Endurance

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Endurance

We are entering a popular time of year for marathons, which are often described as Endurance Events. The description makes sense - to finish a marathon, one must endure 26.2 miles of running.

Enduring is a physical trait that humans have been blessed with. As Born to Run author Chris McDougall writes, “Humans are built for endurance, not speed. We’re awful sprinters compared to every other animal.”

Physical and mental endurance is an important part to completing a marathon, but the importance of endurance is not limited to running. It is important in most any area of life. Here are 3 examples of endurance’s importance in basketball, hunting and business.

• Following a big NBA playoff game 7 victory, basketball star Steph Curry described why his team won in a single word, “Endurance”. Read more about how Steph likes to make NBA games a marathon here. 

• In last week’s Motivation Monday newsletter on discomfort, we shared Cameron Hanes book Endure. Cameron runs a marathon most mornings, so that he can build the mental endurance required to be a world-class bow hunter.

• The late Steve Jobs was convinced that “about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” Read 8 ways to develop perseverance here and watch Steve talk about it here. 

Regardless of what you are working towards, here are 3 ways to use the concept of endurance to stay motivated:

The path won’t be short: Life is not a straight line. Instead it is a long and complex path. By understanding that the path won’t be short, we can prevent discouragement. Instead of trying to jump directly to the end of the path, lets focus on making positive progress along the path everyday.

While enduring we build skills: Endurance is not meaningless suffering. It can be painful, but it is a worthwhile way to build skills. Even if it does not seem like we are learning helpful skills, we are proving to ourselves that we can do hard things, which is one of the best skills that we can have and one of the most powerful gifts that we can give ourselves.

It’s hard to beat a person that never gives up: Baseball player Babe Ruth shared these words during an interview in 1940. By not giving up, it is eventually impossible to lose.

Thanks for reading. Let’s have a great week!