What's something you can do for 70 hours?

read time 6 minutes

Welcome to Setting The Pace Newsletter, a weekly newsletter where I provide 1 lesson, 1 tool/resource, and 1 action to help you set the pace in your life.

Before we jump in, I wanted to share a message that means the world to me from a dear listener; this is what it’s all about ❤️ 

1 lesson

^{The older I get, the more I understand that we’re all trying to figure it out, and I am learning or being reminded of these lessons.}

Today’s ‘lesson’ is about how you can lean on someone else’s story to help you focus on yours.

Doing 1 thing for 70 hours.

This week, a good friend of mine, a lil’ old swimmer named Neil Agius, announced that he’d be swimming for over 70 hours to break his own World Record swim. I’m lucky enough to be part of Neil’s dream team this year, and as I document him train and get ready for this bigger-than-life feat, it has me asking myself a couple of questions.

I keep asking myself, what’s one thing I can do for 70 hours? The answer is not much, but the lesson is this: you don’t need to focus for 70 hours like Neil, use his story of how he pushes his mind and body to create your own 70-hour story.

This week, I tried this; I chose a task that really got me all worked up; I took a deep breath and said to myself, ‘If Neil can swim for 70 hours, I’m pretty sure I can work on this for the next 2 hours.’ Before I knew it, the 2 hours flew by, and I was ready to re-focus after a small break. It’s as though my brain relaxed knowing that Neil (sorry Neil) had it ‘worse’ than me in some ways or that Neil, who is human like me (I think), could accomplish such feats, then I must be able to do something but on a smaller scale, even if it’s just a work task.

Neil has also been on my podcast, and we discuss how to build confidence in yourself and your life; it’s a good one!

1 resource

^{I’m such a sucker for a good resource; these are helpful tools and resources that have improved my weekly life, truly.}

1. Creative marketers subsstack: I love this newsletter; so many good nuggets in here.

   My sister is hella’ smart, and she’s also the author of this great substack newsletter that’s driven by a mission to tell stories and add value. I loved her latest issue about the Japanese Kaizen Principle: Small Steps, Big Changes. In this post (100% worth the read!) Emma discusses how “change for the better,” or continuous improvement, is all about making small, incremental changes to enhance efficiency and productivity.

1 action

^{For this last section, it’s a very, very gentle nudge to do something that will make you feel good afterward, no matter how small the action. Feel free to adapt it or make it fit your day with the least amount of resistance.}

If you’ve read this far, thank you!

Until next Friday,

Mar X