Great Circle

Last year, Australian rugby’s Team captain George Gregan celebrated a milestone in becoming the most capped Test player in rugby history and setting a record tally of 57 Tests as Wallabies captain. 

I watched as he was interviewed on a Breakfast TV program. He was asked “Will you still play on after the 2007 World Cup?” and he was already chuckling before the question was over. He replied “I only think about getting through the next Test. That’s always been my focus.”

His reply had a strangely liberating effect on me. I’ve always chastised myself for either not sustaining long campaigns or for completing them grudgingly. It suddenly occurred to me that in the many races of our lives we are sometimes long distance runners and sometimes we are sprinters. In physical terms I have always been a sprinter. I enjoyed weight training: a set of 10-15 repetitions, rest, another set, rest, change exercises. In high school I never trained for anything but ran 100 metres in under twelve seconds. Last man in the pool, I would take my relay team from third place to first.

But commit to a team sport and play for hours? Train twice weekly?! You gotta be kidding! Thankfully, I’m not always like that. When it comes to marriage, my kids, faith: my commitment never wavers and my actions are deeply rooted in who I am. In these things I am the long distance athlete.

And yet when it comes to health and fitness, spiritual disciplines, executing my long range business plans - my energy and attention come in fits and starts. It sounds to me that in terms of his career Gregan is a sprinter. I don’t mean he can’t go the distance - his record above proves he certainly can!

What I mean is: by breaking his big-picture vision (to play as well as he can for as long as he can) into short term targets and goals, he is able to go harder for each of series of short-range goals.

These short-term “sprints” (where his brilliance shines continually) add up to a long-term achievement. In any area of your life or business, where you have faced repeated difficulty in maintaining focus, perhaps you are simply not the marathon runner here.

Consider and tweak these steps to tap into your brilliance as a sprinter:

1. Have a reason which transcends emotion even while drawing on it.

2. Capture that big picture/vision/motivation in some way. Have an image or a thought that embodies it. Hang a picture on your wall. Buy a three dimensional object or symbol that lives in your car or on your desk.

3. Make a commitment that immerses you in the world of that vision: pay for your year’s subjects up front; register that patent; move house; hire an agent.

4. Break down the big campaign into small increments where you can go hard for shorter periods of time. Follow each increment up (plan this in your calendar or diary) with a period of recreation or a change of activity. For instance, four hours’ resource writing may have drained your creativity bank and you might try some of the smaller items on your two do list to get the best from the rest of the day and to start fresh tomorrow.

5. If you know ahead of time that you tend to accelerate into deadlines, stagger your deadlines as much as possible. Also, leave diary-space in the lead-up to the deadline in order to do the task well - followed by some margin to catch up one of the area’s comfortably.