If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Doing Twice!

I will be doing Ironman Lanzarote 2011. It is a year before the event, yet I thought it would be prudent to register early before the race sold out. As of now, many marquee M-Dot races have been snapped up completely – some within weeks, and even hours! In less than 10 days, Ironman Lanzarote has almost 900 participants registered.

Some triathletes ask me why I would repeat a race that I have completed. This was due to previous bad weather, cancelled swims, compromised health, and better performance; I have done Ironman Malaysia and Ironman New Zealand twice. Having done one of the toughest bike courses in Ironman, what would possess me to attempt it another time? Several reasons abound:

1)    I strongly believe I can complete it again.

2)    I seriously want to improve my timings for all three disciplines (and also for overall finishing time).

3)    I have a fresh and sensible race and nutrition strategy.

4)    I will race with more specific and rigorous training.

5)    I have done more races since my first attempt at Lanzarote three years ago to benefit from my mistakes.

6)    I am more confident of my fitness now than when I last did this race.

7)    I have more insights about my strengths and weaknesses.

I like the challenges of this course; I did my best swim there. The climate is gentle. The first 40km of the ride is made across landscape that looks like the lava fields in Kona, with winds in your face. The hills make it physically and mentally tough; you climb from sea-level up to 2,500 metres. The scenery is awesome and definitely worth the climb. I blew it on my nutrition plan, having inadequate fuel to feed my hungry muscles. The food portions served at Club La Santa (official hotel) is awesome. The sangria is totally to die for! Plus, the race director, Kenneth personally welcomes every finisher at the end-point.

Consider what you would do twice.

Pushing Performance

How far can you push your performance?

Is there a limit to your abilities? There is. Can you enhance your abilities? You can.

To be able to perform to our best, we need to consider if we are able, ready and willing. For this, we focus on skills, attitude and mindset. The competitive athlete works on all three dimensions; he focuses on building his abilities, enhancing his capabilities, and developing his competitive mindset. He, then, must race to determine his level of performance.

I have learnt much from pushing my personal performance in the marathons from the top-30 percent to the top-3 percent. It took me six years to complete my first double-marathon, and in doing so made the top-10 percent in the field of participants. The road leading here has been paved with learning, training, competing, measuring, and comparing. I had my fair share of pain and discomfort; then serious with the fun. Every step is calculated, and we may be calculating and calculative depending on our focus.

Without limiting yourself about genetics, natural talent, background and experience you can still improve your performance as a leader in sports and our profession. Competition and the next personal challenge, can give us an opportunity to rise above our complacence and into the territory of our potential.

How do you extend your performance? How far can you push, before you get pushed back? How did you bounce back from injury and disappointment? In life, we can get our ego bruised and pride injured. Yet, we can engage the sustaining values of determination, resilience, persistence, and passion to rise above our mediocrity and into the next level of our performance.

You need not do this alone; you can seek the counsel of a coach, training partner, business associate or consultant. You can benefit fro somebody else’s successes and mistakes. I wish well at your next Ironman triathlon, marathon, open-water swim, or cross-country run!

Reliability and Responsibility

I heard from my runner friend that getting committed pacers for a marathon is a challenging task. What he sadly discovered was that the pacers did not closely adhere to the race pace they pledged towards. Instead, they went faster and attempted to improve their personal best (PB) times.

This is not acceptable when sponsors provide you with race attire and you violate the agreement. Being a pacer is a generous process, and your role is to motivate those intending to earn a PB through your leadership. By sticking closely to race pace, the incumbent PB holder will follow your pace. At no time should a pacer deviate from his prescribed timing, be it 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, or 6:00. You stick to the plan, so that others may stick to theirs. There is a chain of influence that exists and results from the collective decision. When we follow the runners with their helium-filled balloons, we are making an unofficial contract: lead and we will follow, as you are the assigned expert.

We do not expect pacers who go too hard, too soon, and ‘hit the wall’. As a result, they compromise the runners’ timings.

How do you think that affects your reliability? How responsible were you when you departed from your original course of action? As my runner friend lamented: ‘Where can you find reliable pacers?’ His reputation may be affected as he recommended those runners last year, and who disappointed him.

Race, or pace – you decide. There are no two ways about this, when you commit. Stop running away from your commitments.

A Day Without Internet Access

How dependent are you on the Internet? Does  a day go by when you are comfortable without accessing e-mail or surfing the Net? Does your life come to a grinding halt when your Internet service provider faces a crisis?


Yesterday, my Internet service provider crashed and I could not access my business e-mail and post my blog. It was a peculiar day, but not unbearably difficult to pass. It was a day to take charge of myself and question my dependency on technology. Surely it was an inconvenience, but life goes on - at least, the next day I would have found other options.


Technology should be a mask or shield for us. In fact, we should block ourselves away from the digital technology and social media tools that has come to dominate our lives if we are not careful. Enjoy its availability but do not let yourself be run or ruined by it. Remain high-tech, but high touch!


Here is a photography I took at a factory that manufactured replicas of the Terra Cotta Soldiers. The headless statue I hid behind was made of clay, as was the original terra cotta army centuries ago. With my spectacles on, I could have been an advisor, or strategist. I could have developed my leadership skills very differently then!

Mental Strength and Toughness

This morning I rode for about 60km on my custom-fitted bike. It was my first ride for a few weeks. Although I was not going particularly fast most of my journey, I felt good about my ride. I am assured that my well-adjusted bike fits my maladjusted personality. Elite Bicycles founder, David Greenfield did a spectacular job on my road bike.

I had spent my energy and focus on preparing and racing for the double-marathon. I did face some muscular weakness in my thighs, as I was still seven days into my recovery process. Sports medicine specialist, Dr Ben Tan of Changi Hospital advised me that I should not run for about two weeks before I resume my 3-month marathon cycle. I will be racing in the Berlin Marathon, and hope to qualify for Boston Marathon next year with a sub-3 hours and 20 minutes timing. According to my many informed sources, the racecourse is flat and the weather would be cold – useful for tropical runners. Shoes on, laced up high, orthotics inserted, and toes crossed.

As I rode, I looked at the riders across the long Coastal Road. Aside from the main fact that this road bordered the international airport, it was a favourite stretch of long road for serious riders and triathletes. I smiled to a few familiar faces as we past by each other. I suspected that some of them might be preparing for Ironman Switzerland, UK and Western Australia. It is a bit early to train seriously for the year-end IMWA in Busselton, but in the endurance game stamina and speed are worth investing in off-season.

Working through a long-term project can help you increase your mental strength. In the relative absence of your manager, you can engage your skills and capabilities as the second-in-charge. Recall the time when you had to fill in for a staff during a personal emergency you managed as best as you could, and perhaps more. Taking feedback from customers and colleagues can be very hard on one’s ego and self-esteem, yet you had to be open to criticism and accept it. Most professions involve mental strength and toughness; when engaged fully, values like tenacity, persistence, resilience, determination and patience augur well for the skillful professional.

Afterthoughts: Keep doing what you have been doing, and add the occasional challenge. Add more minutes, distance, weight (you need it for muscular power), or stress. You will adapt as long as you recover well. Train as you would for the race/event, and never change the plan (unless necessary).

Eight Ways to Restore Your Work-Life Balance

At a renowned global organisation, its former CEO used to preach work-life choice: choose! That was obviously useful as hardworking performers did well in their careers, and those who chose otherwise, did not. However, those who focused on work also suffered in their personal relationships.

Creatively, some organizations proposed work-life harmony. Can you harmonise between the two? Work is unnatural. Humans were not designed to plant themselves at workstations. We were, historically, farmers. This is an evolution of the hunter-gatherer. We have not changed much, as we still collect things and hunt in packs (cyclists, runners, fishermen, sales teams, etc.). We are who we are, and we need to acknowledge that and work with it.

Yesterday, I taught my class of international executives that when it comes to cross-cultural considerations, we have enough knowledge to operate across geographical borders. So, refine what you have defined. Use what you already have, and build on it. You do not have to deconstruct everything unless you plan to rebuild it.

Next, know what your Needs, Luxuries and Charities (Gary Yardley & Jan Kelly, 1994, Experience Orientated Management™) are. Once you have established these, you can discern what matters to you, and what your priorities in your life are.

Here is a guide to managing your lifestyle, so that you enjoy your quality of life.

1)    Have enough sleep. Early to bed, early to rise – touted Benjamin Franklin. Stop bragging about how little you do!

2)    Indulge in your hobbies. We express ourselves through these pastimes and activities. Some of us excel in our hobbies, and have build secondary reputations around it.

3)    Spend time with people you really enjoy. Surround yourself with happy and positive people as their infectious energy can transfer to us.

4)    Exercise. Keep fit. Keep moving, and move away from your desk and TV armchair. Get up and get out of your house. Go on now!

5)    Exercise your options. Choose. Make your own decisions on how you want to spend your time. Time is a precious commodity, so use it well or lose it badly.

6)    Practise discipline. Commit to a plan, and make sacrifices. As adults, suspend instant gratification!

7)    Take time to smell the roses. Appreciate the little things in life. Be grateful that you are alive and create new experiences for yourself everyday.

8)    Take on a challenge, whatever its size. Achievements and accomplishment enhance our self-esteem and self-worth. You feel more confident when you outdo yourself. Aim to complete a 10km race after doing a 5km one. Last week, my one-armed runner friend, Adam completed an 84km marathon. He lost an arm in an accident, and he lives an enviably rich life with his family. You cannot take his sense of happiness away!

Re-balance your life. Swing back or forth. Balance is dynamic, never static. Not sure – ride a bike! You will be amazed with what you can learn while doing most of the above pointers in one fell swoop.

Do You Dare To Dive Into The Deep End?

Fear can cripple the best of us. It affects us physiologically: mentally, physically, and emotionally. It can appear in many ways, and affect us to varying degrees of impact on our performance, and being. Fear seizes who you are, and strangles the life and creativity out of us. Fear has been described as an acronym for ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’. Fear activates our lizard brain, and engages our instincts and automatic responses.

Fear can come in various forms. Fear can come from being unprepared or ill prepared. It can show its face through selfish behavior. It can express itself in thoughts, words and deeds. I have seen the look of abject fear of participants before the Ironman swim, and it can be infectious if you allow others to spread their fear to us. It can cramp our style and weigh us down – not a good sign before a deep water swim.

When staff make our lives difficult, they may be suffering from fear; they feel threatened. They express this discomfort as useless behaviors, and they impose this fear on us thinking it will dissipate from their bodies. However, the fear may escalate when we do not behave the way they expect us to, that is, in reciprocal fear. Defensive behavior tends to be an unnatural response to somebody else’s fear.

Stay cool. Be prepared. Think through your options. Run scenarios of ‘what if’. Train for a race well. If you run competitively, train on different terrains, elevations, distance and speeds. Treat your injuries as potential weaknesses can hamper your clarity of thought. Work on your core muscles so that your strong spine keeps you centred in all sense of the word. Being strong translates to aspects of your personal strength and fortitude.

Work with your fear. Never let it possess you wholly and uncontrollably. Embrace it if you must, but you need not fear it. Take the plunge. Winston Churchill said: ‘There is nothing to fear except fear itself.


Photo-credit: Pauline of AniMIles (Was I over-prepared for the 84km run last Sunday?)

Innovate or Die Trying?

Reinvent or die. That’s the stark naked truth.

More and more, we need to define ourselves further. Push the threshold of what’s out there. Do the impossible as it just takes longer. Go back to basics, and SCAMMPER* your way through a myriad of possibilities.

How do you add value to your client, business, profession and career?

How else do you further add value to these?

Identify what reduces or diminishes your value.

Share your value/values with others.

Amplify your value.

Re-evaluate your value. Get yourself appraised as you would a precious stone. You are a rough jewel; get yourself cut into a brilliant sparkle. Be multi-faceted in your abilities, and enhance your capabilities.

Be more than a manager. Be a leader. Stop scratching around, confusedly. Regain your bearings: clarity, commitment and confidence. Lead by influencing. The power comes naturally however only use it for the good of others. Back your actions with sound values.

Increase your value with enhanced and new skills, experiences, expertise and exposure. Get yourself out there. Network actively. Build face-to-face communication that is high touch and maintain with high-technology media. Build stories that others will talk about long after you are gone.

Your experiences will be the substance of your retirement conversations. Forget about the good old days, and keep building the better new NOW!

* SCAMMPER is an acronym for innovative design.

The Best Time to Learn As Leaders

Some of us have so much education, but little learning. The Chinese word for being learned is xue wen, or learning to ask. When was the last time you ask questions of various forms and nature?

What is learning? When does it take place? When do we engage in it? Learning includes the acquisition of skills, knowledge, and experience. When we learn, we will then have the ability to apply our knowledge. Then, we will have to determine if we are able, ready and willing.

Apparently, learning is usually associated with the beginner or neophyte. We direct inexperienced and less skillful people, so that they learn quickly. We hope that they have a fast learning curve so that (as leaders) we can delegate to them mundane tasks. Some of the best times to learn are:

1)    When you make mistakes

2)    When you succeed

3)    When you are curious

4)    When you encounter disappointments

5)    When you review your plans

6)    When you need to earn

A famous magician and actor, Ricky Jay never gives lectures to magicians because he believes that he is still learning. Al Baker, a famous magician used to say: ‘Magicians stop thinking too quickly!’ When we stop thinking, we stop learning. Learning has to involve thinking, or else nothing occurs on the cerebral Serengeti.

Instances of learning as leaders include: Organisers of  a marathon who review feedback from upset participants; analyzing what when well/not so well at a personal sports event; correcting your swim/run technique; having your bike fitted properly to your body; learning how to give a purposeful performance interview with your staff.

There is a Chinese saying: Live till old. Learn till you are old. When was the last time you learnt something? Be a lifelong learner. The learning never stops!

Dealing with Disappointment

Look forward, life presents endless opportunities when we create these or know where to look for them. It is said that in crisis, there is opportunity.

Somewhere in the middle, it gets hazy, fuzzy and a lot confusing. Here is where we have to make decisions, and these come with consequences. There are implications to the choices we make, and the actions we take. Life, occasionally, serves us a curve ball. It depends on how able, ready and willing we are to bat. Our personal leadership – our Inner Pilot, if you will – guides us through these moments of adversity and apprehension.

Ironman Japan (IMJ) 2010 has been cancelled; this follows hot on the heels of the cancellation of the Ironman Langkawi series. IMJ is a major sports event for Goto Nagasaki next weekend, however the organizing committee had to pull the plug. Judging from the organiser’s urgent letter online, it is a decision made on the big picture. There is a suspected outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease and it may affect the tourists and competitors to the island. My friend, Hui Koon who has been training very hard and looking forward to the race is disappointed, and naturally so. I am sure our coach Fox will have a chat with him.

I can empathise with Hui Koon as I suffered two major disappointments in my first two Ironman races in 2006: IM New Zealand and IM Korea. Both had their swims cancelled due to bad weather; Lake Taupo, NZ experienced 90kph winds and metre-high waves. As painful as it was, I raced the partial races as it was still sanctioned Ironman races and added eight more complete races thereafter. I never regretted what happened as I learnt lessons that I carried with me through my later races. I learnt to move on, move forward and refocused on my subsequent race strategies. I also appreciated the fact I was inexperienced in racing and needed more work on my total fitness.

Looking back, it all made sense in hindsight. I trust the participants of IMJ will do so, and aim further and forward to their individual potential.