Run to grow

Recently, I came across an idea called growth mindset. It was one of my insta friends who had read a book on it and put up a insta story.

The book is called mindset, written by Carol Dweck. I googled for more info on the book. There are plenty of pages thst you can find. I was able to find a TED talk.

So, I thought of watching it. It was a great talk. I loved it. As the talk ended, I could see some correlation between the mindset that she talked about and my progression as a runner from 2k to 42k. And therefore, I wanna share some insights here :

She talks about two kinds of mindset.

Fixed mindset and,

Growth mindset.

She says that people who are afraid of failure are those who have fixed mindsets. They can see only two things: pass or failure. When there is an equal probability of failing at something, chances are it will lead to fear and a lot of fear.

On the other hand, there is a different and a more powerful mindset to embrace: growth mindset. It is about looking at the gains despite not making the desired cuts.

When I look at my own journey as a runner in particular, I can see today that I was embracing the growth mindset as a runner.

This mindset became possible for me because I was not focusing on the fruits of running. There was no outside force involved to either prove something to the world or to myself.

I loved the process of running. When I get up in the morning, I was not just interested in running fast and long. I loved the whole process. The rising of the sun, the scenty fresh air of the morning, the vast and quiet roads and the transition from a city to the country sides on weekends.

I felt like running was a complete package for unwinding. And I chugged along as a runner. It never bothered to me if I wanted to run like someone and tell the whold world about it. Never.

I rather loved my habit of showing up on the tracks every day. I loved adding up the kilometers I ran and summed them up. But, I was in no hurry. I had planned my running for the whole year.

Every day came as a learning for me. I went for running with an open mind to simply experience the freedom. Yes, freedom from every thing. No pre conceived notions, no performance anxiety.

When you are free, there is no fear. When there are no expectations, everything that you do is a plus. I found a lot of things to talk about from running.

I started to read a lot of stories of runners, about making improvements but never compared my self with anyone. I have been a sole runner all along.

Don’t expect. Go out and run. Experience the spirit of freedom. With my running, I started to learn and apply new principles to my living.

I found that I could experience the same freedom at work and among the peers. I started to grow.

And I am still growing. I know my limits. They are limitless. I can go on. And currently my mind is set on running a 100 km race. But, without any set expectations. All I am doing is pushing myself to see how far I can go.

And this quest to improve is the only motto, the only goal.

Let me leave you with a quote from the great Indian epic :

Karmanye wadhikarastu,

Maa faleshu kadaachana.

It means, “just do your work, and forget about the fruits. That’s the secret of joy.”