Focus – Nothing Else Matters

"Nothing else matters." - Metallica

This quote is written across the bottom of my triathlon "Vision Sheet" – my written statement of what I want to accomplish this year in the sport of triathlon and that I have pasted to my bathroom mirror so that I see it every single day.  My written statement is my dream I will realize if my hundreds of hours of training and single-minded focus converge with perfect race day conditions and perfect race execution on June 27th, 2010 at Ironman Couer d'Alene in Idaho. 

Whenever I sit down and think about what it takes to be successful at the Ironman-distance with its 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run, a few key principles keep coming back: Desire, Vision, Commitment, Planning and Focus.

I've talked about the first four so it's now time to focus on "Focus" (no pun intended).

Focus

If you truly want to be successful and excel in anything (and especially in Ironman-distance triathlon), you need to focus.  It's that simple.

Webster's defines focus as "a point of concentration."  By concentrating on one thing then by definition you're not concentrating on other things.  In other words, a single-minded focus.

A single-minded focus

As my personal example of what I mean by a single-minded focus:

When I sat down earlier in the year to blog about my goals for 2010, I called it my "Road Back to Kona" (meaning the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii).  When I read my blog article now, it sounds silly because I was stating that my goal was to get back to Kona but I wasn't really trying to get there because I was taking detours like the Death Race in Pittsfield, VT (I still want to do the race one day, but it's hard to find the time to train for wood chopping, trekking and mountain biking when I'm already dedicating 15+ hours per week to swim, bike and run training) and Vineman in California, but neither of those races will get me to Kona. I'm also too proud to enter the Kona lottery so want to earn my way in.  

I've decided to narrow my focus by competing in Ironman Coeur d'Alene on June 27 as my first key Ironman race of the year in order to qualify for Kona.

Here are some of the steps I'm taking to achieve success:

• Both triathlon event that I will be doing before Coeur d'Alene – Kinetic Sprint on May 9 and American Triple-T on May 21-23 – are timed to prepare me optimally for Coeur d'Alene.  
• I started working again this year with German Pro Triathlete and Coach Olaf Sabatschus who successfully coached me to an 8:51 Ironman time at the Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany.
• I spent two weeks in the Canary Islands at Olaf's triathlon training camp.
• At the beginning of every week, I add all my workouts to my calendar so that I block off the time to do them and create my weekly plan to prioritize everything else.
• I'm getting a custom triathlon bike from Elite Bicycles built just for unique me.
• I've educated myself on Sports Nutrition and Exercise Physiology so that I understand what I'm putting into my body and how I'm using it in order to achieve optimal performance on race day.
• The list continues…

In spite of all these steps I'm taking to focus my efforts on my Ironman goals, I still must balance this center of focus with the other important aspects of my life like my relationship with Krista, coaching my clients, organizing camps and races, writing in my blog, spending time with friends, etc. so it's still a real challenge for me (although the weekly planning really helps with prioritization).

By no means am I suggesting that you should go to the extremes of what I'm doing, but the important thing to take away from all this is that without focus, it will be difficult to achieve your dream goals, whatever they may be.  Your dream goals must become a center of your attention or they'll never be anything more than just the dreams of a life lived in regret.

Why the Vision Sheet?  

I've taped my Vision Sheet to my bathroom mirror so that I see it several times each day as a remember of what I'm trying to accomplish, of what I'm focusing on.  This reminder will help get me out the door when the weather is cold and wet (like today) or when I'm just not motivated so that I can achieve my excellence on race day.

Nothing else matters…

Live strongly and boldly!

David

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David B. Glover, MS, CSCS
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine: Fitting Iron Distance Training into Every Day Life
Triathlon Coach, Athlete and Writer
Web: enduranceworks.net

© 2010 David B. Glover