Career Applications

07 October 2009 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

…and I finished in under an hour.  Averaged 9:35 per mile.

For perspective, I ran the same race in 2000 and 2001.  My best time of those two years was 1:02:59, averaging 10:08 per mile.

I had no expectation to do so much better.  I had no expectation to feel as good as I did during the race and (especially) after the race.  I ran it because I lived in Oneonta (the race’s location) for six years and it was a neat excuse to go back and visit.  I visited family, toured SUNY Oneonta where I used to work (looks about the same, by the way) and ate homemade ice cream from Pie in the Sky.

But I still can’t get over how much better I did in the race.

Why did I do better?

1.  I’m lighter now than I used to be.  By about ten to fifteen pounds.  Walking across the room, it doesn’t make a difference.  Running ten kilometers, it (apparently) makes a huge difference.

2.  I’m leaner.  Back then I did more traditional weight lifting designed to make me into ‘Big-Muscley-Mike’.  I also ate a lot more then than I do now.  The upshot?  Smaller muscles but much less fat.

3.  My training is functional.  My workouts are all about moving weights in a functional way.  Biceps curls are cool…but in what real world situation will that movement ever be useful?  I’ve been doing workouts where I need to jump, pull or push my body weight and move quickly from one exercise to the next.  My body has adapted to many different functions because of this.

As usual, I’m going to make a (tenuous) connection to career planning.  Well, you tell me if it’s tenuous.

1.  ”I’m lighter than I used to be.”  This can have many meanings.  It could be that I have shed the weight of other’s expectations and am happily on my own path.  Perhaps I’ve cut out false paths and dead end experiences and am concentrating on my path to career success.  Or maybe I have (alas, kicking and screaming) eliminated some of the less mature activities in which I used to engage.

Result?  I’m focused on what I believe to be my path to success.  Certainly it is very difficult to be completely streamlined and there are always going to be distractions, both welcome and unwelcome.  But for the most part, shedding weight makes the journey a lot less tiring

2.  ”I’m leaner.”  I am more efficient in how I work.  I am more efficient in the choice of tools I use and in how I use them.  I am economical in my life, seeking to elicit maximum bang from minimum buck.

This will come as you become more intelligent about the ways you set about accomplishing tasks.  The first time you use a new skill, you are raw, awkward.  With practice, you become more intelligent and focused with that skill and you eliminate unnecessary movement in reaching your goal.

3.  ”My training is functional.”  I am prepared to do many different tasks.  And I am adaptable to those tasks.  To go back to the fitness metaphor, I am certainly not as strong as I was in 2000 and 2001.  But I was concentrating on one kind of training; big muscle.  At the expense of being adaptable.  If you needed me to move a large weight one foot, I was your man.  But I wasn’t fast, I had no endurance, my flexibility was suffering.  Back to careers.  Seek out new ways to do your job/task or achieve your goal.  Be flexible in the way you approach a problem.

Learn to be strong in other ways.  Do not begin thinking that one kind of strength will be the only strength you’ll ever need.  If you are an outstanding artist, don’t rely on that to communicate for you in an interview.

All of you should have goals.  Assess your plan toward those goals and see if you can make some changes that will shave some seconds off your finish time.