Challenge Yourself To Think Critically

When was the last time that you challenged your thinking? How open-minded did you allow yourself when you claimed that you were ‘open to possibilities’? Which idea did you critically review, so that you discovered new perspectives and propositions?

When people openly challenge us, we almost instinctively dive into our fear response: fight, flight, or fright. Observe how a colleague responds to a question directed by a manager to him. Which were his non-verbal and verbal responses that you observed? Defensive behaviors are a result of the startle response – when a person feels threatened (fright) and attacked, and they retaliate (fight) with their comebacks, usually with anger or denial.

Thinking to think can be a refined set of skills that can be sharpened through time. However, it requires a keen sense of awareness, presence of mind, enthusiasm and curiosity. Here are some ways to engage and challenge your mind and mental models:

1)    Review one set of PowerPoint slides, and delete 10 percent of the deck (slides).

2)    Think of 3-5 other ways to use a tool.

3)    Think of 3-5 creative ways to begin your meetings.

4)    Consider how to make meetings more useful, purposeful and relevant to staff, and apply them.

5)    Think PLUS: How can you add value to a person or process?

6)    Think MINUS: What can you reduce or eliminate, to add value to a person or process?

7)    Write a short essay where you share your Good Practice on a process (such as leadership, coaching or a work process).

8)    Propose your own idea and consider feedback on it; defend it while preserving rapport with the group or individual.

Leadership Lessons: Activate your thinking today. Think of what you reduce to your life that diminishes value. What can you do to add value? How can you get more for less? Is it possible to create something of value from minimal? 

*****

I never made it to last Sunday’s MR25 5K Time trial, although about 40 participants arrived to seek their ranking. Roger Chow, co-owner of 25 Hours – a known watch retail chain – attempted and earned his membership and ranking, despite fatigued legs. Congratulations, Roger! I decided to do a three-hour ride to assess my riding legs after the brief morning rain. I met Yong Feng enroute and had a short chat; both of us were decked in our Elite bikes and gear (with Panache). He is training for Ironman Western Australia, and I wish him all the best for his quest. The Ironman World Championships is on this weekend, and I have almost finalized my prediction list. It could a two-fer for Australians, but that’s my sense of it. More will be revealed soon. Have a good week!

Leadership is Your Business!

Are you a leader?

Of course you are! As long as you attempt to influence a colleague, customer, contractor or client, you are leading. As reiterated many times, our conversations are where the opportunities for influence lie.

What is your business as a leader?

Leaders test themselves at times. Sometimes, they have to make the tough decisions. Other times, they have to brave the elements. When you pull out of a race due to injury or poor health, it is a smart thing to do. There is no failure if you made the attempt. There’s always another time to achieve your goals. 38-year-old Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack dropped out (suspected hamstring injury) after the ride in yesterday’s ITU race in London, and comments on the social media platform have been hurled at him, including his lack of youth. This twice-Ironman World Champion is not denying himself a chance to represent his country in the Olympic Games after being unfairly chopped off 12 years ago. Why deter him? Was what Ironman World Champion, Faris Al-Sultan said of Macca (visibly absent) during the press conference of the 2011 edition of the Aviva Singapore Ironman 70.3 ‘professional’? (Video courtesy of BPM Sports, a triathlon coaching company based in Singapore).

When we see participants of various conditions and physical sizes run a marathon, have you ever wondered to yourself: ‘Are you serious?’ If you do, you were probably a pedestrian and not a runner. Isn’t a dream a target to be aimed at? Is a goal something important to be achieved? As leaders, our purpose and business is to effectively guide people towards this dream, aspiration or ambition? We do this through our intelligence, empathy, sensitivity, sensibility, abilities and talents. To not use them, is to lose and waste them.

Leadership Lessons: Live to lead another day. Leading is led. Influence others in the way you walk, talk and express your self. Lead with you head, heart and hands. Mind your business as a leader. 

*****

Congratulations, Tee Boon Tiong on garnering the white tee (no pun intended) at Norseman 2011. He completed the challenging task (with strained ribs and a fractured finger) in about 20 hours. Don decided to call it in after a long swim and longer ride. These two boys were brave for they braced the cold and choppy swim, and chilly ride. I hope that this teaches us not to make deprecating remarks about long-distance triathlon, like ‘which is an easier Ironman?’ The truth is: there is none. Which is the extreme one?

At the MR25 Time Trial yesterday evening, I moved from the last to 6^th out of about 22 runners. I was in a phlegm-like difficulty at the last two kilometres of the trail run, sucking in air and embracing the suck. I missed my new ranking narrowly (by one second) and came home in 22:00, an improvement over my first cross-country trial in February. Fast-paced training is intense and painful and it stresses the major muscles of our body. The overall winner, from Holland, won by almost a kilometre's breath in about 19 minutes. I believe that is he is an elite age-grouper who has done Kona. A couple of Masters category runners filled out the upper percentile of faster runners. Such was the strength of field at this small but hungry gathering. My joyful personal thought about all the runners there: respect. I also met MR25 committee member, Mika Kume who placed 2nd at a recent 21K run, and was top-five at the Sundown 100K Ultramarathon. She and her MR25 committee organised the run, and marshaled us on. Thank you, MR25!

Identifying With Your Group Branding

Our Monday evening’s swim squad has an official shirt to accompany our strong identity. This marks a weekly commitment by the core group for the sponsored, two-lane, swim at Buona Vista Swimming Pool. Any member of the branded Triathlon Family or friends of members can join us in these once-weekly session led by coach Dion, or any of our seasoned swimmers like Julius. On alternate Saturdays, we have our open-water swims at Sentosa Island (lead by our fearless leader, Matthew); which is, sometimes, followed by a short 4.5K run, when a biathlon is near.

This evening, after teaching class I proceeded home for an hour of swim drills comprising catch-up drills, fist swimming, bilateral breathing and kicking. Then, I was off for a management committee meeting; after that, I set off for the Changi International Airport, Terminal 1 to send Matthew Wong and Clifford Lee off. Both were travelling this evening to Germany for Ironman Regensberg. Both were decked in the t-shirt that Richard Leong designed, so they looked casually official. More friends like Conrad, Angeline, Chris and Mano will be flying off tomorrow. I arrived just in time to get a couple of snapshots with my two training buddies. This will be Matthew’s second Ironman triathlon, and Clifford’s twelfth; as of now, we both stand equal at 11 completions each. We will both be part of the Singapore contingent at Ironman New Zealand 2012.

Meanwhile, I have a few key races lined up before the Singapore Marathon: mainly varied distances from 5-21K, and an inaugural long-distance triathlon on 11 September. I look forward to Sunday’s 5K, trail-run time trial with the Macritchie Runners (MR25). I hope to run sub-22 minutes, and qualify for a higher individual ranking, which is based on a faster-running animal. My short-term case of plantar fasciitis has almost cleared after I laid off the long runs, and resuming running with Vibrams and doing my core stability work.

Photo-credits: Desmond Chow & Clifford Lee, 2012

Post-Race Reflection & Pondering

My individual results for Sunday’s 2XU 12K Compression Run:

Nett Time: 53:41

Gun time: 54:01

Rank: 92 out 5211 (Men’s Competitive - Gun-time)

Good news: top-2 percent of field of male entrants; it should be higher for the entire field of 7,000. Better news: I held an average of 4:29 minute/K pace; and that my plan of action for a 3:15 marathon is, on-track. Coach has been prescribing me my thrice, weekly sessions. However, my progress is still hampered by not doing enough specific, interval training sessions. After IM Lanzarote, I aim to do a few shorter races to brush up my speed. This may include another time trial with Macritchie Runners (MR25), to improve my time over the 5K cross-country route (cutoff time: less than 25 minutes). Do you know that their elite-level for Masters class is less than 19:30!

I was pleased to keep my pace up, and even overtake a few of my inspirations. However, I would rather lead behind them on their best day instead of their worst. It is my need to prove my worth, and do of my best. Mediocrity includes not attempting your best when you need to. Under-achieve, hold back too often, or give up too readily – these are signs of potential trouble, and resignation to resigning. Taking the short flight of steps and few slopes, I experienced some fatigue – it seems that I have been slack in my core workouts. I will need to resume my regular CrossFit sessions, focused on my strengthening work on my legs. I have to step it up, if you know that exercise. 

*****

I will be off for an overseas teaching assignment. I won’t be able to post. Thus, the advance post, dated as per daily uploads.

In Search of Exclusivity: Time Trial By Fire

This afternoon, I went for a time trial organised by Macritchie Runners (MR25) club. Hui Koon blogged yesterday that he was going for this, and I thought that it was a splendid idea, so I pounced on the opportunity. I had always wanted to qualify as a member of this 30-year-old running club, which hosts the annual year-end, ultra-marathon (which I, missed last year). I decided to skip my 90K ride this morning, in favour of fresher legs and a more repaired body. If yesterday’s sub-22:00 5K run (after the laggon swim) at Sentosa with Sin Guan was anything to go by, I felt confident of holding a 4:30/K pace for the fairly rolling, trail route. The cutoff time for the time trial was, and still is, 25 minutes. Time-trials are held every two months, so do consider if you are an avid runner.

I almost missed the registration time, as no cabs were available in my vicinity. Eventually, I was fortunate to hail down a new weekend relief driver and we made our way there with no preamble.

The rabbits of the pack scurried away into the burrow of the popular 5K trail, while the rest of us hung on to manage some semblance of integrity. I kept an easy pace, with a studied eye on the gravel-strewn road ahead. Weekend runners kept to the side of the trail, obviously made aware of the charging calvary in race-bibs. I cautioned a young runner about his dangling shoelace, and he replied ‘never mind’; I overtook him a few hundred metres later as his shoelace continued to flip about – it was his lace against time, I presume. I saw a runner behind fall on a slippery portion, and I hope that he was alright.

I took about 11:45 at the U-turn point, so decided to stop mucking around and punch the pedal. Having overtaken a few runners on my return leg, I think I did a negative split. I was requested to flip my bib around, as I inched towards to finish line; in doing so, I may have added a few seconds, which did not matter much as I met the target. I signed up as a member of MR25, immediately, after my friend from Team Fatbird, Ashley handed the form to me. The results showed me in 33^rd place out of a mixed field of 76 registrants. I came in at under-22:30 according to my watch, after making my way up the field of enthusiastic and apprehensive runners, including a dozen or more teenagers who knew not the words ‘slow down’.

I had a chat with several friends including expatriate Derek Lu, Andrew (Hui Koon’s running buddy, and 3:06 marathoner), and Ashley Ng. Interestingly, all of us were not members of this serious running group, and I believed all of us qualified. Congratulations, my fleet-footed friends!  My next target: sub-19:30 for the same 5K course, to qualify for Elite Veteran status. I will need to include trail runs, interval and hill work to hit this new lactate threshold.

Time trials are useful as part of our training lead-up to our A-races. You can do time trials by yourself or with a team, over your three triathlon disciplines once every 7-10 days. You need to be very fit, to do it more often – weekly. Such tests are useful for assessing your training progress and race performance. Time trials at work can be applied as such: how much can you accomplish in an hour, or a day? Complete a meeting in an hour (thus MINUTES of the meeting) and not drag on unnecessarily. How soon can you complete a report within a self-imposed time? How fast can you clean your bike after a rainy ride?