Sustaining Drive: Fulfillment in Process, Not Just Outcome

Key Quotes

"Winning achieving a goal absolutely leads to happiness you feel great you get a high you get a dopamine rush whatever neurochemical you want to call it it feels good to win those moments are wonderful we also trick ourselves we say that you got to find fulfillment in the journey but each and every one of us still wants to win and that is motivation to go and do the thing and to get the best out of yourself and to try to achieve however that happiness that you get while very real is also very ephemeral it comes and it goes you are on the medal stand for all of three minutes while they sing your country's national anthem you're on the best seller list literally for a week maybe two or three if you're lucky you get the promotion and you go out to dinner with your supervisor and then the next day you've actually got to do the work so the happiness is real it's intense but it is acute and then it's fleeting what is not acute what is not fleeting is the lasting satisfaction and the fulfillment that you get and that is what is found along the way"

Brad Stalberg argues that while achieving goals provides temporary happiness, this feeling is fleeting. He distinguishes this acute happiness from the lasting satisfaction and fulfillment derived from the process itself. Stalberg emphasizes that it is natural and beneficial to desire both the thrill of winning and the deeper contentment found in the journey.

"The best climbers they're hell bent on getting to the peaks they're meticulous about it they want it it's bad that's their version of winning and they've also internalized at the same time that they'd better find fulfillment in the actual climb itself so that's how i answer this question it's not either or it's both and you get this acute visceral but very fleeting happiness from achievement and that is not to be confused with lasting satisfaction or fulfillment that comes in the process and it's totally human and totally normal to want both those things"

Brad Stalberg uses the metaphor of mountain climbing to illustrate the dual pursuit of achievement and process fulfillment. He explains that climbers are driven to reach the summit (winning) but also find satisfaction in the act of climbing itself. Stalberg concludes that it is not a matter of choosing one over the other, but rather embracing both the fleeting joy of accomplishment and the enduring contentment of the journey.

"So i think you can see it it's almost like the expectations and the framing matters a lot is if we go into the thing and say oh this is so boring like i have to enter things on this spreadsheet again and again and again or you see it as like this is just part of the process this is like doing the stupid ab exercises the warm up drills the other things that i don't like about running that much but they're required to get like to get the most out of myself and something that i'm meaningfully pursuing"

Steve Magnus suggests that framing and expectations significantly influence how one perceives tedious work. Magnus argues that viewing mundane tasks as an integral part of a meaningful process, rather than as inherently boring, can lead to fulfillment. He likens this to athletes accepting necessary but unenjoyable warm-up drills as essential for achieving their goals.

"The key is not to let it go down to zero to define what's going to allow you to stay in touch with the thing while also having a chance to attain that that new adjusted goal and then once that season of craziness ends you go back to what it's like before it's always easier to maintain than to build it's a universal principle that's that endurance training 101 and it applies to life"

Brad Stalberg advises on managing periods of intense work by maintaining "minimum effective doses" of core life areas like exercise, sleep, community, and nutrition. Stalberg emphasizes that the goal is not to eliminate these habits entirely but to scale them down to a manageable level. He states that this approach prevents complete habit breakdown and makes it easier to return to previous levels once the demanding period concludes, drawing a parallel to endurance training principles.

"So you just have to acknowledge that and not try to mimic something else if this is a change right where you're like oh i used to recover really well and now i'm doing the same things and not not bouncing back then that means you need to look at everything outside of that you're looking at you know a are you getting older b are you supporting your body nutritionally with food recovery sleep all the things that we've talked about in previous podcasts are you doing all those things and if not maybe that's the weak link"

Steve Magnus addresses chronic fatigue by advising individuals to stop comparing their recovery to others and to acknowledge their unique physiological responses. Magnus suggests that if a change occurs where one no longer recovers well from previously manageable stressors, it's crucial to examine external factors. These factors include age, nutrition, sleep, and overall recovery practices, indicating that the issue may lie outside the training itself.

"The key is you're just not digging that hole again yeah i try to think of it as like i'm running an experiment and everything is just collecting data and trying to use that data to then inform my new hypothesis because there are no there are no we've sort of echoed a few times here there are no easy broadly applicable universal answers and not even just from person to person but from race to race right like some races you're going to bounce back more quickly than others and uh others is going to take more time and it's just like observing your body and observing where you're at observing how you're feeling and i think trying to make the best um guesses and estimates off of that but that also requires experience and doing it right"

Clay Skipper discusses managing post-race recovery by viewing the process as an ongoing experiment. Skipper emphasizes that there are no universal answers, and what works can vary significantly between individuals and even between different races for the same person. He advocates for observing one's body, collecting data, and using that information to form hypotheses for future recovery strategies, highlighting the importance of experience in developing this intuition.