbone.

December of 1999 found her lying in a hospital bed after having her thyroid removed over the course of a complex 6-hour surgery: the same amount of time it typically takes to complete a Half Ironman. It was a setback. But she fought back.

She had more reason than ever this time around.

The triathlon would make its debut as an official sport at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. If Karen could be one of the three fastest triathletes during the US trials almost a year after her cancer surgery, she would be able to represent the country she loved competing in the sport she’d given her life to.

There were to be two rounds of trials: the first in Sydney, Australia, and the second in Dallas, Texas. If she could outright win the first trial, like she had won so many other competitions, she wouldn’t need to compete a second time. She could secure her spot on the first try.

Except she finished 4th. Again.

In Dallas, the top two finishers would round out the US Triathlon team. It wouldn’t need to be an outright win. Karen just needed to finish either first or second.

She finished seventh.

Her bid for Olympic history was finished. It was a setback. But she fought back.

She would go under the knife again to remove another cancerous lymph node and endure chemotherapy.

But a year later, she came back from her battle with cancer in a flash, finishing fifth in the Ironman Championships and winning the U.S. Elite National Championship.

Her story continues. Today Karen coaches triathletes & cyclists at all levels, helping them push through their own obstacles.

She didn’t win every race, but she never stopped trying.

She never stopped fighting.

She fought cancer. She fought broken bones. She fought peer pressure. She fought broken dreams. She fought unrealized expectations.

It wasn’t a cookie-cutter journey to greatness. She lunged forward and got pushed back by life. She made massive progress and then lost soon after.

She won when she should have lost. And lost when she wanted to win most. Which is a perfect illustration of what it takes to be a champion.

You have to keep fighting. Even when life seems unfair. Even when you give your best and it’s not enough.

Karen’s life is a story about trying. Desperately. Fiercely. Against all odds.

It’s Not Noise. It’s Their Story.

If you feel like you’re not being heard, you might be right. 

Being heard is an emotion that is human. It’s vital to your sanity and horribly frustrating when you don’t feel it happening. 

There’s an important lesson to be learned. Especially when all around you is a fog of noise.

Know this.  Everyone wants the exact same thing. Everyone. Right now. In this very moment. Wants their story to be heard. 

Everyone is fighting for attention. 

And they are doing it by telling their story. Which sounds like noise to you. Because there are so many different types of stories. 

There are inspiring stories. Motivating and challenging stories of personal fulfillment. The kind of stories they turn into movies and you cry and fist pump and root for the hero. 

And then there are stories of hate. Where the pain of not being heard bubbles over into trollish and evil-spirited negativity. 

Instead of inspiring you, those stories are intended to hurt you.

Delivered by someone in so much pain they don’t even want to be heard anymore. They just want everyone else to hurt. You especially.

In truth, everyone has a story. You. Them. All of us. Parts of that story are triumphant. Other parts are nothing to be proud of. 

But there is always a story. If you listen for it, you’ll hear it. 

Stop complaining about all the noise. 

It’s not noise. It’s a story.

30 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Right Now.

What are the top three things you know you need to do right away that you been avoiding up to now?
What two good things do you need to cut from your life right now so that you are no longer distracted from pursuing your goal of being awesome?
Who is that one person in your life you need to build a better relationship with starting right now?
How much money do you need to set aside right now for your safety net so that you can live the life of your dreams without chasing “get rich quick” schemes?
What’s been keeping you up at night over the last few months that you need to take care of right away?
Who do you need to hire (or fire) right now to help you get a little bit closer to where you want to be?
What are you afraid of happening right now that you’re too embarrassed to even say out loud?
Are you as financially fit as you need to be right now or are you just hoping things stay lucky for you forever?
Are you using the right tools to guarantee that you follow up and follow through on a consistent basis?
Do you find yourself gravitating towards the fast and easy solution or are you willing to work hard right now?
How often do the opinions and criticism of others cause you to throw away the ideas you’re working on right now?
Would you be doing what you’re doing right now if you knew you only had a few days left to live?
To whom do you need to say “Thank you” or “I’m sorry” for something that has happened recently?
Who do you need to become to be more candid right now with the people that are relying on you for direction?
What personal health habits do you need to improve right now in order to get to your full potential?
How often do you try things before you decide that your idea isn’t going to go anywhere right now?
Right now do you actively seek out time for meditation or personal exercise on a daily basis?
How much time do you spend watching television, movies, or playing video games each day right now?
How often do you set aside time right now to nurture your soul and dig into the pain and fear that tries to control you?
Are you mentally strong enough right now to ignore your critics even when they claim to have your best interests at heart?
What would you do if you lost everything right now?
Who are the 5 people you admire most right now that you need to start associating with?
Who do you blame right now when you don’t like the results you been getting?
What would others say about you right now if they were asked if you were a person of integrity?
How often do you allow yourself to dream big dreams without talking yourself out of getting started right now?
What is that one thing that others would say is your super power right now?
Do you treat others as compassionately right now as you like to be treated when everything goes wrong for you?
What would you be doing right now if you weren’t afraid that you couldn’t do it?
Are you actively looking right now for opportunities where you can give value to those who need it most?
Right now—how will you know if you end up being successful?

There’s No Substitute For Doing The Right Thing.

There is no substitute for doing the right thing.

There is no substitute for leading even when no seems to be following — or even noticing.

There is no substitute for getting back on your feet when you fall, fail, and get hurt.

There is no substitute for making sure people know you care about them.

There is no substitute for doing the hard things that everyone else just makes excuses to avoid doing.

There is no substitute for resilience, determination, focus, passion, ambition, or drive.

There is no substitute for monitoring the details and fixing small problems quickly.

There is no substitute for giving more value than you take from the world around you.

There is no substitute for doing a good thing long enough for it to start working for you.

There is no substitute for taking the high road, playing the long game, and living with class.

There is no substitute for apologizing to those you hurt after you make a mistake.

There is no substitute for enduring the pain of progress to get to where you want to be.

There is no substitute for going the extra mile and then going a 1,000 more.

There is no substitute for hard work, smart work, effective work, and good old-fashioned “sweat”.

There is no substitute for agonizing over how to make a difference instead of just making more money.

There is no substitute for doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get the results that you want.

There is no substitute for looking others in the eye, shaking hands firmly, and smiling more.

There is no substitute for following up and following through on the promises that you make.

There just isn’t any substitute for doing the right thing.

That’s why we call it the right thing.

The Secret Power Behind Your Biggest Weakness.

Behind every weakness is tremendous strength. The things that you’re desperately trying to improve are also your biggest assets.

Behind arrogance is confidence.
Behind fear is empathy.
Behind failure is motivation.
Behind embarrassment is achievement.

The same things that make you vulnerable are the very things that can make you mighty.

What separates your potential success from inevitable downfall is your desire to improve.

Within you is everything you need to get to where you want to be. But it won’t be of any use to you if you’re not willing to get honest — and change.

You have to be willing to cut through the bullshit and lies you tell yourself about how everyone else is picking on you or how life is unfair to you.

What’s your plan for getting past the obstacles that are holding you back from success right now?

The answer is buried in that bad habit you’ve been trying to avoid. Flip it around. Turn it into your biggest strength.

The Hard Truth About Gaining Experience.

There are many things in life you will only learn through experience. And the only way to get that experience is through hard work.

Not brains or degrees or mastermind groups or friends who have been there before. You have to do the work to get the experience.

Experience is measured first in quantity and then in quality.

Experience is first gained through the raw execution of your passion and energy. You putting in the time to execute the ideas and bold vision that you have for yourself.

That’s the beginning of experience.

As you make your way towards where you want to be you will get better through your wins and losses. The more self-aware you are, the faster you will be able to adapt.

You’ll see yourself winning more than losing.

But make no mistake, this experience that you are gaining is still through raw quantity of time, effort, and passion. That’s the first level of experience. You putting in the time.

At a certain point, experience is enhanced by quality effort. In other words, you know where you need to improve and focus your efforts, training, and personal betterment on those particular areas.

That self-awareness you’ve learned by smashing your head against the obstacles in your way day after day after day allows you target specific areas where you are most effective.

Some people might call this working smarter.

The dangerous mistake you might find yourself making is trying to work smart first.

In truth, you can’t skip over the suffering that hard work demands. You can’t avoid the intensity of not knowing what to do.

You can’t just jump right into being an expert from the start.

The hard truth about gaining experience is that you have to work for it.

So embrace hard work. Challenge yourself to do more today than you did yesterday.

Encourage the people around you to do their work.

And as you grow and improve and evolve, look for ways to be a better version of yourself.

You’re an artist. And your goal is your tapestry. Weaving something beautiful.

Put in the time to make sure every detail is something remarkable.

Do work.

The Joy Of Finishing What You Start.

You will always learn more from finishing a task than from beginning a new one.

You’ll learn about how tough you are. Especially when it’s easy to generate legitimate reasons for stopping.

In those moments – when you make the decision to finish that task, even though you’re in pain, you suddenly discover all the answers you thought you would learn from lessons along the way.

It suddenly becomes clear what you need to do.

Your mission becomes more powerful to you.

The challenges standing in your way become less scary. You develop toughness that you didn’t ever think possible.

Over the last few years, I’ve run close to 16,000 miles on roads and trails. Over mountains and through muddy water.

I often joke with my team that my second book should be entitled “Everything I Know I Learned Running”. I love running. It gives me time to decompress. It forces me to be honest about my own abilities.

But sometimes, running is hard. Especially on race day.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been training or how big your goal is, you want to do well.

The beginning of the race is exciting. But it doesn’t take long for you to be forced into making a tough decision about your level of effort.

When you’re gasping and wheezing for air there are plenty of good reasons why you should slow down–or even stop. It feels right.

What feels better is finishing.

That joy of knowing that you’ve been through a dark place and come out the other side. That you could have quit and didn’t.

That is the reason why you finish. Because to pull it off, you have to grow and struggle, suffer, evolve, and become a better version of you.

Which is everything that you were wanting to accomplish when you started the race. You just didn’t know it was going to be this tough to make it across the finish line.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, to make more money, or to experience more love in your life, remember that finishing is where you find your breakthrough. Not starting.

Put your head down and grind.

How To Handle Criticism When You’re Trying Your Best.

Taking criticism from other people is hard. 

Whether it’s a skeptic who is especially unbelieving, a critic who faults your best intentions, or even a friend who tells you how they really feel — you aren’t happy to be judged by others. 

It just doesn’t seem fair. Even when you come up short, you don’t want to hear about it.

You don’t want to be reminded about it.

After all, you’re the one who put in the painful effort to try. Not the person judging you. They didn’t do anything except play it safe and poke at you from the sidelines.

You know it. You’re thinking it. If they are such an expert in the first place why don’t they achieve this success they judge you for not achieving?

In truth, criticism will always be painful.

Despite the fact that you know that being coached and cajoled has the opportunity to make you a higher performer, it’s not an experience you’ll ever be completely comfortable with.

Which is why you need to remind yourself of the stakes.

You are not playing just to try something new. You are not attempting greatness in the hopes that you’ll get lucky.

You are striking out in this bold, new direction because you believe passionately that you are destined for greater things.

Believe that your life is too big to keep living small.

So work through it. Take the best parts of all the feedback and criticism sent your way and own them.

The rest of the criticism is probably hyperbole and malice. Don’t let that hatred blind you to the truth hidden in every kernel of critique.

It doesn’t matter the spirit of the criticism.

Neither do the intentions of the person directing the criticism at you.

What does matter is that you never stop being open to improving. What does matter is that you never stop moving towards where you want to be.

That’s your grind. That’s your focus. That is what matters.

It’s never easy to be judged. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need to stay busy heading towards where you want to be.

You’re living your life. Not theirs. You’re working towards your goal. Not theirs. You’re fighting for your breakthrough. Not theirs.

So pull yourself back together. Dust yourself off.

And set about pointing yourself back in the direction of greatness.

After all, the best revenge is success.

Automatically Awesome?

Possibility is what you make it.

It’s possible to fail despite being the favorite to win. It’s not impossible to win big despite being the person expected to lose.

Your possibility is fueled by the choices you make.

The decisions you make each day determine how possible it is for you to get closer to where you want to be.

And it is your perspective — how you interpret your particular situation — that causes you to make choices that you might not even think about. Subconscious choices.

You’ve been there before, where you just haven’t felt good about a person or a particular situation. There really wasn’t any evidence to cause you to feel that way, but it’s hard to shake your intuition.

You trust your feelings.

In truth, those feelings and your instinct are subconscious choices being made automatically for you based on what you inherently believe to be possible.

If you believe that you can figure it out, you will automatically make the choice to do things that are hard and unpleasant in pursuit of your goal.

If you don’t believe in your mission and are not obsessed with what you’re doing, you will instinctively find a way to back out and give up on yourself.

Maybe you’re losing because you haven’t taken the time to develop your sense of possibility.

Read a good book about someone else’s struggle to find success.
Spend quiet time each day meditating on the things that matter to you.
Have a list of goals that lead you closer to where you want to be.
Develop friendships with people who make you better at skills you need to improve.
Remove yourself from negative influences and people who drag you down.
Do small things that seem scary and uncomfortable.

Don’t leave your possibility up to chance.

Believe in yourself. Challenge yourself. Teach yourself.

Make being awesome a realistic expectation.

Expect nothing less.

Winning When You Don’t Feel Like It.

Crossing the finish line first doesn’t make you a winner. That’s just the time when you collect the trophy. 

Winning happens in the quiet when no one is watching or listening or cheering you on. 

Winning is an attitude long before it is a result. 

That may be hard to get your head around if you find yourself accomplishing less than you expect.

But it’s important to remember. 

What you think about most decides how close you get to accomplishing your goals. 

Winners are obsessed about progress. They don’t just plan and prepare. They obsess. That’s a whole different state of mind. 

When you’re consumed with a mission, your game is stronger. 

You’re not just going through the motions, you’re stretching your limits and demanding more from yourself. You’re uncovering new strategies and pushing your performance to the next level. 

And it impacts everything that you do. 

Winners spend their money on things that get them closer to where they want to be. They choose progress over entertainment. They choose a savings account over “Keeping up with the Joneses.”

Those are choices. Choices you can make. Choices that demand more of you. Not because you are high and mighty, but because you are desperate about getting to where they want to be. 

Which is why winning is an attitude long before it is a result.

You won’t get on the podium or cross the finish line if you aren’t obsessed with it. 

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a multi-millionaire friend of mine. Growing up, he was an acute introvert — timid in class and afraid to speak out in general. 

When he got his first job, in sales, he was completely unprepared for what he what he knew he would need to do to be successful. But he was hungry, so he bought Tom Hopkins’ 12 CD training set on selling. 

For the next two years, he would listen to those sales CDs every day. Almost 800 plays in a row. Day after day after day. Learning new skills. Soaking in inspiration. Overcoming his fear with facts. 

Over the next few years, he would build a financial services business generating close to $100 million in total revenue. A good sales executive could generate $1 million. He did 100 times that — as an introvert.

He wasn’t the one that was supposed to win. But he did. Because he was obsessed.

That’s the truth about winning. It has to be an obsession.

No one else is going to care about your goal more than you do.

No one is going to be cheering you on in the middle of the night as you work towards your goal.

Winning is up to you. It’s your attitude. It’s what you do right now.

Be a winner in this moment. Do something amazing. Be awesome.

Seize the day.