London Marathon #9: 12 weeks to go

Advice! This is the basis of the self-leadership lesson I was prompted to reflect on throughout last week's training sessions (see below). We should listen to advice, right? Or should we? There is loads of accessible advice out there, more than any time in history, good advice, bad advice and even dangerous advice! So how do we go about discerning what we take onboard?

Last week's sessions:

• Tuesday: Tempo run, Laguna Hedionda, Bolivia

• Wednesday: Walk, Bai Chay, Vietnam

• Thursday: Interval run, Rocha dos Chambre, Azores

• Friday: Walk, Sinaia Royal Trail, Romania

• Saturday: Long run, Mount Illampu, Bolivia

• Sunday: Easy, progressive run around the streets of town

• Monday: Walk, Lake Tahoe

Some things to consider when assessing advice...

• Is it from a trusted source?

• Is it evidence-based?

• Can you test it without too much risk?

• Does it intuitively feel right?

• Is it just a bit too good to be true? A quick fix?

• Has it stood the test of time?

Proverbs are a form of advice that have generally stood the test of time. They can be full of wisdom, like "A stitch in time saves nine," meaning if you sort a problem out when it first arises, you avoid a bigger problem later on. It was first recorded in 1732 and was written in the context of sewing. Mending a small rip with one stitch is more prudent and less work than leaving the rip to tear further, thus requiring more work and resources (nine stitches).

Times change, technology advances but some of the most relevant advice is wisdom from centuries past, as applicable today as it was then. Some more proverbs from the annals of time, that deserve heeding:

Speech is silver; silence is golden...

Sometimes the most valuable approach is to say nothing. Thought to have been first used in Arabic culture in the 9th century. It is similar to the Ethiopian proverb, "The fool speaks, the wise man listens," meaning there is much to be learned from listening.

Give a man a fish and you feed for him a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime...

There is conjecture over the origin of this proverb, regardless, the message is a powerful one. The continuum of doing is a modern-day framework that captures this proverb, it describes the different levels of involvement in helping others. The four levels of the continuum are:

1. Do to: Taking action on behalf of someone else without their input or consent.

2. Do for: Providing assistance to someone else, but with their input and consent.

3. Do with: Working alongside someone else, a partnership approach.

4. Enable: Empowering someone else to take action on their own behalf.

When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do you no harm...

I love this African proverb; its origin is undated. When we are at peace with ourselves, we know who we are, our actions align with or values, we are confident in our direction, we are our authentic selves, the storm can rage outside, the stones can be cast but we have the inner strength to avoid turning on ourselves, we remain calm and assured.

To get lost is to learn the way...

This is another undated African proverb. Who hasn't lived through an experience where they felt "all at sea", lost, and humbled? And who didn't learn more about themselves and the direction they want to take as a result? Getting (figuratively) lost prompts us to reflect on who we are, who we want to be, it's an opportunity to reset our compass.

The best piece of advice I have been given, and serendipitously, it came up again on a podcast I was listening to during the week, is: "Life is best lived with an inside-out approach". It resonates with the African "enemy within" proverb. Stephen Covey, Michael Gervais and others have written books about this but to briefly summarise my understanding: Take responsibility for how you live your life, be deliberate and mindful in how you act and react, know what you value and put attention on those things, don't blame others, focus on what is within your control.

"Only a fool knows everything. A wise man knows how little he knows" - Unknown