Atta Girl
My first Century bike ride (100 miles) around Lake Tahoe is now less than two weeks away. Training has become a constant in my life.
This has been a challenge like none I have ever taken on in my life before. Yes, even more than running a business or raising kids.
What I am discovering is that a constant challenge like this one utilizes a firm balance of mental and physical strength.
That is until you start to question yourself as to whether you are wimping out or in fact need to push a little harder. Last week, I reached a physical pinnacle where my body was screaming at me that something was wrong as I kept pushing up the current mountain I was trying to conquer.
I gave myself the “Atta Girl” mantra while trying to look past some shooting pains that were going down my legs like I had never felt before. So I calculated in my mind the need to do exactly the team ride that had been mapped out for that day or risk doing some serious injury to my body.
Do you ever wonder what makes you get stuck in turning the ship around when you realize that something in your life or business is definitely going in the wrong direction?
There is a theory called escalation of commitment. How excited was I when I learned of this during some other research I was otherwise doing for my book I am currently writing.
Basically, it is a theory of our human condition and how we look at a given situation when there is a decision to change course or not, when things go wrong.
Here is the Wikipedia definition:
“Over the past few decades, researchers have followed and analyzed many examples of the escalation of commitment to a situation. The heightened situations are explained in three elements.
Firstly, a situation has a costly amount of resources such as time, money and people invested in the project.
Next, past behavior leads up to an apex in time where the project has not met expectations or could in a cautious state of decline.
Lastly, these problems all force a decision-maker to make choices that include the options of continuing to pursue a project until completion by adding additional costs, or canceling the project altogether.”
My decision at that moment on the mountain was to cut 10 miles off and go back down the mountain. Being sure not to beat myself up, I gave myself an “Atta Girl” for the 60 miles that I did ride that day. By doing so I prevented further injury to keep me riding for the long run.
With the ride in mind, tomorrow marks the last day I can collect any donations for the ride. I am so close our team goal and am $247 from my personal goal. Would appreciate if you could help if you haven’t done so thus far with only 24 hours left and every dollar counting towards the cause!
For those who have donated so far a huge thank you!
Think about the current “ride" you might be on that is difficult at moments and makes you want to quit. Do you need to add more resources, change the route (as I did on that ride up the mountain) or drop the project all together?
No matter what, keep pedaling forward towards what matters most.
To Your Success and Victories,
- Cheri
Cheri Ruskus
Business Strategist and Founder of the Victory Circles
Email me: cheri@businessvictories.com