05/6/21: What does "chasing life" mean to you?

Sent 5/6/2021

PodiumRunner published an excerpt from Make the Leap focusing on the Hidden Training Program, and I was a guest on the Chasing Life podcast with Sarah Kane, where we discussed many aspects of Make the Leap, as well as lessons from training, podcasting, entrepreneurship and other life experiences.

This week's Think Better Newsletter shares my answer to Sarah's question: what does "chasing life" mean to me?

The Idea

For those of you who've listened to the Go Be More Podcast, you know that we have interviewed many Olympians and elite athletes and we always end with the question, "What do the words Go Be More mean to you?" Hearing our guests' answers is my favorite part of the show.

Sarah asked me a version of that question on her podcast: what does "chasing life" mean to me? I want to share my answer, because it's central to how we think about training as well.

"Chasing life" means finding the intersection between two things: our sense of who we are meant to be, and our priorities.

We all have a sense of who we want to be. A writer, a champion, an adventurer, a thought-leader, a loving parent... It's what we want to do, the legacy we want to leave, and how we want to be remembered. We may not have confidence that we can achieve it, but we're pulled in that direction.

We also have priorities. We need to balance our health, education, careers, families, faith, and training with our passions, our goals, and our mission. Violating these priorities will always leave us feeling a sense of regret, that we made the wrong decision.

When we actively pursue our sense of who we are meant to be--while adhering to our core priorities--I think we can say that we are "chasing life."

So let's talk about training. 

The System

Training is like any other part of our lives. It plays a role in how we define ourselves and it fits somewhere in our priority stack.

My system for knowing whether you're chasing life is to force yourself to make difficult decisions. 

You need to say, "No," a lot. No to fun things. No to profitable things. No to things other people want you to do. If something doesn't align to who you want to be and your core priorities, you simply have to say, "No." And that sucks.

On the flip side, you sometimes have to say, "Yes." And saying yes can be terrifying when it means you need to walk away from a job or a partnership to pursue something better for you. It is stressful to say yes when it doesn't come with security or a clear path. It's not easy to say yes when nobody else understands why you're doing it.

The more your training aligns with the life you are chasing, the more of these decisions you will need to make. 

Chase your life, and train accordingly.

(And listen to our conversation, where I expand on why this was hard for me to do.)

The Question

What does "chasing life" mean to you?

 

Go Be More,

Bryan Green
Author of Make the Leap: Think Better, Train Better, Run Faster and the companion Think Better Workbook
Co-host of the Go Be More Podcast
Co-host of the Fueling the Pursuit Podcast

"A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one's own path, not chasing after the dreams of others." - Chin-Ning Chu

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