Getting To The Top of the Hill

Getting a podium finish can be a deeply satisfying experience. Going onstage to receive your degree from your Dean of Faculty is also a richly rewarding experience. To complete a marathon and earn your medal and finisher-tee are also worth relishing. Getting to the top of the summit for Ironman Norseman – the extreme long distance triathlon – after the 37K mark of the marathon for a steep, rugged, climb up, may be just as memorable [at the time of writing, twice-Ironman World Champion, Tim DeBoom won the 2011 edition of Norseman. Full report on the Endurance Conspiracy website].

Education has always emphasised success through examination grades, as well as landing the best jobs. Plaudits and pundits have agreed that it is better to be at the top of the game and stay on top, instead of being at the rank bottom. Our language is peppered with altitude-raising language like ‘top-dog’, ‘top scorer’, ‘top student’, ‘head honcho’, ‘high-flyer’, ‘corporate ladder’, ‘top rung’, ‘topping your performance’ and ‘head of the class’. Even the alter-ego of television known as Reality TV flouts highly-important titles like ‘Top Chef’, ‘Top Model’, ‘Top-40 Hits’ and the like. Here are the top-50 leadership blogs for 2010.

We, at Leadership Lessons from Triathlons, are already into our third year of sharing our content. We hope to get onto one of these prestigious lists in the near future. We have earned a few badges of merit in the past two years like appearing on AllTop, The Entrepreneur Blog, and currently a top-100 ranking for a leadership blog.

Google recently ranked us as #2 on its encrypted version, and #9 on its standard version for ‘Leadership Lessons’. It is an honour to be ranked just below Time magazine. We are, currently, #86 for the top leadership blog on Invesp.com. We boast no authors, television celebrities and renowned experts – well, at least not yet, however we do have a panel of excellent featured guests, and stories on excellent people. Everyday People with Extraordinary talents, abilities and lives – these are what we are motivated by, and strive to bring to you.

All these numbers mean little unless we stay current, contemporary, and fresh in our content. Our success is measured by our scope and depth of collaboration with others, degree of connectivity with our readers, and feedback from our readers.

*****

All the best to participants of Ironman Regensberg in Germany: Matthew, Clifford, Mano, Conrad, Chris and Angeline. Have a splendid race! Congratulations to Don Ng and Tee Boon Tiong for completed the grueling, extreme long-distance triathlon, Norseman! We extend our long distance kudos to this Dynamic Duo for being the first Singaporean and Malaysian to complete this race within the cutoff. Enjoy your top-of-the-world feeling!

Quest To Be Your Best

QUEST = Quietly Utilise Exquisite Skills and Talents. QUEST*: Jean Claude Van-Damme’s film, shot in Phuket and featured martial artists who worked long hours and could each wolf down one kilogramme of pasta (4,000 calories) at one dinner sitting!

This evening, our entourage sent off Barney Tee and Don Ng at Terminal 3, Changi Airport. They will be the first Malaysian and Singaporean to attempt the extreme Norseman Ironman within the stipulated hours. Two years ago, Don crashed during the dangerously fast descents, and had to, unfortunately, stop after painfully running a quarter of the tough marathon. They will attempt to earn both the white and black t-shirts. The black label, t-shirt is earned when you arrive at the 36K mark of the marathon within the cutoff time of 14.5 hours, whereby you gain permission to do the slippery, rocky climb, for the remainder of the marathon.

We also bumped into Ironman Regensberg incumbents, Chris Smith, Mano, and Conrad. The cliché ‘It’s a small world!’ was reinforced when I realised that Chris’s brother was my old friend in journalism, Colin. Once in print and broadcast media, he now manages his own media company. We promised to catch up shortly on the social media platform before meeting face-to-face. I used to write full-time and freelance for leisure magazines, trade journals and the newspapers in the early 1990’s – writing continues to be one of my passions in my life. Colin and I stretched ourselves to pursue our other interests later in our lives, so as to realize our potentials.

Endurance races can be an indulgence, yet it is a test of one’s leadership qualities and character. Can you withstand the discomfort and pain? As Macca alluded in his book: Can you embrace the suck? Can you continue when the going gets really bad?

The physical test of triathlon over any distance is a disquieting and demanding task. It is so easy to allow self-doubt, anxiety, apprehension and other distractions to shift your focus away. However, with occasional racing and the annual Big Dance of your choice, you can test your mettle, true grit, gumption, and other qualities of your character. My friend, James Middleditch who won in 40-44 years age group at the OSIM Singapore International Triathlon Sunday has completed Kona, and will be competing in the first Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas in September.

Congratulations to the perennially fit, human dynamo Victor Chan for winning in his age group!

Be the best YOU, you can be!

* Inside scoop: By the way, JCVD was very particular about how his Thai glass noodles was prepared, that he rejected many versions in the resort he stayed. The resort manager had to request his wife to cook for the film star, eventually - that was resourceful!