The content of this newsletter changed a lot in the last 48 hours. I received positive feedback on the “motivation” theme from last week’s newsletter, so I started digging in to provide a more substantive article on the topic. It wasn’t long before I had captured well over 5000 words and realized this was not an article I was writing — at least not one that any of you were likely to read.
So I’ve decided to break up the content into smaller packages — lessons to be exact. They will collectively form a new mini-course that I’m launching later this month. You can be the first to sample it if you wish. Each lesson can be consumed in 15 minutes and will provide a specific activity for you do complete. I’ll start rolling it out via email later this week, one lesson at a time. Each email will provide a link to a page on The Runner’s Toolkit with complete lesson content, videos, activities, references, and additional online resources.
If you want to be included on this email mini-course, please reply to the email and let me know.
The working title for the course is The Expressive Runner: A guide to athletic passion, purpose, and performance
Read on to find out what that means.
The Expressive Runner: A guide to athletic passion, purpose, and performance
This is a course to help you become the best runner you can be. It won’t necessarily teach you to become the fastest runner you can be, although it will likely pave the way this to happen. Instead, the goal is to help you develop an approach to running that enables you to express your unique identity and potential as a human being. Yes, this is a lofty objective, but just starting the journey down this path is beneficial:
- Activate all the capacities and talents that lie within you
- Derive as much meaning and joy from running as you possibly can
- Allow running and your athletic pursuits to amplify prosperity in all aspects of your life
An expressive runner brings their whole self to the act of running. They know what “makes them tick.” The’ve figured out who they are and why they are there. They are at peace with their limitations, and they’ve doubled-down on their strengths. They use their running practice to make life better for themselves and others.
All this helps the expressive runner bring passion and purpose to their life. It helps them perform to the best of their abilities. Like anything, it will come with ups and downs, but the expressive runner has the toolkit to get through the hard times and make the most of the good.
Anyone who devotes significant time and effort to running owes it to themselves to go through this process of self-discovery and alignment. It doesn’t take long to see results as long as you are willing to pause and reflect. The outcome of this process is improved confidence, motivation, focus, and satisfaction.
This will also help you avoid trying to be runner you fantasize about or the one you know who seems to have everything figured out. That runner is not you—trying to become something you are not eventually leads to frustration and demotivation. It will also help you avoid the pursuit of impossible goals. You can’t predict the future and there is no sense in trying. It is better to have the flexibility to stay true to who you are than to stay fixed on a path you can never complete.
This course works by stepping you through a series of lessons, each with a specific learning objective and activity that should take you less than 30 minutes to complete. The whole course should not take more than a handful of hours, spread out over several days. It is delivered to you by email with links to online articles, videos, and activities.
Pen and paper will be your primary tools, although online resources are also provided. The lessons are sequenced intentionally, but you can always go back and forth. You will likely jump in and out as needed. Take your time with it — it may take a week or it may take a year. It is worthwhile either way.
Here is an overview of the curriculum:
- Understand the power of self-actualization, motivation, and athletic expression
- Dig into goals, when to use them, and when to abandon them
- Decode your emotions and core values—use this to refine your process
- Identify the “why” behind your running and your identity
- Understand the difference between obsessive and harmonious passion
- Tools for staying focused on the things that matter most
- The “expressive runner” framework for putting it all into practice
Sign up here if you are interested in this course
