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Six years ago this week, I was in good physical shape.

In the previous 14 months, I had run three marathons, all comfortably under 3 1/2 hours. This included the Boston Marathon, which I had just completed six weeks earlier.

So when I lined up at the start of the Arruix Santa Fe in 2019, one of the spectacular mountain trail running races in the region of Catalunya where I live, my confidence was high.

The course covered 2 1/2 miles in distance and climbed 2,200 feet in elevation.

At the finish line, I felt even better -

Upon passing through the tiny one-room church made of stone atop the mountain where the race ends,

39 minutes and 1 second had elapsed since departing the village of Organyà at the bottom of the valley from where we started.

Unbeknownst to me, the week of this race would commence a new period of running that would have a profound impact on my life -

No technology on my runs.

No technology means:

No Phone

No Watch

No Heart Rate Monitor

No Smart Clothes and

No AirPods, podcasts nor music.

No technology during that week was fun.

And then,

It became interesting.

Tech-free running came to mean:

Attention to Nature and

Attention to my thoughts.

Three years later, I arrived

On the same start to run the same course

And still doing every single run session

Free of all technology.

My participation in the 2022 Arruix Santa Fe led to 3 Years & 6 Seconds, a favorite essay that I wrote

Exploring the freedom, agility, and simplicity one achieves

When conceding some performance gain -

6 seconds slower over 3 years in my case -

In exchange for

Letting Go of

The intense craving for and compounding weight of

Measuring and consuming data and metrics.

This feels like

An irresistible deal

Except…

I was wrong.

Specifically, about the concession of performance.

This past weekend,

3 years since my last Arruix Santa Fe

6 years since starting this experiment of running free of technology

Marathon training many years behind me and

Fully feeling all of my 55 years,

I started Arruix Santa Fe

And arrived at its beautiful finish line,

5 seconds

Faster

Than my previous best time in 2019.

Technology leads us to believe that

Improving Performance

Does not work like this.

And I do not believe that this trend can continue...

Nor I do care if it does.

But my unique experience

Shapes three post-race take-aways worthy of reflection:

1) Free Energy By Subtraction: Free Energy exists not only on the Wave but in the removal of resistance that restricts access to the Wave including systems, frameworks, and beliefs that were previously wired into us but no longer serve us.

2) Better Basic Speed Expands Opportunity: All of us have our own unique All Day/Every Day speed. The effort to improve this capacity is SO worth it AND requires NO TECHNOLOGY. Even just a little more Basic Speed brings new Waves into our world that we did not even know existed.

3) Connection > Technology: I will never say that technology does not have a place in sport, business, or life. But letting go of the insanely gripping control that we allow technology to have over our lives opens space for something much more powerful --> Connection. Yes, Connection to others and Connection to Nature but above all, Connection to ourselves.

If it were up to technology,

Every improvement in life

Would associate with an element of measurement against, comparison to, or validation by someone or something else.

What technology can not see is

Our own unique Wave. And the Free Energy it yields.

But, technology is getting undeniably better

At distracting, obstructing, and redirecting

Our attention

Away from this Wave.

The best acquisition of

Free Energy

Happens when

Attention is recovered

As a result of

Dropping the resistance.

5 Seconds worth...

Over 6 Years...

An irresistible deal.

With gratitude, Joe

PS - The people, the course, and the spirit... there is no other mountain trail running race that matches the ambiance of Arruix Santa Fe. For a closer look...

Watch the start to this year's 2025 race in the Catalan village of Organyà and after 2,200 feet of climbing, my finish line experience on this Instagram Reel --> HERE

Read 3 Years & 6 Seconds, the essay that preceded and built upon this one --> HERE

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves, my short weekly essay about the lessons and experiences that I learn surfing offshore waves on a surfski kayak transferred to an innovative model for clear thinking and better choices <— Short, fun, and memorable - new riders are always welcome!

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What is the next right move?

Next year? Next month? Next week? Today?

As nobody wants to get this wrong,

The question has the power to:

Raise doubt

Increase resistance and

Push back

Because

When we consider this question

While rushing through life and

Striving on autopilot,

A gap is created between

Where we are

And

Where we think we should be.

And to our detriment,

Overreaching for "Should"

Does not reveal

A great next right move.

Adding more weight and drag to

Our efforts to reduce this gap...

The noise-makers

Run their playbook to

Strategically induce

Anything

Into this gap

That expands discomfort, fear, and uncertainty…

Which leaves us with

Less vision

More grip and

Pushing even harder.

The result?

Something between

An obstructed view

And the disappearance of

The Wave

That exists around us.

Before giving in

To the pressure of

Getting the next thing right,

What if we pause and

See the Wave

That is already here.

Even if this Wave appears to be nothingness,

Its Free Energy

Overlooked

Underutilized and

Incapable of

Guilting us

Into doing more

Not doing enough.

This pause is an opportunity to

Explore

Experiment and

Enjoy

The Wave that is here now

Which naturally sets up

The Next Right Move

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

During our first training session with Coach Boyan, he shared with us his Step-by-Step process for surfing a wave. This not only leveled up our abilities in and enjoyment of surfing waves on the surfski but stimulated curiosity about how to ride better waves in Life, which has now been my focus for the past two and half years.

During this time, I have reflected and expanded upon Coach Boyan's process, which led to the development of the Wave Surfing Progression --> the progression that facilitates Spectacular Rides on Life Waves.

This framework not only supports the essays I publish in Thinking In Waves but has become one of the pillars of my Performance Coaching practice.

The Five Steps of the progression are:

Step 1: Basic Speed - Managing and replenishing All Day/Every Speed

The idea of Managing Energy Over Managing Time lives here
Within energy management, manage the replenishment of energy as much as the expenditure of energy

Step 2: Direction - A commitment to and focus on aiming for your desired outcome

The development of and adherence to mission, values, and strategy live here
The Surfer’s Direction is always more important than the direction of the winds and waves

Step 3: Wave Selection - The understanding and acceptance of letting the wrong waves pass by so that you can...

Coach Boyan Wisdom --> Your best results in life won’t be determined by the waves you surf… the best results will be determined by the waves you let pass by.

Step 4: Surf The Wave - The nuance of positioning, agility, and technique within Life Waves that capture and apply Free Energy

The top priority is to seek Equilibrium - which is not balance but an ideal position between two opposing forces, friction and gravity
Boyan’s Golden Rule of Surfing lives here --> no matter what you want to do and where you want to go, surf the wave you are on to the best of your ability.

Step 5: Yeehah! - Recognize and celebrate the ride

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

While I love podcast guesting and creating videos, nothing clarifies my deep beliefs about improving performance like writing.

Which is why I LOVE Sarah Johnson's interview format in her Curated Career Conversations.

It's always a pleasure to converse with Sarah and there are a lot of practical ideas and applications not only in the answers within this interview but in Sarah's questions too.

Read the full interview --> HERE.

Learn more about Sarah and Briefcase Coach --> HERE.

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

Let’s do a Strategy Session here...

Because from time to time,

Life Waves move in unpredictable directions.

If improvement, growth, and transformation are going to underpin this journey,

Some Surf Strategy will help spectacular rides to be found in unexpected conditions.

So let's get started...

Imagine your desired Direction is North - like following your North Star.

And at this time, there are criss-crossing sets of waves…

One set of the waves is moving steady and predictably to the Northwest. The other to the Northeast.

Neither set is moving directly to where you want to go --> North

If you try to follow either set exclusively,

Not only will you be off-course,

But you will also be constantly intersecting the other wave set moving in the opposing direction

Which feels like

Resistance

Setbacks

Frustration.

So what to do?

Instead of giving up

Or giving in,

Let’s explore what happens

At the intersection of the opposing waves.

The intersection of two colliding waves

Is a disruption...

But also

An opportunity

Disguised in uncertainly and unpredictability.

A collision of contradicting waves

Fuses together a greater force of energy

Than either of the waves previously possessed on their own

Which results in the formation of a higher peak.

This peak is an opportunity to surf,

Link Waves from one peak to another,

And shift positions in a way that

Holds the desired Direction.

Contradictory waves in life can appear as a

A signal to retreat.

But when opposition in life shows up in:

Feedback

Ideas

Preferences

Training

Goals

Relationships

Perspectives,

These intersections --> these opportunities

Are worthy of exploration.

However, and here's the strategic take-away,

Such an intersection

Only becomes visible to the rider who

Aims For The Colliding Waves,

Which can feel as messy

As it does counterintuitive.

When these collisions are not avoided

Nor resisted,

A new kind of skilful surfing appears

Behind the peaks of these Life Waves

That yield an exciting kind of Free Energy

Without compromising on your Direction.

Aim For The Collision.

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

After a long-time focus on elements of "preparation,"

Let's return to the surfing technique that yields our ultimate benefit - Free Energy -

Which lives in Step Four of the Wave Surfing Progression: Surf the Wave.

Here, I turn to my amazing coach, Boyan, for a visual reflection of Free Energy's accessibility -

Four Minutes of surfing waves

Without a single push of forward propulsion from his paddle -

Not only is this an incredible accomplishment within the surfski world but a beautiful demonstration of Free Energy that yields speed, grace, and fun.

Two important points about Boyan’s display of effortlessness:

This is not four minutes of "the perfect wave." In fact, these are just scores of masterful adjustments and links within the continuous Rise-Collapse-Rise Again nature of many waves.
Everything Boyan is doing to capture the maximum capacity of Free Energy follows and adheres to the entire spectrum of the Wave Surfing Progression that we discuss and double-click upon here in Thinking In Waves.

So, in transferring Boyan's magic at sea to the Waves we surf in Life,

Could our rides of

Learning

Change

Connection

Creativity

Adventure

Enjoyment

Be this Effortless?

A counterintuitive idea opens the possibility:

Resistance.

Riders in states intentional growth are

NOT missing the wave...

They are just mismanaging the wave.

The Free Energy acquired within the surf

Left unchecked

Sends the rider - very quickly - to the wave's trough

Where energy and momentum are compromised...

And ultimately lost.

Common culprits include rushing, impatience, distraction, and trying to keep up with the comparative standard.

However, wisely-applied Resistance:

Checks our speed

Holds a better position

Creates optionality.

Boyan may not take a single forward stroke for four minutes...

But his implementation of Resistance is

Clear

Strategic

and

Consistent, which

Anchors

Effortlessness.

This is

Equilibrium,

The opimitzation of positioning between two opposing forces.

The search for Equilibrium on the Wave is our work...

When we find it,

Effortlessness appears.

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

Let’s zoom in on the nuance of surfing waves and get a little more technical…

We are moving along on our waves

Working with the current conditions

Things are going ok...

Could be better but doing the best we can with what we have.

Then, we notice a nice set of waves beside us.

Maybe not right next to us but within our peripheral view.

To better align with our goals for surfing and chosen destination,

We think,

"Let's surf those waves over THERE

Rather than the ones HERE where we are."

So just jump, right?

Not so fast.

The sea is full of “Jumpers,”

People who abruptly abandoned where they were

Believing they discovered the magic shortcut

To get to the new destination

More quickly.

These mistaken Jumpers not only fail

In transitioning more quickly

But expend - and waste - more energy

When they choose to jump.

Expend and waste more than whom?

The Linkers.

Linkers of Waves

Patiently and thoughtfully

Transition from one wave to the next

With more strategy, efficiency, and success

Than Jumpers.

Why?

Because Linkers lean into Boyan’s Golden Rule of Surfing:

Regardless of where you want to go, surf the wave you are on to the best of your ability.

Here, we counterintuitively capture valuable Free Energy from our current wave

That propels us onto adjoining waves

With more acceleration, momentum, and opportunity

That Jumpers give away

When they jump from a similar wave.

In the process of change,

Less Jumping

And

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

(Updated June 11, 2025, from my home in the Spanish state of Catalunya)

New Podcast Out --> The Art Of Transition

Transitions come in all shapes and sizes. And each person that leads, executes, or advises about Transition is uniquely different from one another.

This creates a great opportunity to built better Transitions that work for you.

Whether or not you are an Athlete in Transition, the Athlete Transition Accelerator Podcast graciously welcome me into their space and framed some fascinating questions which led to a wonderful discussion.

Watch our Podcast on YouTube --> HERE

Or Listen on Apple Podcasts --> HERE

Applications Open For Our Self-Leadership Sprint

It's been an exciting year for Elevating Leadership Institute, our high-performance leadership coaching community. We've welcomed amazing Guest Leaders who share their wisdom, ongoing group coaching calls with our members, and thoughtfully paired 1-1 connection conversations.

Over and over again, we see the many shapes and sizes of Burnout challenging leaders from performing their best, performing with focus, and performing with joy.

Our Self-Leadership Sprint is an outstanding opportunity to break free of the Burnout cycle and reset Leaders for sustainable success.

Want to learn more? Incredible leaders are already securing their seats for our September session. Want to join them? Learn more --> HERE.

Two Tranformative Runs Through The Pyrenees

Every May, in the area of Catalunya in which I live, two fantastic mountain trail running take place. I always run one of them, Escanyabocs, but the other, Arruix Santa Fe, places me on the start line about every three years. This year was a "Third Year" for Arruix Santa Fe and led a challenging but rewarding journey up the 2,200 foot mountain. Check out the complete story plus links the incredibly gorgeous Pre-Pyrenees backdrop that makes this even so special --> HERE.

As for Escanyabocs, for the eighth consecutive year, I entered the mountain trail running race in which 125 of us traversed the beautiful seven mile course which included a little under 2,000 feet of climbing. This was a phenomenal experience and for a longtime competitor like me, who had his "Competition Code" initially wired in at age 12, Escanyabocs became an unexpected opportunity to "unwire" this code. How? See more --> HERE.

What Is It Really Like To Surf Waves On A Doubles Surfski?

As I write and talk about surfing waves on the surfski ALL THE TIME, here's an opportunity to see what it looks like on board with us...

Recently, Maria and I carried a GoPro on the Doubles Surfski on a Downwind paddle on Catalunya's Costa Brava - the video features all the concepts and strategies that we talk about int Thinking In Waves.

Check out the video via this LinkedIn post --> HERE.

And on Instagram --> HERE.

Collaborations

Two collaborations in which I'm investing more time, energy, and resources are:

The Outlier Project: This networking group based in the United States and founded by my friend, Scott MacGregor, is growing by leaps and bounds. So much so that Scott assembled a team of regional ambassadors to simplify and localize the member experience. I agreed to serve as the international ambassador to support our members living outside the US and Canada (like me.)
Rios Lodge: This remote riverside retreat on Costa Rica's Pacuare River makes me smile every day... because of the smiles and reviews I see from our guests. I joined the ownership group of Rios Lodge a few years ago and since then, I've watched our leadership make improvements that are as good for the land as they are for our guests. The majority of our clients are retreat leaders who want to immerse their groups in Costa Rica's lush rain forest and enjoy a space that fosters disconnection and transformation. I look forward to hosting my own retreats here soon!

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

What follows below is the framework I use for my personal journaling. Its origins stem from the framework I used when I was 12 years-old and started to keep a training log for my development as a canoeing athlete… and continued to use through our success at the 1992 Olympic Games.

In 2013, I transitioned it into a more practical use for adult life. It’s gone through some iterations since then but the basic practice that you see below is what I use now even though it is still evolving!

There is no obligation to use these exact questions but my hope is that this will help you to get started and ultimately find a rhythm and format that best serves you.

In this practice, I am mostly guided by a few questions in which I write for a few minutes in the morning and then a few minutes in the evening. But as there are no set rules to this, you can choose to write one time per day, mix the questions up, or do something more free-flowing like, "Today I feel..."

Here are the basic questions and framework that I use to guide my own writing:

Morning Journaling

Daily Practice

The first section of the practice is guided by two areas - purpose and guideposts.

I write my purpose (the same purpose each day) first thing at the top of the page. Finding and identifying purpose is a deeper topic, but journaling is a great place to experiment and see what feels good to you.

Just below purpose, I choose a few key elements of my day and pursuits that support my purpose - I call these guideposts as when practiced, they help establish my daily path. Beside each guidepost, I write out a short series of five-six values that are like a word map for each guidepost. Then, I move into the Morning Questions.

The Daily Practice part of my journal writes like this:

Purpose

Enjoy this experience through the full engagement of connection, creativity, health, and wealth.

Guideposts

Outlook: awake, love, curious, simple, equilibrium

Energy: set, move, nature, flow, replenish, whole

Coaching: listen, ask, connect, trust, collaborate, evolve

Create: reflect, develop, align, sharpen, patience, share

Morning Questions

Unlike the Daily Practice section above which remains the same each day, the following questions tap more into where I am and how I am feeling at this moment in time.

What is my outlook for the day?

This is not a task list but more like overarching themes and high level aspirations. Think about what kind of attributes this day is asking you to bring forward?

I tend to stick pretty close to the same values each day that correspond with the most elements of my day (actions and/or roles) - sort of like a daily reinforcement.

T.O.M? (short of "Top Of Mind")

This can be one of the more challenging spaces in my journaling practice but one of the important additions to the practice. Simply said, this is the space to move my current feelings, thoughts (and thought loops,) or mood on to paper and reflectively expand on them via a few sentences (or more if desired.) No judging or changing - just noticing and accepting.

Naturally, this space varies a lot every day. But, over time, being able to see that gap between aspirational values and current state every day has been immensely helpful in making daily decisions.

Relationship Focus?

This is placing a little bit of intention and attention towards the people of most importance and people with whom you might interact that day.

For what I am grateful?

Just a simple gratitude prompt.

Typically, my morning journaling practice takes about 5-10 minutes.

Evening Questions

What went well today?

What could have gone better?

What's a reinforcing choice I made today? (an action that reinforces the bigger picture and the right direction)

Who did I serve today?

The evening practice usually takes no more than 5 minutes. One interesting note about the evening journaling - back in September of 2021, I started to do this in a notebook that allows me to journal about the calendar day in the same space for a few years. So now, in mid 2023, my evening journaling takes place directly under the same entry I wrote on the same day a year earlier - something I'm enjoying a lot!

– – –

You can use all or some but ultimately, if you try journaling like this, evolve the practice into making it your own. I believe that using a framework like this one can be a nice start though.

I also find that writing with a pencil (or pen) on real paper feels good for me. The act of moving the pencil across paper has a nice flow to it and something different than tapping characters on a phone or keyboard.If you begin, I'd encourage you to start small but do a little every day. No judging what you write - just observe and notice. Please give the exercise a few weeks to develop some feel.

Of course, please feel free to ask any questions and please feel free to share any progress or feedback too - joe@joejacobi.com

Thank you for reading!

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

Latest Blog Posts

(Orginally published May, 2022)

Bunched together shoulder-to-shoulder in a cobblestone alley, the race director shouts the final instructions about what's going to happen next. My Catalan has improved over the five years I've been living here but I am still far from understanding everything.

However, I do have some idea about what is going to happen next...

About 130 runners, myself included, are going to dash out of this alley and make a quick left turn on to the main road that runs through the Catalan village of Organyà. After 50 yards of running slightly downhill, we will make a 90-degree turn to the right, and then... no more downhill or flat ground for the rest of the race.

The course is short in distance... just 2.6 miles.

But its challenge is that it goes up. Way up.More specifically, two thousand and two hundred feet up.

###

A major part of my adaptation to life in Catalunya has happened through running. Monday through Friday, the people I see, the routes I run, and the time of day I choose to exercise all contribute to how I experience Catalan culture, nature, and values.

Once in a while, I'll sign up for a race. Racing is an exercise that exchanges elements of running that I normally control for the opportunity to gauge my response to different elements of running outside of my control.

Today is one of these race days - the Arruix Santa Fe, which begins in Organyà. Although the finish line is not far from the start, the first clear view of the mountain-top finish does not come into sight until that hard right turn that takes us out of the village.

Good rhythm and flow has me feeling strong through several hundred meters of mildly uphill terrain. Then, the dirt road narrows to a single-track path and turns steeply upward. Here, the group's pace will slow and passing will be more difficult.

The paths in this part of the Pyrenees are defined by loose rocks, exposed roots, and tight switchbacks. As we move up the mountain, I vividly recall past ascents here - the awkwardness and discomfort of my feet stumbling over these trails as if I was fighting with the ground. My then default? Turn up the grit mode and soldier on.

But on this particular afternoon, I notice precision - each foot lands in small but stable spaces between the obstacles that naturally propel the next step.

For the first time, this ground feels like home.

The moment is not comfortable... yet, I am savoring it.

###

The coolest part of the Arruix Santa Fe is its finish.

After passing the final 200 meters over slanted, slick limestone, a tiny chapel sits just before you. Don't stop before the first door... run through this doorway, through the chapel, and the organizers will stop your running time just as you pass through the second doorway...

Which leads you down a few stone steps and onto an outcropping overlooking the beautiful valley below.

It takes a few minutes to catch my breath. I drink some water and start to congratulate the people in my immediate group with whom I just shared this ascension.

I feel good about my performance. But, I am curious... besides how I feel, how well did I perform? For one clear reason, I can not answer this question.

###

At home later that evening, I open my computer to look at the results from the race that just happened. I placed 34th overall and covered the course in 39 minutes and 7 seconds, exactly 10 minutes behind the race winner.

I still feel good about the race but this tells me very little about how I performed.

My inability to connect the performance dots here can be attributed to an experiment that I never expected to last this long:

Do not take nor wear any technology on a run.

Not a watch. Not a heart-rate monitor. No phone, airpods, podcasts, nor music.

For more than three years and counting now, while running on average five days per week and sometimes with lofty goals, I have not taken in a single metric from technology that could reveal something about or influence my running performance.

Running without technology may come across as a little bit extreme for someone who is serious about running. But in earlier chapters of life, my intake of data was extreme. It was embedded into many parts of my Olympic canoeing journey. Perhaps this shift from "A Lot" to "None" is a form of recalibration. Of rebalancing. Of a different way to compete in a new chapter of life.

Which gets me thinking about the last time I did wear technology during my training runs... three years earlier right around the time of this same race.

I remember this time well because I had just completed the 2019 Boston Marathon a few weeks earlier and had been taking in a lot of data points such as pace, distance, and elevation to name a few.

I remember this time well because I was going through several important changes that amounted to a major life transition.

I remember associating metrics as the reliable indicator of improvement... or lack thereof.

So, I go back into Arruix Santa Fe website, look up the 2019 results, and locate my time:

39 minutes and 1 second.

Three years later, my time up the mountain in 2022 is 6 seconds slower.

###

Now, you could be thinking, "Aren't you disappointed you went SLOWER?"

Or maybe, "What's the plan now? How are you going to go faster?"

If I did entertain these thoughts, they fade quickly.

Three years after having started this experiment, I have learned about different ways that progress can be realized... and ways that progress is hidden from us.

###

Not long after the 2019 race, I challenged the deep intake of such metrics. I evaluated the grip of data. I started to wonder what freedom might be realized if I just let go? What would I notice if I am not noticing technology?

The technology forces at large vigorously compete for your attention. Look at how ridiculously easy, convenient, and cheap it is to download their apps that place your attention on their dashboard.

Conversely, how many forces at large - of any kind - encourage you to "Let Go" and tune into your own dashboard? To disconnect and disengage? To subtract rather add?

Maybe there's a compelling reason for tracking more information about performing better - in sport, in business, in relationships, or in life. If you know the outcome you want, information distilled from technology can be helpful at times.

However, metrics are also weights. They don't make the journey up the mountain on their own. Someone carries them. And that someone is you. Specifically, your attention bears this load... at the expense of not engaging with other unique parts of your journey. Attention is a poor multi-tasker.

Before you measure everything - or anything - it is worthwhile to consider this weight and ask, "What is the cost of tracking data and carrying metrics?"

Because...

If you had told me three years ago that the price of increased presence in my life, relationships, work, and health aligned with a better disposition for enjoyment would amount to an additional 2 seconds per year for three years, I would simply ask this question:

Where can I buy an additional 6 seconds?

With gratitude,

-Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves