Run, Walk or Crawl

“Run when you can. Walk when you must. Crawl if you have to. Just never give up.”

—Dean Karnazes, the Ultramarathon Man

 

 

 

 

I love that quote from Dean Karnazes. Dean is a running icon—he doesn’t just run marathons, he runs ultramarathons. He once ran 50 marathons in 50 different states on 50 consecutive days. He ran a 200 mile relay race by himself and he also ran 350 miles once non-stop.

 

His run, walk, or crawl quote is certainly an illustration for the Think Huge principle “think perseverance” of never giving up.

 

Let’s break down the crawl, walk, run and never give up analogy into distinct areas. We all have strengths and weaknesses. There are certain areas you are weak in, certain areas you need to take to the next level, certain areas you are strong in, and certain areas you need to make sure you are not giving up on. We can use Dean’s run, walk, crawl quote as a Think Huge exercise:

 

Ø  Crawl = what area of weakness will you improve?

 

Ø  Walk = what area are you going to grow in, improve in or take to the next level?

 

Ø  Run = what area that you are currently strong in are you going to take and absolutely excel at?

 

Ø  Never give up = what area do you feel like giving up but won’t?

 

Let me explain this some more. I don’t necessarily like to use the word “weakness” but we all have areas that aren’t our strong suits. You should identify one area of weakness you will seek to improve this year. Similarly, there are also areas that you are pretty good in but that you need to take to the next level. In other words, maybe something that by practicing at or focusing on you can get even better. And of course, you have many strengths. But if we don’t focus on our strengths we take a chance of losing them.

 

You can determine an area in each of the above categories for both your professional and personal life. Need an example? Here is mine:

 

	Professional	Personal
Crawl (weakness)	Learn people’s names more quickly	Reconnect with past friends
Walk (next level)	Improve social media plan	Father (spend more quality time with kids)
Run (strength)	Sharpen leadership skills	Run “destination” races
Never give up	Improve attitude about budget cuts	Avoid burnout with balancing speaking and job responsibilities

 

Let me explain my example.

 

There are certain areas I’m weak in. I know it and I need to improve it. For example, I really need to get better at learning others’ names the first time I meet them. I need to dialogue with other areas outside my own departments more. I need to spend time outside my areas. Similarly, on the personal side of things I want to do a better job of reconnecting with past friends. So the “crawl” area is about managing weaknesses.

 

There are certain areas I’m okay in but that I can take to the next level. For example, I’m pleased with our overall social media plan. But I also know that if I spend a little more time with it and give it more attention to detail then I can improve it. On the personal side I think I’m an okay father (maybe good but certainly not great). The time with my kids is running out—to be a better father I need to spend more quality time with the girls. So in this “walk” area it’s all about the details.

 

There are certain areas I feel are my strengths. To be the best person and employee I can be I should spend time making those strengths even better. This is a strength-based philosophy. One of my strengths is leadership (please don’t take that sentence the wrong way—that doesn’t mean I’m “all that” with leadership; it just means I’m passionate about leading). But I need to develop that strength even more. I need to do things to grow in this area. On the personal side I enjoy running so this year I want to run a few races outside the state of Texas (“destination” races) so that I’m doing something different with one of my passions.

 

For the “never give up” section I have to make sure I don’t become frustrated if/when we have to cut the budget. On the personal side, I tend to juggle too much with my speaking so I have to watch becoming burned out and overwhelmed.

 

Now you can do the same. You can think of personal and professional areas. Look for specific actions or goals you’ll do in those areas this year.

 

Feel free to share your own run, crawl, walk areas and we’ll hold each other accountable.

 

Think Huge!