While my wife spent a good amount of time being pampered at the St Julien Spa, I found a mountain bike and a few jaw dropping trails. While out riding, I had a few realizations that I think transcends beyond the trail, on to the broader adventure of life we all find ourselves in. I want to share just a few:

Be prepared for every upcoming inch, but keep your focus a good distance ahead

It had been a while since I’d ridden serious trails, and I kept committing a beginners mistake when i was first starting out. In both the climb and the ascent, I was focusing on every little rock and root directly in front of me. This helped me to navigate cleanly over the immediate obstacle, but my momentum was instantly killed after every obstacle of any significance. I had to keep telling my self to “look up 10 feet ahead, be aware of every twist, turn, and obstacle coming up, but ultimately focus on the bigger picture”. Once I did this, I was still prepared for each obstacle and possible pitfall, but I also gained a momentum and confidence, which in turn created a good sense of flow and adrenaline.

gadgets / tools / and gear will only get you so far, or even worse, they will become a crutch

on my first day of riding, I rented an insanely advanced dual suspension bike, practically the rolls royce / hummer h1 of mountain bikes. i won’t lie, it was a really sweet piece of machinery. the cushioning and handling were light years ahead of anything i have ever ridden. but on my second day of riding, I rode a friends old bike. a standard, specialized hard tail bike from yesteryears. a good bike for it’s time, but nowhere near the level of technology and gadgetness of the first day’s bike. but you know what? I had just as much fun the second day. maybe because i knew i had to push myself that much harder. I had to navigate even more precisely. and I knew the adventure I was having, was all the more on account of my hard work, and not some fancy machine.

if your not giving back some blood, sweat, or tears, your probably not pushing hard enough

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way a lover of pain, desiring to inflict it upon myself in the name of being tough or macho. I actually hate crashing and avoid it at all cost in my daily bike commuting. But when I got out out on the trail, I didn’t want to play it safe. I didn’t want to come back with out a few scars, or a bit of blood shed. i only went over the handlebars a few times, and only took a few jumps off wobbly, but it was just enough. just enough to let me know i was still alive. Just enough to let me know where the edge is.

I’m going to keep it short, and let you draw your own parallel’s to daily life. Or better yet, go find a bike and a trail, and have a blast.

yep, seven years, three states, and 35,892 psd files later, I’m finally staring down the joy of taking part in the sxsw interactive festival this year. oh joy.

so to give this monumentous event the care and energy it deserves, I will be sharing a bit of my preparation on the blog here, with a desire to facilitate a conversation, more than prescribe a plan of attack for others. if 2011 will be your first year attending as well, welcome fellow newby! or maybe your a veteran and could recite the last ten years keynotes in your speech. if so, i would love to hear tips and advice, as well as what your looking forward to as this year’s shindig. or maybe your in the same boat as i have been up until this point, and you can’t make it to tehas this year. even so, i’d love to hear your thought on the topics and have you join in from afar!

Enough preamble, here’s a rough look at the topics I want to cover in this series of posts:

Topics I’m interested in

Reading list in preperation for #sxswi

People I’d like to share a pint with

hidden gems to find while in Austin

daily thougths (during the conference)

post-conference wrap up

I hope you join me in my preparation. And as always, if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or gems of wisdom to contribute here, share away!

they are an “innovation firm”, as they call themselves.

bringing high tech, high return on investment innovation to some of the largest companies in the country. they struck me as remarkable for many reasons. one being their unique compensation based on their solution’s earnings. another unique thing about them was there all out, multi hour product reveal extravaganza at the end of each product.

do your self a favor, and read more about them here.

but i want to focus on a different practice of theirs that really stuck out to me.

to stay motivated, focused, and ferocious, they have continual cycles of 100 day plans.

every 100 days, both for each individual, as well as for the company, goals, milestones, and actions are brainstormed and written down. then at the end of that 100 days, everyone, yep EVERYONE is held accountable to how they did against there stated goals.

real goals, actionable items. playing off everyone’s strengths, they are not content to sit on there laurels for even a day.

so being a natural goal setter myself (with my 10, 5, 3, and 1 year goals), i was challenged to step it up even further and try out this 100 day goal challenge.

what type of goals? well hear are a few of mine: 600 miles cycling, 2800 pushups, 700 ab rolls, 15 blog posts, 3 insight post, read 5 books, and a few others

even halfway through, i see how i really missed out on some goals that should be there, and how a few others might have been a bit unrealistic, ha.

but, better to measure, see what’s working and not, and improve; then to daydream and sulk when nothing happens.

today is day 42, and though i half to play a bit of catchup in many of the goals, i’m really glad i’m doing this, and look to continue the experiment.

My current cycle will end on December 8th, and i’d love to have anybody else whose up for it join me starting on the 9th.

it could be goals of cycling. writing. cooking. climbing. loving. doesn’t matter what it is. as long as it takes everything you have. as long as it’s a bit daunting even to think of.

Here’s to grit. Here’s to audacity.

Here’s to changing the world, one day at a time.

As we passed numerous car sale lots of every denomination fro scion to gm to Hyundai to BMW, I noticed that 99% of the dealerships had an American flag ( or 20 ) prominently placed at the perimeter of their lot.

I’m extremely thankful for the freedom and lifestyle that this great land provides me, and proudly consider myself a patriot, so naturally this display initially made me smile and reinforced my gratitude for
living in the greatest land on earth.

But then something else grabbed my attention. 99% of the flags were at half mast, in mourning for the lives lost recently at the fort hood massacre. I was reminded of the loss and agony of those left behind in
this incident, and through our nations history. We did not get to our present state easily, but rather through sacrifice, difficulties, and much bloodshed. I was rattled out of my non chalant Saturday by a
reminder of the pain that allows my daily freedom and opportunities.

But not all of the flags were at half mast. Why were they not honoring the brave men and women who gave their lives? Ideological differences? Protesting a war?

No.

It seems in a race to be MORE patriotic than others, a few businesses had decided to forgo the standard 25ft flag, and instead went for the 100ft humongous option. Which is fine, except for the fact that they only had a 120 ft tall pole, as did everyone else.

So naturally, if you tried to put the flag at half mass, nearly half of it would be sitting on the ground.

This of course is against all rules and code for displaying the American flag, as it should never touch the ground. Fail.

Oh the irony. So in planning their display of patriotism, the dealership had completely forgotten about the possibility of a day when our nation suffered loss, tragedy, or even death. They forgot to plan for the rainy day, when everything breaks, and when it hits the fan.

I think the main reason i point this out is because i often do the same. Whether in business, my personal life, or a myriad of other situations, i often plan for the ideal, and choose to ignore the possibility of a not so stellar outcome.

I do not plan to, nor do i desire to stop being an optimist at every turn, but rather will strive to have a healthy dose of realism and margins for the possibility of adverse outcomes. we should fly our flags boldly, but we must also be prepared to handle the losses and difficulties that come with the fight.