Three Thoughts for Thursday – May 2022

Trusting the Process…

Patience is a virtue I struggle with, if I haven’t mentioned that before, or you haven’t noticed this about me, whether from my writing, the content I generate, or through knowing me personally.  I am eager to create change and see results. In the past, I have over-trained, over-studied, and still I often over-exert and exhaust myself trying to make things happen faster.  Perhaps this is a lack of patience, perhaps fear is driving me to some extent, or perhaps sometimes excitement and an eagerness to manifest is what is behind the drive forward and the desire to control and speed things up.  I know in the past, the “shoulds” of others and a desire to please drove me to work harder. Now, I can say a sense of purpose and vision often cause me to work at an unsustainable pace and I have to remind myself to have patience, slow down and trust in the process. Sometimes this drive serves me well and sometimes not.

Last weekend, I completed my last “long” training run in preparation for the Newport Marathon I will run on June 4^th.  I was thinking about my pace and feeling frustrated, particularly in the days and training runs afterward, that I wasn’t running faster. I remembered the wise words of a running buddy and reminded myself to save my best for the race, to trust the process.  I have run many marathons before and called upon this experience as training comes to an end once again, of not being faster. I remind myself constantly to just put in the miles and trust. There is a taper at the end of a marathon training program that allows one to go into a marathon rested, reliant on muscle memory and the training process, to give one’s best effort on race day.

I felt a desire and drive to add some sprint work to my training, even though the end is near, to put in more effort.  I had to again pause and look back on my experience, riddled with overtraining and injury as well as success.  I am often reminding my kids not to give up, to remain diligent, and to trust the process – the rewards and payoffs will come.  I reminded myself once again to look further ahead and to continue to actively engage in the process, a process that is tried and true and will get me to the finish line.

As I ponder this idea of trusting the process, I have also thought about these connected themes of patience and purpose. How do these themes connect for you?  Do you sometimes question your progress and thus the process, or lose sight of the purpose and then struggle with both patience and process?  What have you learned about process, purpose, and patience in your life? How does your view of process connect to patience and purpose for you?

Quote I’m pondering:

“Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process.”

~ Elif Shafak ~

What I’m listening to:

Episode #469, Jim Weber – Outpacing Goliath, Impressing Warren Buffet, & Leading With Purpose

The Learning Leader with Ryan Hawk

Jim Weber joined Brooks Running Company as CEO in 2001 and is credited for the Seattle-based running company’s aggressive turnaround story. The business and brand success caught the attention of Warren Buffett, who declared Brooks a stand-alone subsidiary company of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2012. He’s the author of a new book called, “Running With Purpose, How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to lead the pack.”

Some highlights and wisdom from Jim Weber that stuck with me:

• A purpose is a forever cause that can permeate everything from the business to the brand to the culture. It is a choice, not an outcome.
• The secret to success is “constancy of purpose” – Instead of a mission statement, Jim decided that a purpose was preferable to a mission. A purpose is a forever cause that can permeate everything from the business to the brand to the culture.
• “You’re an outcome of your journey.”
• “Cultures are behaviors in action.”

What I’m reading:

Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to Lead the Pack

By Jim Weber, CEO of Brooks

I had the pleasure of working at Brooks for the COO and Sr. VP of HR (2012-2014) and had the opportunity then to work with Jim.  His leadership and the lessons I learned at Brooks have been, and continue to be, inspiring and invaluable.  I am so excited he finally wrote the book – a book complete with playlist! I am enjoying learning more about his personal journey and am so appreciating his transparency, humility, and the business lessons that transformed a company I came to love. I have run many marathons in my Brooks Adrenaline running shoes and am grateful to share a love of the run! I hope you will enjoy the accompanying podcast I’ve included, too.

What Amazon has to say:

Discover how Brooks Running Company CEO Jim Weber transformed a failing business into a billion-dollar brand in the ultra-competitive global running market.

Running with Purpose is a leadership memoir with insights, inspirational stories, and tangible takeaways for current and aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and the 150+ million runners worldwide and those in the broader running community who continually invest in themselves.

This leadership memoir starts with Jim Weber’s seventh-grade dream to run a successful company that delivered something people passionately valued. Fast forward to 2001, Jim became the CEO of Brooks and, as the struggling brand’s fourth CEO in two years, he faced strong headwinds. A lifelong competitor, Jim devised a one-page strategy that he believed would not only save the company but would also lay the foundation for Brooks to become a leading brand in the athletic, fitness, and outdoor categories. To succeed, he had to get his team to first believe it was possible and then employ the conviction, fortitude, and constancy of purpose to outperform larger brands. Brooks’ success was validated when Warren Buffett made it a standalone Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary in 2012. In Running with Purpose, you will find:

• Brooks’ bold strategy and unique brand positioning that fueled its move from the back of the pack to lead.
• The key to building a purpose-driven brand that is oriented around customer obsession, building trust, competing with heart, and having fun along the way.
• The six clear leadership lessons Jim has learned along his path and applies at Brooks to develop staff into authentic leaders.
• How Berkshire Hathaway’s support and influence provided a tailwind for Brooks’s business and brand to surge.
• An inside look at the ups and downs of Jim’s personal journey which led to his conviction that life is too short not to enjoy what you do and the people by your side.

You can sign up to receive my Three Thoughts for Thursday post as an email on the third Thursday of every month by clicking here.
 
Please check out my latest blog post, The Problem of Intentions,  Also check out my post, Be Careful, Recipes and Inspiration Yield Different Results! and my April edition of Three Thoughts for Thursday, as well.  In light of my theme connected to running, you may also be interested in my series, Lessons of the Run – Endurance, Resilience, Rest, and Grit. Stay tuned for an upcoming expanded post on Examining the Process – Behind the Drive.
 
Beginning last year, in April 2021, I have had the privilege of Co-Hosting with Kathy Hadizadeh, the Emotional Intelligence Special Interest Group for ICFLA.  Please join us next week for April’s session on Tuesday, the 26^th of the month as we explore our coaching lenses and how they can impact our clients! 
 
For more information on the next “EQ and WooWoo” workshop (Thursday, June 23rd) with my colleague and Spiritual Coach, Katie Kay, please email me or RSVP. This workshop series is designed to help you manifest action towards the year you want to live, the person you want to be, and the goals you want to achieve.  We will be hosting quarterly sessions that intertwine the use of Tarot (and other Woowoo tools) and Emotional Intelligence to help you and your clients step outside the box in order to take your coaching and personal work deeper. June will focus on Social Awareness, tending to the seeds you’ve planted, and caring for the things you are growing.
 
If you are interested in joining and co-creating these learning communities, please use the links above to find out more about ICFLA’s Emotional Intelligence Special Interest Group and the EQ & WooWoo Workshops. I hope you will come along for the journey!
 
I’m always looking for new inspiration, new books to read, and new podcasts to listen to, so please send your suggestions my way or comment on this post to offer some new recommendations!
 
As always, thank you for your continued support and readership! Stay strong, stay brave, stay true to you!
 
Wishing you a season of patience, purpose, and trust in the process!