TRANSCRIPT

Hi everyone, this is business coach Anthem Salgado representing Art of Hustle®, ranked number one in the category of marketing for Yelp San Francisco. Today, we have a special topic that I often refer to as the “Marathon Mindset.”

Seemingly out of nowhere you hit this thing called the wall.

I’ve only ever run one marathon in my whole life, but it was a very life changing experience in that I gained this very useful lesson from it. Our coaches clued us into this thing called the wall. You can be on a roll, you could be really hitting your stride and for some reason, seemingly out of nowhere you hit this thing called the wall. Called such because it feels like one big giant obstacle. It looks rock solid, it look insurmountable, it looks tall, it’s heavy, it’s daunting, it’s a very intimidating thing.

The wall is also something that makes a lot of people quit.

The wall is also something that makes a lot of people quit. The thing that runners know and that even though we’re not runners here and that’s not what I’m coaching you to do, the thing that we should all understand in this particular analogy, in this particular parallel, is that we all have some version of a wall. For runners this often means heavier breathing, more labored breathing, maybe shorter breaths, maybe some kind of cramp in the guts or some kind of muscle cramp. It feels like your legs are not as springy, like maybe they feel heavy and you have to push extra hard just to lift and move your legs forward. You might be getting extra tensions in other weird parts of your body, like maybe in your arms, your shoulders, your neck. You might feel dehydrated.

The symptoms are real. . . The wall itself is imaginary.

What I want you to understand about this wall, this phenomenon of the wall and all of its symptoms, is the symptoms are absolutely real. Make no mistake, they are legit reasons to quit, because it’s painful, it’s uncomfortable, it’s annoying, it’s difficult. While the symptoms might seem real the wall itself is imaginary, meaning you will not necessarily be stopped if you don’t feel like it. If you keep running the wall starts to melt, the wall starts to lower, the wall starts to not be so solid, not be so invincible against your own sense of willpower and tenacity.

If you keep running, the wall starts to melt.

This is why it’s really important to recognize that this is exists because most people who aren’t warned in advance that this wall exists will see the wall, will start to experience the very real symptoms of the wall, and then they very naturally quit because it’s an easy way out. It’s a direct route to relief but it doesn’t get you across the finish line. This is the thing that I’m trying to tell you.

[Quitting is] a direct route to relief but it doesn’t get you across the finish line.

How does that relate to business development? You too will experience a wall. You’ll jump into this and you’ll start to make a lot of progress and just as things are starting to cook you’ll also hit a wall. Now these might not necessarily be physical symptoms, though they might be. Some people get a cold, some people get a flu, some people get a migraine headache. Some people’s computers break down. Some people all of a sudden have random financial expense that is going to throw them entirely out of whack. There’s a whole slew of things that might come up. It could be personal drama, it could be professional drama.

You too will experience a wall.

Things will start to happen around you and they will be basically perfect reasons for you to quit, for you to stop doing the work, to seek relief immediately, but the thing that I want to encourage you to think about just like the runner is if you keep running you will have the ability to surpass this wall. The symptoms are real but the wall itself is in your head. It will look like you can’t beat it but it is beatable, which is why so many runners talk about the wall, which is why running coaches talk about the wall in advance because again, if you don’t know it exists you’re more likely to think it’s real, accept it for a fact, accept it for reality and then opt out of the game plan.

Surround yourself by people who understand the wall.

What do you have to do? You have to surround yourself by people who understand the wall. You have to surround yourself with people who have surpassed their own kind of personal, professional or physical wall, because these are the folks that can basically coach you and cheer you forward. If you try to surround yourself with people who don’t understand the wall, don’t know it exists or who themselves have never tried to push passed their own wall, then they’ll basically encourage you to quit because that’s all they know. They’re not bad people but that’s all they know. They’ll say, “Hey, why are you pushing so hard? You should just quit. The rest of us quit.” You say, “Okay, good. I feel better, at least I’m not alone in my quitting,” but what I want to let you know is your goals will remain unaccomplished.

Take smaller steps but never stop.

If you want to accomplish your goals you have to push through that wall and recognize that the way to get through it is to breathe a little bit deeper, take smaller steps but never stop, and surround yourself with an environment that can encourage you to keep pushing forward even though it’s difficult, because it will get difficult. Now the question is, what are you going to do about it? Stick with it. Stay in the race.

Stick with it. Stay in the race.

That’s something I want you to think about as you move forward in your work. The worst thing you could do is not know that this wall exists, but once you recognize that this is an illusion, it’s part of the plan, then you’ll know to move through it. Here’s another interesting thing guys, the wall only happens after you’ve put in a lot of time. The wall only happens after you’ve fully committed, think about this. No runner ever hits the wall in mile one. Don’t get me wrong, mile one has its own challenges, like building a momentum, et cetera, but there’s no wall in mile one. The wall typically happens further out, eight miles, 12 miles, 18 miles, 22 miles.

The wall only happens after you’ve fully committed.

It will be right up there, right when you think like, “Hey, I’m coasting. I’m doing well.” That’s when it happens. The wall is actually a compliment to you, to your hard work, to the fact that you’ve committed to the pathway, to the fact that you’ve made a lot of headway. The wall only happens after you’ve put in a good amount of effort and time. Recognize that as things start to fall apart around you, it’s only because you’ve earned it. Isn’t that amazing? You’ve earned the wall. You’ve earned being there. You’ve earned that new challenge, so continue pressing forward. Do what you can to slow your pace if you have to but don’t give up and again, surround yourself with the right people to help you get passed it.

You’ve earned the wall.

That’s my advice to you. I hope that makes a lot of sense. Naturally if you are in business, if you identify as someone who is self employed and you feel like you could benefit from a coach and/or a community that can help you push through your own barriers, I’d love to hear from you. Please do get in touch, you can find more information at coachanthem.com. Meanwhile I wish you well, take care of yourself and let’s be in touch.

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