Every once in a great while something truly extra-ordinary happens.
This past Friday was one of those times.
Tom Seabourne, PhD, placed himself into an elite category of human beings, achieving something so damned absurd, at first glance, you may struggle to imagine why.
Pushing himself to extremes, physically and mentally, beyond what any other human has ever achieved in his chosen activity, he set a New Guinness World Record.
See the World Record setting moment for yourself:(try to ignore the pixilation…not sure what happened there)
What Tom Seabourne did was ride a stationary exercise bike for 8 days, over 2,400 miles, and 185 hours straight! Whether this strikes you as stunning or baffling is not the point—what is, is that Tom Challenged himself and then went about achieving it.
Challenge brings out your best, it makes you stronger. It focuses your energy and aligns your life in order to achieve. Challenge is the glue and fuel for massive results.
Think about the best times in your life, I’ll bet you will find yourself challenged. For your life rises, and falls, to reflect the challenges you set forth to achieve.
The question isn’t would you or even could you ride for 8 days straight, the question what’s your next Challenge?
• Lance is going for another yellow jersey
• Tiger is aiming for golf’s Grand Slam
• Jimmy Johnson for another NASCAR championship
• Tom Brady is getting himself ready for the season…
What’s Your Challenge?
A Challenge Is…
Challenge is not the mind numbing, life draining effort of getting by—of “staying afloat.” Treading water is what’s happening when you’re absent of inspiring aim—without goals. Status quo is a myth. In every moment you are either busy growing or you are busy dying.
A Challenge is a lofty goal that may scare the hell out of you but inspires your drive and desires—it pushes you beyond your limits, calling forth your true strength and potential. In the process you will discover things about yourself that you never knew.
With the new year right around the corner, this is your Invitation to look forward and envision the Challenge which will align your year, your energy and ignite the spark of your full potential.
You needn’t set a world record nor even win a Transformation challenge. But I encourage you to take a chapter from Strength for Life and plan ahead—set a date with yourself to be at your annual best—your peak. For as I share in chapter 13 of Strength for Life, the lesson I gathered from my time with Lance Armstrong is, “you don’t stay in shape for life, you reach your peak just once each year and stay fit for life.”
Expect to Fall
On the journey to achieving your challenge goal, you should expect to take a fall. It will happen, I promise. For the only achievement that comes without skinning your knees is not truly a challenge.
Dr. Tom Seabourne stands as testament to this in the following video clip. A word of caution, this video is at once both painful to watch and humorous. But as you will see, what matters is not how you fall but how you get back up and on the bike. And I think you will agree that Tom is a role model of taking it in stride and moving forward.
Looking for A Challenge?
Stay tuned… in conjunction with the New Year I’ll be inviting a few hundred friends to join in a full Strength for Life Transformation. And whether this is your absolute peak or not, it’s a great way to start strong in 09.
And no matter how you plan to live at your best, you’ll gain immensely by joining me for the initial 12-days of Basecamp. It’s the ideal way to set your body and mind right-in a reserve of strength and energy for the new year ahead!
Until Next Time…
Stay Strong,
Shawn Phillips
| The Strength To Go the Distance In contrast to the typical endurance approach of carbs, carbs, and more carbs for energy, you’ll see from the videos, that Dr. Tom chose to fuel himself exclusively with the finest nutrition and sustainable energy source of Full Strength. Crazy? Well remember he’s the one with a PhD in Exercise Science! So the entire ride of over 2,400 miles and 8 days he was powered by Strength, Full Strength |
Will you have The Strength to Go the Distance ?
18. December 2008 at 1:40 pm
Hi Shawn,
I just started a tranformation on Monday, I have before pictures, body fat percentage, and your book, can I still keep going, and be involved in the Strength for Life Challenge?
18. December 2008 at 8:06 pm
who cares. it accomplishes nothing. i would be impressed if he did it on a real bike.
18. December 2008 at 11:40 pm
My challenge is my first marathon. Like you said, you need to set a real goal, something big but achievable. Before last month I had never run more than 3 miles. Now I’ve run 11. Saturday will be 12. And next May it will be 26.2! Along the way I hope to lose about 15% of my current 30% bodyfat, and if I work hard enough and eat right, maybe put on some muscle too. Thanks for your inspirational and informative blogs, Shawn!
19. December 2008 at 3:55 pm
Thanks for being honest about falling. If it’s something to expect and be prepared for, then I guess it would be kind of like riding a horse … if you get dumped, you have to force yourself to get back on, or the fear will ensure you never ride again?
19. December 2008 at 4:08 pm
Hey Bob,
Thanks for taking the time to check out Tom’s “ride.” So you figure there’s nothing to riding for 8 days on a stationary bike?
Cool… to each his own. Just to confirm, it’s not a 900 lbs bench press but it’s certainly a valid, admirable example of setting a goal and achieving it and testing your own mental strength; your will.
If you check out Tom’s profile / bio I think you’ll see more than enough stuff to stand well impressed and know this is not the pinnacle of his athletic prowess.
And as for “doing it on a real bike,” rest assured he has. Last year he finished top ten in the RAAM – the Race Across America. Which is, just that, a race from one end to the other that doesn’t carve out time for sleeping.
What you figure the odds are that Tom was both raising funds for his college gym while training for the RAAM in 09?
Maybe?
Have you done it on a real bike? I too would be impressed!
In Strength,
Shawn
19. December 2008 at 5:50 pm
Interesting comment – “it accomplishes nothing”. Aside from having added challenge of an uncontrolled environment, what exactly would completing the same thing on a real bike ‘accomplish’? The accomplishment is not in the activity itself, the accomplishment is in the fact that he challenged himself, set a goal and then went about achieving it. Accomplishments are in testing your limits and then pushing yourself past them, meeting and exceeding your expectations and your goals. Many people set goals, few have the fortitude to see them through. The fact that he set a record in doing so is a clear sign that this is not a feat achievable on a whim.
My challenge for myself will be running my first mini this upcoming spring. Many people do it all the time but for me, my accomplishment will be training for it, actually doing it and ultimately finishing it, first or last won’t matter as long as I cross the line!