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Life, Work a Marathon, Not Just a Quick Dash

The Plain Dealer --
By: Leslie Yerkes

I have enjoyed watching the Olympics. I always do. This year, however, I got what I call a "Grand Ah-HAA!" I discovered that I had been looking at my business from a limited perspective. And my life, too.

I have always considered myself a sprinter. I'm not actually running the 100-yard dash, mind you, but I've been working my business as if I were. Every morning I explode from the starting line and expend huge amounts of energy just to get to the end of the day. Then I collapse, totally spent until the next race. In my case, tomorrow.

I have been focused totally on the day.

I have survived 10 years in business using the skills I learned and perfected as a sprinter. Those skills have gotten me through the first three years of chaos, the first five years of confusion, and the first 10 years of existence.

Then this summer, a new truth became obvious to me: Life is not a 100-yard dash. It is a marathon.

And if I want my business to last the next 10 years, I have to readjust my thinking and learn the skills of the marathon runner if I am to survive. What are those skills?

Look at the long view. If life is a marathon, then every day is part of the same race. While I need to remain just as focused as a sprinter, I can't think in terms of one day at a time. I have to think of years of running. The standings in my race will be taken at the end, and the end is many years from now. Pace yourself. For me, this is the major difference. Instead of burning myself out in wild bursts of energy, doing everything flat out, I need to become steady, saving something for later because every step along the way will need the same, total commitment. In the past, I did everything in streaks, in sprints. To maintain success over another 10 years, I have to understand the length of the race, embrace the distance, and plan for it. Consistency is vital to success in the marathon. Learn to get through the wall. As a sprinter, there isn't a wall. There isn't a point at which you feel you just can't go on. There's always another race. In a marathon, the wall happens before you finish. It hits you hard and you have to fight your way through it. When you do, you discover there's a renewed spirit and capability on the other side. If you quit at the wall, you will not finish the race. And if you don't learn to fight through it, you will not succeed. During the 17 days of the Olympics, watching athletes dash and swim and vault and succeed and fail, I got that "Grand Ah-HAA!" I referred to. And I was surprised because it was yet another insight: Success in business really depends on a combination of sprints and marathons. To succeed in business, you have to treat it like the Tour De France.

In the Tour De France, each day is a modified sprint; not 100 percent flat out like the 100-yard dash, but still a sprint. Each day you jockey for position against known competition and unknown circumstances. And while winning the day is nice, it's not essential. What you need to do is get the best score you can that day. If you are in fourth place, move up to third. If you're eighth, get to seventh. Your point total is cumulative and if you push yourself to do the very best every day, then, and only then, will you get the best score at the end.

Once I had decided that business was like the Tour De France, I then decided that I preferred to go for the team title using all the members of my team, each working together, and excelling in each one's area of expertise.

And just like in a race, there has to be an overall team strategy. When the entire team follows the vision to achieve the mission, then the team wins and so do I.

As I get ready for the next Olympics in 2000, I am getting my business ready for the next 10 years. I am adding the skills of the marathon runner to those I have perfected as a sprinter. And I am assembling a team so we can go for the gold.

I am discovering that business and life are really great races when you know how to run them.