Treadmill Running & How It Has Made Me A Better Employee
Here’s the thing: I DESPISE my treadmill.
The monotony… The repetitive clunking of the belt… The lack of fresh air… Most everything about it.
But sometimes I run at 5:00 AM, depending on my schedule. And sometimes the windchill is -20 degrees outside. And occasionally both of those things happen. Then my treadmill doesn’t sound like such a bad option. So I wipe the sleep from my eyes, slip on some running gear and get to work. Because I know that if I want to accomplish the goals I have that there will be days when I just have to do some things that I just don’t particularly want to do.
I fought treadmill running for a long time. When I was in college and I’d walk past the rows of treadmills in our field house I’d think to myself “Treadmills…. whoof. Never gonna happen” But that’s when I actually had a field house with a very nice 200 meter track I could retreat to when the inevitable winter storm blew through. Before I spent an hour commuting every day or had to make meals for myself (ah, those were the days). Before I knew what it would take to accomplish something I found truly meaningful.
In my experience, the things I’ve accomplished that were truly meaningful to me were filled with things like treadmill running — things I didn’t necessarily want to do, but did them anyway. That’s what made them meaningful.
The thing I’ve found most helpful with my treadmill running dilemma is ‘compartmentalization’. When I know I’ll have to spend some time on the treadmill I put that time in a little box in my mind. It has very finite edges to it; there is a very clear beginning and end to what I’m doing. And instead of blending my physical relaxing space, my basement, with something I clearly did not find relaxing the treadmill is now located in my garage (I also stopped calling it the ‘dreadmill’). I draw a very clear line in my mind and the room I’m in to get that task done and on to the next one, even if that next one is another treadmill run. I don’t let these runs, or anything else for that matter, stack on top of each other. I only think about the current one in the little box in my mind.
I do the same thing at work. Even if you truly do love what you do there will be days when something needs to get done that you don’t feel like doing (I really enjoyed this article by Jon Westenberg about that, which isn’t entirely suitable to open at work). When I see a busy week or a set of not-so-fun tasks coming my way I take that stress & dread and break them down into smaller components. Then I pick them off one by one until I can get back to the things I enjoy. I take my treadmill running mentality and apply it to the task at hand. And getting through all of those periods often leads to results that I find very meaningful.
So here’s another thing: I may despise my treadmill, but it has made me better — both as a runner and as an employee.
I write about running, my career, and juggling everything life can throw at us over at WideOpen Running (and you can, too). Check out some of my other posts:
