How to Manage Yourself When You Are Unprepared


How to Manage Yourself When You Are Unprepared

Last Sunday, Barb and I ran the oldest road race in North America, the 30K Around the Bay

This is a popular warm up race for those who are running a Spring marathon. It’s not popular for those who are not in shape.

The Grim Reaper at 27 k who I avoided

I was not close to being prepared for this 18.6 mile endurance test. For the past 6 weeks I have had to prioritize work over running. 

As Oprah Winfrey says, “Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.” Since I hadn’t prepared, I knew that I would not achieve a personal best performance. 

My running predicament is similar to work challenges that we are not prepared for. In these situations, you usually don’t perform at your best. You can,however, focus on being the best you can be under these circumstances.  

Here is a checklist of things you can do to manage yourself when you are unprepared:

Be realistic–False expectations often leads to big errors: starting the race too fast would have weakened me further and increased the probability of being injured
Confirm what you know–what facts and experiences can you leverage? I had run this race twice before so I knew where the hills were
Ask for help–Barb shared that a final killer hill had been removed from the course so I adjusted my speed accordingly
Call on your strengths–Draw upon your skills and what you do well: I made sure that I perfectly angled my turns that eliminated extra distance I would needlessly run
Adjust your approach if it isn’t working: I usually speed up in the last mile, but this time my legs cramped and I dropped my speed until I could regain my gait
Remind yourself that the situation is temporary–you are managing a moment in time: Counting down the remaining kilometres gave me confidence that I would manage through my challenges and reach the finish line
Document your learnings–documentation is a way of committing knowledge to memory: I captured my reflections and lessons learned about the race in my running log as soon as I could hobbled to my office.

My results were not my best, but they were the best I could have achieved under these circumstances. I ran 30k in 3 hours, 7 minutes and 55 seconds. This time is 8 minutes slower than last year’s race when I was training for a marathon, yet 4 minutes faster than the year before when I wasn’t. 

Sometimes being unprepared is unavoidable in both our personal and work lives. Being the best you can be under the circumstances can be good enough.

Phil

 
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Are NOT a robot, right? Please answer this simple math question * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Take Action

Ask us a question about your change

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Subject

    Your Question


    Get the newsletter
    Change With Confidence
    Please type your name and email address and click on "Send". We will add you to our newsletter distribution list. Thank you.




    Get Change with Confidence
    Change With Confidence

    Get Change on the Run
    Change With Confidence

    Twitter

    When impressing leaders, what is the 1 action you would take to get 80% results in 20% of the time? Here’s mine: bit.ly/3CHq0Ho. The podcast episode with key opinion leader @RobbyNap is on Sounder bit.ly/3iKl2js. #change #changemanagement #leadership #podcasts pic.twitter.com/wUxLfW3w0M

    About 2 weeks ago