I was just listening to entrepreneur Derek Sivers on the Tim Ferriss podcast. Derek is the former founder and CEO of CD Baby which is a very successful online store for independent musicians.
He told a story that was quite powerful. He used to go for a bike ride along a path in Santa Monica. He would ride like he was in the race of his life. Pumping the pedals, head down, powering through. The ride would always take 43 minutes.
Then he started losing interest. When he thought about going for the ride, he would make excuses not to go. Because it wasn’t really enjoyable. It was painful and a lot of work.
So one day he thought why don’t I just go for the ride but slow down a bit? He pedalled along, looked at the scenery and enjoyed the journey.
When he got back to the starting point he looked at his watch. The leisurely ride had taken 45 minutes.
Two minutes more than when he tore along like a maniac.
What a great analogy for life. Are we racing through, trying to tick off all the boxes and running to the finish line? Or are we breathing in the air, seeing what we can learn and feeling good about the journey?
He lost two minutes and he gained everything.
How can we switch the perspective on how we move through our day and through our life? Can we embrace the things that challenge us and face one obstacle at a time? Can we stop and take a breath instead of running like our life depended on it?
We will arrive. How we travel is a decision we make each and every day.