Simple Execution is Not So Simple

I’m in the airport lounge at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, waiting to depart for home just about 48 hours after getting here.

My mental fog is equivalent to hitting the wall at mile 18 of an Ironman marathon.

I don’t. Want. To. Be. Here. Anymore.

My legs are sore, my head is foggy, my will to chat depleted. Cooked.

Fortunately, I already crossed my race finish line for this adventure. And I’m even more thankful I felt much fresher last night when it counted then I do right now.

Twenty four hours ago, I spoke at a PlayStation Awards event. In that moment, my triathlon training crossed over into the business world and paid off. See, I didn’t expect some high-ranking executives to participate in the ceremony, and the nerves of some fellow executives threatened to seep into my own psyche.

It would have been easy to give into those nerves and throw me off my own performance, but I know better. That wasted energy is completely useless and counterproductive.

I still had to deliver these speeches either way.

How did I overcome my nerves? I treated the moment just like the minutes and hours before a race, simply focusing on my business equivalent of swim, bike and run.

How specifically does that translate? For my speeches, I concentrated on execution and form, in the manner of ensuring I could control the controllables such as my speech pace, enunciation, voice volume and inflection.

And it worked. I felt like I spoke clearly, calmly and with confidence — even if I was nervous on the inside. And I was able to deal with the unexpectedness of having to change my speeches with less than two hours to spare. It’s no different than if you have a flat tire to fix in transition prior to the race starting, I thought.

When we remove the emotion and focus simply on execution, life gets a lot easier. As does the work itself.

Now if I can only keep my eyes open long enough to get back to the Pacific time zone!