If you believe that a life focused on achieving peak performance is a life well lived, you will enjoy this stirring piece by Polia Pompliano. The hero of this piece is the almost superhuman marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge. First, a little bit of background on this runner: "Eliud Kipchoge re-defined human limits when he shattered running's last great barrier - the sub-two-hour marathon. Kipchoge ran a historic 1:59:40 marathon in Vienna last year, averaging an extraordinary 4 minutes and 33 seconds per mile. Few people believed it was possible for a human to achieve this remarkable milestone - at least this soon...
Kipchoge has nothing to prove. He has won 12 of the 13 marathons he's entered during his running career, including the Rio 2016 Olympic Games marathon, and four London marathons. He also holds the marathon world record for a run during competition. He is the reigning Olympic champion."
So how does Kipchoge deliver such extraordinary performances so consistently? The core of the article focuses on understanding this athlete's formula for success. So that you read the full piece, we have listed here only three of the six drivers Kipchoge lays out for success. Interestingly, Kipchoge’s success drivers are uncannily similar to the process laid out in Saurabh Mukherjea and Anupam's book, "The Victory Project: Six Steps for Peak Performance".
Finding a mentor: "Kipchoge's life began to change when he met Patrick Sang, a respected figure in the region who had studied at the University of Texas and won an Olympic silver medal in the steeplechase before returning to Kapsisiywa. He became an organizer of sports events in the region when he saw serious potential in then16-year-old Kipchoge. "When you're young, you always hope that one day you’ll be somebody," Sang said. "And in that journey, you need someone to hold you by the hand. It does not matter who that person is, so long as they believe that your dreams are valid. So for me, when you find a young person with a passion, don't disappoint them. Give them a helping hand and see them grow."
Keeping your life simple and uncluttered: "Kipchoge grew up poor. Today, at age 36, he's a multi-millionaire. But he's hyper-aware that money and fame can make you miserable. That's why he’s chosen to live a monastic life in the remote village of Kaptagat, and he's insistent that happiness is about simplicity. "I don't have extra money to actually make my mind go haywire," he says. "I am a human being and I stay a human being. Money stays away. I'm not working with money; money is in the bank. I want to live a simple life."
There is no doubt Kipchoge is a wealthy man, but he understands the power of living a simple and disciplined life. At his training camp in Kenya, he shares chores with teammates. Though he's a millionaire, Kipchoge is not above scrubbing the toilet at the facility. Between training sessions, he takes an hour-long nap and hand-washes his gear before his second run at 4 p.m. Bedtime is no later than 9 p.m. Kipchoge keeps his life simple - no partying, no drugs, no frivolous spending. "If you have a sharp knife, it will cut straight and clean," he says. "That is how I make my decisions. Self-discipline is not a one-night thing. Learn to say no to passions and impulses."
Have a well-defined, repeatable process for winning: "Kipchoge lives life by this formula: Motivation + Discipline = Consistency. Like many successful athletes, he emphasizes the process, not the result. He focuses on consistent and precise running rather than the actual outcome of the race. "When you bring motivation and discipline (together), then you can be consistent," he says. "I'm confident in saying that consistency is key if you want to grow in a new profession. Be it sport. Be it law. Be it all sorts of professions. If you are not consistent, you can not go anywhere. Consistency makes you grow."
