The New York Times has a piece up on Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s best marathon runner.
I read it with interest yesterday as I like to think of startups as marathons and I am always on the lookout for ideas and insights that can help entrepreneurs and investors.
Eliud is an impressive person and, as you might expect, he is extremely disciplined.
He says in the piece:
Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions.
That rings so true to me.
It is true in investing, where I like to have a framework and stick to it and not let my emotions get in the way.
But it is also true in building companies.
Being focused on the long game and what you want to achieve is the best way to get there.
I see many teams looking around at what others are doing and it makes them crazy.
And I see a few teams heads down, executing their plan, and it makes them calm.
In the short run, it can often seem like nothing is getting done, and your competitors are passing you by.
But, like the marathon runner, it is never the sprinter that wins the race, it is the dogged and determined that is there at the end with the trophy in hand.
Eliud just broke the world record in Berlin today. He finished in 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds.
He’s an inspiration to all of us.
