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When I taught in the classroom I taped a sign to the board: “If you think of it before you act, it’s a reason. If you think of it afterward, it’s an excuse.”
This last weekend I completed my fourth Ironman triathlon in the last two years. I had reasons. No excuses.
On one hand, these events seem goofy and selfish. I bought a bunch of gear and spent months training just to spend an entire day swimming, bicycling, and running.
On the other hand, training has made my life better in all sorts of ways.
Knowing I have a challenging event on the horizon makes me want to work out. It also makes me reluctant to stay up late, eat junk food, or drink alcohol.
And just this week I met so many like-minded people who inspired me. Some had prosthetics or other visible challenges. Mike was just over four feet tall. Old, young, different genders, ethnicities, body types. For all the qualities that made them unique, everyone had one thing in common. It feels really good to be surrounded by people who are focused on achieving a big goal. You can feel the intensity and the intention. (*NOTE: The madness of crowds makes it important to pick your goals and your people carefully. I imagine January 6 participants felt shared energy too.)
Intention is the root of my planning. Planning is the framework for my calendar. Whether I’m working on a client project, writing a book or a keynote, or imagining my next Ironman, looking at my schedule every day is a test of structural integrity — are my commitments aligned with my plans? Are my tasks expressions of my integrity?
Sometimes when I share these processes out loud on the internet I feel self-conscious. Years ago I began reflecting and modeling these sorts of practices when it was in my job description as an educator and parent of young children. Over time, I discovered that repeating these practices to the point where they became habits made me a better person, so I continued. But these days, with everything else going on in the world, I wonder how much capacity we all have for maintaining perspective, much less improving our lives.
Even though I’m a little nervous, I want to find out.
There is a Zen proverb that says something like, “You should meditate for twenty minutes a day, unless you’re too busy — in which case you should meditate for an hour.”
The fact that times are hard and people we trusted with our votes are now betraying us is every reason to increase our efforts to be strong, resilient, empathetic, and kind. And the most important thing is to speak up – if only so that we know we’re not alone.
Leaning into practices that challenge us (even writing a weekly newsletter!) help us in a variety of ways. This is why I developed the five fitnesses of Open-Source Learning. Mental, physical, civic, spiritual, and technological fitness empower us to improve every aspect of our lives – and each fitness has an impact on the others. Improving my physical health enables me to show up more thoughtfully, patiently, and considerately for my family, friends, colleagues, and clients, no matter what the world throws at us.
This Ironman was my toughest so far. Veterans call Oceanside an “honest” (read: brutal) course and I had a rough day. It took me over eight hours to finish.
But it was a total victory, because I do these races with other people in mind. I want to live a long, healthy life with my wife (and yes we had massive bowls of ice cream for dessert last night). I want to inspire my friends, colleagues, and clients.
I want my daughter to see me, set her jaw, and persevere.
What made me proudest this weekend had nothing to do with triathlons. Someone yelled at my daughter for caring about something important – and she didn’t back down.
While I was on the Ironman course, my daughter attended an Indivisible protest (more on that below). As she told me later, a barber came out of his shop and started shouting the last name of the current president over and over. Nothing else. Just one word, at the top of his lungs, in my daughter’s face. And everyone else’s, including a toddler (!).
My daughter didn’t give in. She didn’t respond with hate. She stood her ground and held up her sign. Every driver that passed waved and honked their support for democracy and freedom.
I didn’t know any of that when she showed up 1000 yards from the finish line and ran with me.
Does standing on a street corner to send a message make a difference? Does finishing an Ironman make a difference? I believe so.
This is why I do what I do.
Have you ever done anything hard that made you feel better, or that inspired someone in your life? Drop me a line – I’m curious!
Curiosity is worth practicing. That’s how we get better at it. When it’s done particularly well, curiosity can be elevated to an art form. Curiosity makes life worth living. I am literally Curious AF. And now you can be too! Click HERE to unlock your free membership subscription.
Here is a taste of what I’m reading, watching, and thinking about.
My daughter and my wife were two of approximately three million people who participated in “Hands Off!” protests around the country on Saturday.
This is important for all of us for several reasons. First, the world needs to see that not all Americans support the madness. Second, if we don’t exercise our First Amendment rights during this administration, we may not be able to keep them.
One of the courses I taught at UCLA was about the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment was never absolute. There were always limitations on free speech such as hate speech, obscenity, yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater, etc. However, the current president of the United States is not even pretending to honor the very principle that drove English colonization of North America in the first place. He wants to punish anyone who says anything he doesn’t want to hear.
It’s not just random student protestors of color who are being incarcerated and deported for expressing their views. Last week, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel laureate Oscar Arias received an email notice from the United States government suspending his visa after he said that the U.S. president was behaving “like a Roman emperor, telling the world what to do.”
We take the First Amendment for granted at our own peril. Contact your elected representatives. Have conversations with your friends, family, colleagues, people you don’t know, and especially people with whom you disagree. We need to be hard on ideas and soft on each other.
My daughter and I have been watching Abbott Elementary for some time, and I’m gradually appreciating the genius of Quinta Brunson’s show. The characters, the acting, and the writing are consistently, predictably off-kilter, endearing, funny, and wonderful. And if you’ve seen the sock mural episode, mimimi mimi mi mimimimi.
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority participate in it.
– Leo Tolstoy
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David Preston
Educator & Author
Latest book: ACADEMY OF ONE
Header image: Ironman 2025
