Discipline and endurance aren’t gifts; they are daily practices.

I know this sounds crazy, but the half-marathon Mike and I completed a week ago was… enjoyable.

The experience was night and day to the half-marathons I completed almost a decade ago. Those were, for the most part, miserable and grueling.

Part of what made this one different was, of course, that I had Mike by my side. Having a team (even if it’s a team of two) is a proactive step in setting yourself up for success.

But I started to think also about why this last race hurt so much less than the previous ones. Physically. I mean, I’m older and in poorer shape. It would stand to reason that this one would be the epitome of suck.

But it wasn’t.

Ryan Fletcher wrote today about how “everybody likes the story of the tortoise and the hare… yet no one wants to be the plodding tortoise.”

It’s true, you get to the starting line and you want to win.

But you don’t win at the starting line.

You win at the FINISH line.

Discipline + Endurance = Achievement

Discipline = Showing Up

Not just showing up on race day, but showing up every day. Whether you feel like it or not.

Endurance = Turtle Onward

You don’t take off like the hare. You don’t white-knuckle your way through.

THIS is why my previous races were so painful.
(I thought I understood endurance, but I was wrong.)

THIS is why ideas are so exciting at inception and then fizzle.

THIS is why so many people never finish that novel they’ve been working on.

You have to be the turtle. It’s not always as exciting as you want it to be. It’s not always sexy.

But you Turtle Onward.

That’s how Mike and I approached this race, how we approach our endeavors. It’s a long game.

Discipline and endurance aren’t gifts. These aren’t things that some people have and others do not.

They are daily practices.

What areas of our lives could we incorporate discipline and endurance?

In what instances are we behaving like the hare?

If we can answer those questions, we might achieve more than we thought possible.

And we might find that true endurance – embracing the pain of effort and using it to fuel us forward – leads not only to achievement, but also enjoyment along the way.

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