Use YOUR Yardstick

Progress is a funny thing.

Progress is also difficult thing to define.

(Yes, really).

• If you are training for triathlons as a wife and mom of three kids, and spending time away from your kids, is that really progress?
• What if you are working on your marriage so damn hard that you never hit your planned workouts, you feel your training and race goals slipping like sand… and as a result, you are miserable?
• What if you are hitting all of your workouts, getting faster, but you are just too tired to care about the other things in life? You have no relationships, no time for anything else, and no fun outside of triathlon?  But you’re heading towards your triathlon goal. Is that really progress?

There is “progress” in all scenarios.  But at what cost?

Progress always costs something, which leads me to believe that progress is merely a game of life monopoly, life motion and priorities.

And guess what?  No one knows what your true priorities are (or should be), and therefore only one person matters when it comes to defining your progress.

Y-O-U.

See, the issue with the three scenarios above, is that it doesn’t tell the whole story.  The list is three judgmental approaches to three fake people who I made up.  Those three scenarios include massive assumptions and judgments about my fake people.

Progress is subjective.

Sure, there are objective progress markers that are generally acceptable; but true progress is defined by the individual, how the individual feels, how the individual is mentally thriving (or flailing), and at what cost said progress comes.

I’d like to introduce the ground-breaking terms of: perception and truth.

Perception: Sarah is a second-year triathlete. She is a mom of three and trains for triathlon, obviously neglecting her family and mother responsibilities, and at the cost of her family.

• Sarah’s Truth:
  I am the mom of three kids and I work 40 hours a week. I do triathlon so I have the energy and space to work on something for myself, so I can be a better wife, mother and employee. I only train about 8 hours a week, which is time that most of my friends likely spend sleeping in or drinking wine and watching “This is Us.” A little known fact, however, is that I watch “This is US,” just like them—I just do it at 5:30am on the bike trainer.

Perception: Bob is working on his marriage so damn hard that he never hits his planned workouts, he feels his training and race goals slipping like sand… and as a result, he is miserable. Is that really progress on his marriage?

• Bob’s Truth:
  I am working so hard on my relationship with my wife, but I know it’s ending anyway. I am miserable and missing my training, because I am heartbroken, and want to make the transition as easy as possible. It’s worth it to me to give up a little bit of this year and transition to make sure that I take care of this person who has been such a big part of my life.  I am trying to be kind. I am trying to make sure everyone is okay.

Perception:  Kelly is hitting all of her workouts, getting faster, but she is just too tired to care about the other things in life.  She has no relationships, no time for things she should enjoy, and no fun outside of triathlon. She’s heading towards her triathlon goal. Is that really progress?

• Kelly’s Truth:
  I am nailing my workouts and I feel like superwoman. Triathlon is my favorite thing EVAH, and it makes me unreasonably happy. I have dedicated these two years to chase my dreams, be exhausted and go after what I want. I am just out of an unhealthy relationship and really enjoying getting to know ME during this process.

Progress is really about the individual’s truth. In some opinions, progress can be measured by certain definitions of salary, career, relationship status, race times, job title, kids, or whatever. But progress is not objective. It’s not. There is always another side to the story, another push or pull, another reason.

Someone else’s definition of progress has absolutely nothing to do about the truth of your progress.

Just because you see something, doesn’t mean you know anything about it.  In fact, you probably know even less about that something than before.

A week after Ironman 70.3 Augusta in September, I ran a 27:03 5k.  In case you are wondering, that’s fast (for me).  It’s an 8:45ish pace. And frankly if you had told Meredith, Version 1.0, in 2011 that she would run a 27 minute 5k and the first mile at a 7:52 pace (with hills), she would have laughed.

I am historically like a slow-moving land yacht in running races, so this little 5k, a week after a half iron, was actually quite the huge victory.  (In other words, that was my big great progress of 2016 – my 27 minute 5k).

Then, when I look back on 2016, I think, “HELL! That was a good year of progress!”

But someone looking at me might not think I did anything special. But to me, by my yardstick, I felt like I conquered the world.  And I conquered said world without a single Ironman race and without losing “all the weight” – a number that is also arbitrary and completely not a measure by any yardstick, especially mine.

If I had one thing to reveal about this last year, it’s this: every single ounce of progress I made actually had absolutely nothing to do with speed.

In fact, all of my progress happened when I slowed down.

When 2016 started out really positively with a great few running races, I quickly took a turn for the ouch with a stress fracture and a subsequent halt on the “big” race plans.

I did eek out a 10,000 meter (6.2 mile) swim before just sort of decided that cramming for an Ironman (especially Lake Placid) just wasn’t in my heart, and neither was Chattanooga.  I headed for Augusta 70.3 instead at my lowest racing weight ever, endured the heat and a fall on the run, to end up with a 6:40 half ironman—not my best, but certainly not my worst.

But I turned the year into 2017 one year sober. (Progress).
I fit into a size of jeans I never have before. (Non-scale progress).
I did what I wanted to with my hair, without caring what people think. (Pink and purple progress).
I made huge strides with my children’s education. (Family progress.)
I got a lizard. (No idea what sort of progress that is. Oh yes! Progress over fear!).

Things change.  Races changes. People change.  And thank God that people change.

And thank God that we get to decide the progress we make.

Here’s the key to happiness. Okay, just kidding I don’t have the key to happiness.

But I do have the key to progress.

And here it is.  Are you ready?

Measure your progress in your life by your yardstick.

Don’t worry about that someone else is doing, saying, hating, believing, thinking, pontificating. Don’t worry about what they think about you.  Don’t care what they say about you.  Just define your own vision for your life, your race, your herb garden, and do that thing.

Do your life, by your yard stick.

And if someone doesn’t like it, just thwack them with your yard stick. [Just kidding.]

But feel free to carry your stick, your way and how you like it.

Afterall, your way is just fine. Your measurements are accurate.  Your life is defined by your metric system.

That, my friends, is all the progress in the world.  And certainly all the progress that we need.

#JustKeepMovingForward
#UseYourYardStick