A Tangled Web....

A friend of mine emailed the following story to me this week (stay with it - it's pretty good):

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes'.

The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else; the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend.'

A rather curious start to this week’s blog, I admit, but, as I enter a very busy period in my professional working calendar, I am trying to make sure that I don’t lose sight of those things which are important to me - the golf balls - and I find that the only way to do so is by organising my time efficiently. Enter ‘mind-mapping’….

Mind-mapping is a fantastic new find for me. It helps me organise my days so well such that I manage, just, to keep my head above water. Curiously, mind-mapping works not be remembering things (as the title would suggest) but by plotting things down on paper in a spider-web type format (see the image up top). I start the day by writing my mind map, which is made up of all the jobs I need to do that day, and ticking each one off as they are done. Some jobs lead to others which is where the map can look a little messy, but it’s not half as messy as if it was all in my head.

Recently, my training has benefited from a bit of mind-mapping. At the beginning of the week I sit down and plan what I am going to do that week and, often, this leads to other sessions. For instance, this coming week I intend doing a brick session (hard bike, followed by hard run), and so the map will show a ‘run’ and ‘bike’ sprouting off from the ‘brick’ bubble, then specific instructions sprouting off from each of those. Confused?

I have found that this type of organisation has revolutionarised both my professional life and personal life. Similar to the internet and email, I don’t know how I ever coped without it.

Having found some 'mojo' this week, I was able to put in a little more training than usual, but as it is nearing the end of the season, I have not been at full-steam. This week’s training looked like this:-

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals

Tuesday – no training
Wednesday – no training
Thursday – run - 45 minute tempo run

Friday – run with my mate Alex - long(ish), hilly Ashridge run, 63 minutes - 3rd fastest ever time

Saturday – no training

Sunday – bike - 10 mile time-trial, time 25:23 - 2nd fastest ever time - very pleasing final TT of the year

Next week’s exercise mind-map simply looks like this:-

You might notice that the only entry is my final race of the season on Sunday - the Bedford Autumn Sprint. I have competed in this race for a few years now and Sunday's race will be a true test of how my training has progressed throughout this season. Last year I came 49th out of 260 with a time of 1:15:47. I already have it mapped out in my mind how I am going to approach this race - something which, for once, I don't need a spider's web to help me with.

Cheers.

C