Hi Nie!

If you’ve been reading my newsletters for a while, you know I like to run and generally try to be as active as possible. For a while, my routine was that Monday was short run, Thursday was a short run, Saturday was a longer run. It usually added up to about 12 miles a week unless I was training for something (like a 10k race or a 15k with the flu).

A couple of years ago, I switched to a single run every week as I started playing more and more pickleball. Now I play pickleball a few days a week (typically Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and also try to get to yoga class at least twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday). And now it's been quite a while since I even went for a run, but I have a pretty good routine every week so I'm ok with that.

I also lift weights three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) to keep things balanced.

So I'm very regimented with my fitness routine. My philosophy is that I want to get so used to doing the same thing at the same time that it feels weird to not follow my schedule. That way, I don't have to work as hard go be consistent because my default is "work out".

This philosophy worked really well for me for several years... until I ran my first Half Marathon and it didn't. After I finished that Half, I took a slow week and then ramped back up to my normal routine for about 10 weeks before I noticed something wasn't right. I had some nagging pains that seemed to be getting steadily worse with each run.

Within a few months, I was in so much pain that I couldn't run properly and I officially took some time off to focus on fixing those injuries.

It was really frustrating, but it was also necessary.

I had been battling a couple of overuse injuries for a few months, just sort of hoping they would work themselves out if I kept training with good form. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. This time it didn’t work and it made things worse.

I noticed I was struggling to keep up a good pace, and that maintaining good form was more and more challenging as I tried to compensate for various aches and pains.

I should’ve stopped running right after the Half Marathon, but I was too stubborn.

It was clear that it was time to pay the piper. What would've been a week or two of rest had ballooned into almost six months of seven-days-a-week rehab, all thanks to my stubbornness. It would be a couple months before I even ran a mile again, and another few months before I was back to my regular running routine.

Oops. I ran myself right into a major setback.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how there’s a fine line between “Just tough it out!” and “Why didn’t you stop before you hurt yourself?!” It’s really hard to see that line in real time, and it seems like the only way to really know where the line is is to look backwards and find it.

But I also think that identifying that line is a skill that can be honed over time.

The best way I know to hone that skill is to constantly monitor pain points: Is it better or worse than last time? How hard is it to aggravate it? Can I work around it? What’s the upside to continuing? What’s the downside if this turns into something bigger?

Since I recovered, I haven't had any serious running injuries. Part of that is just luck, of course. But part of it is that when I feel something going wrong, I pay close attention and take a break before it can turn into a big deal. I even trained for and ran my fastest 5k race last year, all without hurting myself.

I’ve also been doing this with my business lately and it has helped me identify some small pains that I can resolve before they become big problems. That makes things easier for me and better for my customers.

You can use this sort of analysis with your career. Small pains often become big problems if left untreated, so it’s worth identifying those small pains and thinking about solutions before they become big pains.

Right now is as good a time as any to start planning ahead to make the rest of your year more productive by finding and fixing small pains before they become big problems.

Take a few minutes and ask yourself, "What are some small career pains that could become a big problem if I don't handle them now?" You might find some easy wins with a big payoff for very little effort.

I hope you’re having a great year so far!

All the best

Josh