Life Is Like a Jog

I’m pretty well-versed in walking, jogging and running. Thanks to my Great Pyrenees Lambert’s love of the outdoors, I spend at least an hour a day walking. It’s a wonderful excuse to take a break from whatever’s consuming me. Typically I’ll combine walking with something else. Sometimes phone calls, sometimes a moving meditation, and sometimes a podcast or MasterClass. 

Then when it comes to fitness, I typically cycle between jogging, spring training, and couch sitting. Today I cycled back into jogging because I want to improve my aerobic endurance. To stay in an aerobic state, my understanding is that you want your heart rate to hang out in the 70% range for the meat of your workout. What I love most about jogging isn’t the thought of shedding those last 5 lbs, it’s how I feel when I’m done - invigorated. It’s a fascinating phenomenon to me, because invigorated is certainly not what I feel when I’m tying my shoes and taking the first steps. 

It’s markedly different from how I feel after sprint training. No one can keep up a sprint pace for too long, so the workout by nature involves a lot of walking/recovery. There’s something exciting about sprinting. You’re pushing your body to its maximum limits, which feels euphoric in the moment. And there’s certainly a sense of accomplishment when you’re done. But good lord it’s exhausting. Afterwards I need to spend at least a half hour just relaxing from the intensity.

Then, per usual, I started thinking about how this applies to life. Am I walking, jogging, or sprinting toward my goals? Or worse yet, standing still? I’m notorious for being a strategic planner. I’m obsessed with diving down new idea rabbit holes and plotting out a course to make them a reality. The problem I’ve had is choosing which reality I want. So I walk a few steps down the path to test it out. My reasoning is that when you’re walking, you don’t miss anything. But just like my walks with Lambert, I have to multitask to satiate my attention. Walking, paying attention to Lambert, taking a call, and looking up a website all at the same time! I don’t go very far, and when I finish I don’t feel any different than when I started. 

So I’ve been known to overcompensate and shift life gears into an all out sprint. Problem is, I can’t keep that up for long and I’m exhausted by the end of it. Not exactly a recipe for life success. 

So maybe pursuing life goals is more of a jog. Consistently moving at 70% your maximum power. That’s a pace you can keep up for far longer than any sprint training, and when you’re done, you feel more alive than when you started. 

There’s a time for walking and there’s a time for sprinting. But if you’re looking to make something happen in your life, try treating it like a jog.