Ever notice that growth tends to be uncomfortable?
Yeah…me, too.
A while back I wrote a post titled Just Okay about my struggles with training for my recent tour. At the end I said God’s about second (and third and fourth and…) chances.
But what do I do with those additional chances?
I’ve noticed that God rarely drops easy answers into my hands. More often He places opportunities within reach and journeys with me in the process of claiming them.
My training had dropped into a complacent zone. Five or six times each week I’d ride between twenty and twenty-five miles, settling for whatever pace I could manage. If I rode a bit faster one day—great. If not, well, I wasn’t training for the Tour de France, right?
I allowed my training habits (a good thing) to settle into a rut.
So I began varying distance and intensity. A couple of days per week I do one hour with a specific mileage goal. Another day I repeat a seven-mile loop and measure time. I do one longer ride each week. It’s not rocket surgery…it’s just forcing myself out of that safe, predictable rut.
This isn’t a huge deal. I’m still just an old bald guy cranking a bike. I didn’t hire a coach, and I’m definitely not training for the Tour de France.
Yesterday I did a familiar thirty-mile course more than 10% faster than my previous best time.
So what have I learned?
You gotta be willing to be uncomfortable. Fact of life—“comfortable growth” is an oxymoron. As a friend says, change wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t have to do anything different.
When we’re in a relatively satisfactory place, it’s tempting to sit still. But if you do that, you’re, well, sitting still.
You probably don’t know what’s possible. I’ve done that thirty-mile route dozens of times. I thought I was doing my best. But if this small change in routine produces a 10% gain, I wonder what’s possible over the long term.
Routine settles slowly into ruts. Any routine, even a good one, can become mindless. Mindless becomes complacent, and before you realize it you’re trapped in a rut.
Take some risks. Safe and predictable aren’t located on the road to growth. You might fail, and you might fail publically. It’s okay. Most likely nobody’s paying attention, anyway.
Practice humility. It’s a good thing to ask for help, admit that you might need to do something differently, experiment, and allow for some imperfection.
# # #
I think my training is a metaphor for other parts of life. This little episode has me wondering about other ruts. Are there other areas where we allow safe, predictable routines to turn slowly into mind-numbing ruts?
My small group? The way I talk (or don’t) to God? How I interact with people I care about? The way I fill my time?
Where does helpful habit end and complacent rut begin?
Please leave a comment here.
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